The E-Business Suite is designed to support a three-tier architecture, with functions running on a client tier, an application server tier (also called a middle tier), and a database tier.  I handled a customer question on an internal Oracle mailing list today that suggested that there was confusion about our certification policies for these tiers.  I then realized that I’ve answered variants of this question many times lately, so it’s clearly of broader interest.  These two questions are mirror images of each other:
  • Can I install the E-Business Suite on a desktop operating system like Windows Vista?
  • Can I run end-user E-Business Suite functions on a server operating system like Oracle Enterprise Linux?
EBS-R12-architecture-diagram2.png

Certifying End-User Functions on Desktop Operating Systems

The first guiding principle is that we certify E-Business Suite end-user client functions on end-user desktop operating systems.  Examples of EBS end-user client functions include:

  • Accessing web-based Self-Service applications from browsers
  • Running Forms-based applications under the native Sun JRE plug-in.
The certified end-user desktop operating systems are:
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Mac OS X
We intend to certify Microsoft Windows 7 and Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) desktop operating systems to run EBS end-user client functions in the future.  I can’t discuss schedules for these certifications, but you’re welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates.  

We have no current plans to certify Linux desktop operating systems (e.g. Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, CentOS, etc) to run E-Business Suite end-user client functions.

Certifying Server-Based Components on Server Operating Systems  

The second guiding principle is that we certify E-Business Suite’s server-based components on server-based operating systems.  Server-based components are designed to run on application tier servers and database tier servers.  Server-based components include the Oracle Database, Oracle Forms, JServ, OC4J, and so on. Server-based operating systems include:

  • Microsoft Windows Server
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Oracle Enterprise Linux
  • Sun Solaris
  • IBM AIX
  • IBM Linux on System z
  • IBM Linux on POWER
  • HP-UX
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
Mixing and Matching Server vs. Desktop Certifications

We have no plans to certify E-Business Suite end-user client-based functions on server operating systems.    Likewise, we also have no plans to certify E-Business Suite database or application-tier server components on end-user desktop operating systems. 

Security Implications of Running Something on the Wrong Platform  

The security implications of running the wrong thing on the wrong platform must be considered.  Today’s question from a customer asked whether it’s possible to run the E-Business Suite’s end-user functions from geographically-distributed machines running Windows Server. 

Now, I’m assuming that those distributed machines are acting as real servers running mission-critical multi-user applications.  If I were a security administrator, I wouldn’t want an end-user to use that server to do email, surf the web, or run other end-user applications.  Given the propensity of end-users to click on suspicious email attachments, hit questionable websites, and install dodgy P2P apps, that’s a good way of contaminating the server and breaching security.  I can’t think of any scenario where this would be a good idea.

Support Implications of Running Something on the Wrong Platform

We can’t prevent customers from doing dangerous things with machines connecting to the E-Business Suite.  I’m reminded of Robin Williams’ piece on unarmed bobbies in the UK: “Stop, or I’ll yell, ‘Stop’ again!”  [No, no, I’m not making any statements about gun control either way, I’m just underlining Oracle’s lack of omnipotence.]

What we can do is ensure that you get fixes for issues that occur on the tiers on which EBS components were designed to run.  From a support perspective, we can produce E-Business Suite patches only for end-user client issues that can be reproduced on a certified desktop operating system configuration. Likewise, we can produce E-Business Suite patches only for server-based component issues that can be reproduced on a certified server operating system.

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