Advanced J2EE App Server
By Joshua Drake
Oracle has long been respected for providing stable, leading-edge products for developers and companies that require large scale, enterprise-ready applications. In June, Oracle released a new version of its application server, called Oracle 9 Internet Application Server (9iAS). This product is designed to assist in the development of complex, Web-based enterprise applications. Oracle has maintained a position at the forefront of standards-based implementations, and continues that trend with the release of 9iAS.
For a developer's copy, go to Oracle's Web site and click on "downloads." You can register for free and proceed from there. (Note that having a developer's license doesn't entitle you to deploy an Oracle product freely for your business.) That said, don't download the 1.2 gigabyte Oracle 9iAS unless you have some fairly significant bandwidth to spare. If you choose not to download the software, Oracle will send you CDs for $39.95.
After I downloaded the Linux version of the software, I was dismayed to discover that it didn't work as intended. After following some rather poorly written instructions, I couldn't get Oracle to install correctly on my Linux machine. I attempted to install it on Mandrake 8.0, Red Hat 7.1, and Red Hat 6.2. Oddly, the Java-based installer started, but then it wouldn't do anything beyond that. After a conference call with Oracle, I was informed that the current version of Oracle 9iAS for Linux wasn't up to snuff, and if possible, I should wait about two weeks for version 1.2
