Oracle WebServer User's Guide
What is the Oracle WebServer?
The Oracle WebServer is an HTTP server with a tightly integrated Oracle7 Server that enables the creation of dynamic HTML documents from data stored in an Oracle database. When the data changes, these HTML documents are updated automatically, with no further effort on the part of the site administrator. This approach supplements the presentation of static, or unchanging, data which is found on most Web sites today, with the dynamic real-time data present in business systems based on the Oracle7 Server
Business data is stored on the Oracle7 Server. It is formatted into Web documents within the server and then transmitted to Web clients. All data is stored only once, eliminating the need to "snapshot" data periodically for use on the Web.
The components that make up the Oracle WebServer work together to make the delivery of both static and dynamic pages possible.
Components of the Oracle WebServer
The components of the Oracle WebServer are as follows:
- Oracle Web Listener. The Oracle Web Listener receives requests from users using any Web browser. Requests for static (file-based) pages are handled internally by the Listener process, which functions as an HTTP server.
- Oracle Web Agent. The Oracle Web Agent handles requests from users for dynamic (program-created) pages. It handles the connection to an Oracle7 Server, invocation of the requested procedure, and transmission of the resulting HTML document back to the Web browser.
- Oracle WebServer Developer's Toolkit. The Oracle WebServer Developer's Toolkit is a set of procedures that help the customer create programs to generate dynamic documents that are easily presented in HTML.
- Oracle7 Server. The Oracle7 Server provides the storage for all dynamic data in relational tables, and all the program logic used to create dynamic HTML pages.
Each of these components and their interaction are described in more detail in the sections that follow.
The following picture illustrates how the Oracle WebServer integrates its components, bringing the power of Oracle7 to the World Wide Web.
