Cloud computing provides an alternative to capital investment in information communications technology infrastructure. Instead of building and maintaining a lot of hardware, use someone else’s. There are quite literally dozens of books on this subject. Early publications mostly covered general cloud concepts, but recently there is a trend emerging toward more technical and specialized topics within the field. This book by Laszewski and Nauduri is an example. It is a detailed reference guide to planning, designing, and implementing the migration of client/server applications and databases to the cloud. It does, however, focus almost exclusively on Oracle databases.
Chapter 1 introduces the various cloud computing architectures and the basic delivery models for cloud computing. The authors then explain (in chapter 2) how to determine the level of effort and cost involved in database and application migration to the cloud. Differences between source and target databases are discussed in chapter 3. Although the primary focus is on Oracle, other databases, such as SQL Server and DB2, are covered.
Beginning with chapter 4, various migration tasks are covered. In chapters 5 and 6, the authors detail the tools available--primarily from Oracle--for migrating relational databases and their associated applications to the cloud, including database schema migration tools and step-by-step data migration tasks, with examples for illustration. These tools would be useful for developing new projects and for migrating existing systems. The migration also covers (in chapter 6) stored procedures and “the differences in SQL language implementation between Oracle and other databases”; code snippets illustrate these differences. The changes that applications, scripts, and interfaces will need as a consequence of a database migration are covered in chapter 7. Chapter 8 then wraps up the general migration discussion, focusing more closely on migration to the cloud. Cloud application infrastructure environments on which the target application can run are also covered in this chapter.
The next five chapters cover a number of related areas and provide case studies. Chapter 9 discusses Web services that enable client/server applications using the LegaSuite tool; three case studies illustrate the process. Chapter 10 looks at planning and implementing database infrastructure in the cloud. Chapter 11 is a case study of the migration of a Sybase database to Oracle, and chapter 12 is a case study of a migration of an Oracle Forms application to Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) using the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF). Chapter 13 examines the migration of a PowerBuilder application to Oracle Application Express (APEX).
The last chapter (14) looks at current business and technology challenges in database and application migration to the cloud, and recent advances and emerging trends in the field.
The book is easy to navigate and well laid out. A detailed table of contents and thorough index allow for its easy use as a reference. Appropriate diagrams and tables are employed throughout, and each chapter begins with a concise summary of its goals. The various contributions are well edited to give the writing style a consistent feel.
Laszewski and Nauduri provide a good general introduction to the technologies behind distributed and cloud computing, with the details needed to plan a successful migration of client/server applications to the cloud. The book has a detailed technical focus, and in case you missed it: it concentrates pretty much entirely on Oracle applications and databases. If your applications are Oracle-based then this is the book to guide you to the cloud.
