There are four types of edition available to meet the middleware need.
Enterprise Edition , Standard Edition , Standard Edition One and Java Edition.
Detailed description of the editions are discussed in detail at Application Server Family
Also the URL has a detailed map of what and which product is available in which edition.
Let me start with the Installation
The following are the different kinds of Installation that could be performed
Java Developer Topology :
J2EE and Webcache makes this Topology. On this deployment we can have any desired application which falls within the J2EE Technology.
Oracle Application Server provides a fully integrated J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) compliant platform to develop and deploy Internet applications, Web sites, portals, or browser-based applications.
Portal,Wireless,BI,Forms and Reports Topology :
Portal helps in building a browser based environment for building and deploying summaried version of application and web contents in defined regions of the page.
Wireless helps in building interfaces for mobile users
Business Intelligence helps in building intelligent reports and data that helps the day to day business activity.
Forms helps in building interfaces that enables user work with data like adding new information and editing the same.
Reports helps in building reports and delivering in different format with features like scheduling and emailing.
The most important component for the above installation is the Infrastructure Database. It comes with a new database and a new Oracle Internet Directory
Once the Infrastructure Database is setup we can deploy the other toplogy on top of it. The components are optional and it can be choosen during the installation.
Most of the setup has the combination like portal with wireless or Business Intelligence with Forms & Reports.
I am going to cover the enterprise edition installation.
Version Used : AS 10.1.2.0.2
There are two important installation screens , Product and Installation Type
Product Screen :
This is the first screen which prompts to select the product. There are three products available.
1. Oracle Application Server 10g which is also know as the middle tier. With this option we can have the components like HTTP Server , OC4J , WebCache , Portal , Wireless , Reports , Forms and Discoverer.
2. Oracle Application Server Infrastructure , with this option we can have Identity Managment services and Metadata Repository for Oracle Application Server. This option creates a new database and a new OID. Other components included are Single SignOn Server and Certificate Authority.
3. Oracle Application Server Developer Kit , with this option we can have API's and Developer Kit.
Below you can see a screen shot of the Product Screen.
Further I will be discussing on the different types of Installation
J2EE and WebCache
Infrastructure Database and OID Setup
Portal and Wireless
Business Intelligence and Forms
