Technology Assessment from Ken North Computing, LLC Middleware in Action Industrial Strength Data Access May 2007 Middleware in Action: Industrial Strength Data Access Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2 Mature Technology .........................................................................................................3 Scalability, Interoperability, High Availability ...................................................................5 Components, XML and Services-Oriented Architecture..................................................6 Best-of-Breed Middleware...............................................................................................7 Pay Now or Pay Later .....................................................................................................7 2.0 Architectures for Distributed Computing.................................................................. 8 2.1 Leveraging Infrastructure ........................................................................................ 8 2.2 Multi-Tier, N-Tier Architecture ................................................................................. 9 2.3 Persistence, Client-Server Databases, Distributed Data ....................................... 10 Client-Server SQL Processing ......................................................................................10 Client Libraries ............................................................................................................... 12 Multi-Database Access .................................................................................................. 12 Distributed Data, Distributed Transactions .................................................................... 12 Federated Data .............................................................................................................. 12 Virtual Organizations...................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Data Integration..................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Application Servers, Platforms .............................................................................. 13 2.6 Internet Architectures, Web Commerce ................................................................ 14 2.7 Mobile and Wireless Computing............................................................................ 15 2.8 Grid Computing ..................................................................................................... 15 2.9 Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) .................................................................. 16 Stateful Resources, Grid Services ...............................................................................17 Enterprise Service Bus .................................................................................................17 Business Process Management (BPM) .......................................................................18 2.10 Security, Privacy and Compliance Issues .......................................................... 19 Defense in Depth .........................................................................................................19 Authentication and Authorization .................................................................................20 Kerberos .......................................................................................................................21 Grid Security Infrastructure ..........................................................................................22 Encryption ....................................................................................................................22 Algorithms ..................................................................................................................... 22 .NET and Java Cryptography ........................................................................................ 23 IP Security ....................................................................................................................23 Secure Socket Layer, Transport Layer Security ..........................................................24 Java Security ................................................................................................................25 Windows .NET and SSL/TLS .......................................................................................25 Hardware Acceleration, Co-Processors, Smart Cards .................................................25 Virtual Private Networks ...............................................................................................26 Packages ...................................................................................................................... 27 Auditing and Tracking ................................................................................................... 27 3.0 Data Access Middleware ...................................................................................... 28 3.1 Architecture .......................................................................................................... 28 Parts, Components, Infrastructure ...............................................................................29 Components for ODBC Data Access ...........................................................................30 Components for JDBC Data Access ............................................................................32 Copyright © 2007 Ken North Computing, LLC Middleware in Action: Industrial Strength Data Access Components for ADO.NET Data Access .....................................................................33 Caches .......................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Requirements for Best-of-Breed Data Access Middleware .................................. 35 Connectivity, Platform Support, Character Sets ...........................................................35 Scalability and Performance ........................................................................................36 Caches and Connection Pools ...................................................................................... 37 Connection Pools .......................................................................................................... 37 Prepared Statement Cache .......................................................................................... 37 Persistence, Query Results .......................................................................................... 38 Dynamic SQL, Static SQL, Bind Packages .................................................................. 39 Stored Procedures, User Defined Functions ................................................................ 39 High-Availability, Load Balancing .................................................................................. 39 Threads ......................................................................................................................... 41 Native Images ............................................................................................................... 41 Isolation Levels, Transactions, Distributed Transactions .............................................. 42 Performance Optimization with Connection Strings and Properties .............................43 Load Testing ................................................................................................................45 Security ........................................................................................................................45 Data Access Feature Checklist ....................................................................................46 Cursor Capabilities, Large Objects, XML Type ............................................................46 Metadata, Client Information ........................................................................................46 Adaptive Programming, Interoperability .......................................................................47 Tools, Language Support .............................................................................................47 Robustness, Reliability, Stability, High Availability .......................................................47 Administration and Technical Support .........................................................................48 Standards Compliance, Consistency ...........................................................................49 Data Access Middleware Checklist ..............................................................................50 Platforms, Computing Environment, Connectivity ........................................................ 50 Performance, Scalability ............................................................................................... 51 Features ......................................................................................................................... 52 4.0 Performance and Scalability Scenarios ................................................................ 53 4.1 Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) ................................................................ 53 Application Servers, Distributed Processing ................................................................54