Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 11g
July 2, 2010
I put off writing about Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 11g. From my point of view, the product has not leapfrogged other search systems. That includes commercial solutions or open source solutions. I wrote about the “problem” of hooking search to security. My opinion was that “secure” was possible when other Oracle servers were lashed into the search system. I may be wrong about “security” but until I get some first hand evidence that SES 11g does not require a bean counter crushing requirement for other Oracle goodies, I will keep my enthusiasm in check.
What’s New in SES 11g?
According to the what’s new page for SES 11g, licensees enjoy:
- Improved performance. Here’s the actual lingo and I think you can see why I have been reluctant to slap a “four goose” label on Oracle search systems in the past: “A quantum leap in performance and scalability for crawled and near real time search. SES 11g searches 10x more data with a single SES instance, at the same license cost, without impacting search query performance. It also offers fast ingest by defragmenting the search engine index mostly automatically; this allows for updating the search engine index fast enough to keep up with high churn applications like mail or news feeds”. I am not sure what a “quantum leap” is. I also like the idea that a single SES instance can handle “10x more data.” No baseline metrics are given and my tests of SES 10g are several years old. Lots of processor changes under the bridge. Am I to use Oracle Sun hardware? Again I don’t know what this means. I do know that pushing real time content through a system is a tough problem to solve without a lorry full of euros.
- Customization. As Oracle says, “A UI mechanism based on the popular Freemarker templating language that greatly simplifies customizations to the SES search application”. What’s a Freemarker? Think open source. Ah, that’s going to be interesting. Open source.
This is a fully customized interface. The screenshot comes from AT Kearney’s “knowledge portal.” Kearney is a blue chip consultant dogpaddling to remain in the top tier with McKinsey, Booz, Bain, and BCG.
- Connectors. Here’s what Oracle says, “New connectivity options to Oracle Applications (EBusiness Suite, Siebel), Web Center, and Fusion Middleware.” Yep, an option. How much are these connectors? Some folks provide them at reasonable prices or give them away as part of the base package. My hunch is that the lorry may need another bundle of euros. If anyone has Oracle connector pricing, please, post the links to the price list in the Comments section of this Web log.
- Filters. Oracle says, “New document filters, especially for MS Office 2007 and SUN Star Office.” I am not sure how I would differentiate a filter from a connector. Oracle owns an outfit that makes a bunch of these gizmos via its acquisition of Stellent which bought technology from the former Outside In years ago.
- More connectors but these now work. Oracle says, “Connector updates for Documentum, SharePoint, and NTFS.” Okay, seems repetitive to me and being able to handle the however many millions of SharePoint instances out in the wild seems like a pretty basic function in my opinion.
- Administrative interface. Oracle says, “A new Admin API with command line abilities.” Okay, command line. Even Google offers one. Back to the good old days of IBM. Good news for people like me who can remember command strings but not people.
- Authentication. Oracle says, “Windows Native Authentication, replacing the previous applet-based approach.” Huh? Most search systems, including the Google Search Appliance, pretty much use what the licensee has up and running. What about the “secure” part? What about the Oracle security server and supporting goodies? What about those government agencies and their hybrid systems which require much Cirque du Soleil acrobatics?
Some Highlights
You can read the March 2010 version of the SES 11g white paper from this link. The fact sheet is here. A February 2010 write up by a quite savvy Oracle professional, Roger Ford, is here. The list of connectors available for the system is here. The query syntax summary is here.
I noticed that clustering was highlighted in the new release. Years ago, Oracle acquired Triple Hop, but I lost track of that technology. The illustration in the Oracle SES 11g documentation did not remind me of Triple Hop’s presentation, but the outputs look somewhat similar to what I saw in the Triple Hop USA Today demo prior to the acquisition of Triple Hop by Oracle. There is a reference to the Porter Method. (Cambridge University, Muscat, remember?) Here’s the clustering presentation:
You can alter the appearance. I know I would. I have a tough time reading white on green with little yellow folders. I am an old addled goose, and most of the hot UX folks don’t even know a person my age unless grandma and grandpa are still alive in their families.
The best place to start is with the 37 page write up. Much of the text sounded familiar to me. Some of the new parts address the administrative interface and the plumbing changes intended to get the system running at an acceptable speed. I was involved in a project concerning the performance of Oracle SES 10g for a major European newspaper. Response to a query was measured in minutes. The fix I suggested? License another vendor’s system. Performance comes at a price in Oracle Land. There is a reason why Oracle recommends Sun’s nifty new high performance hardware. In college I recall one of my wacky professors explaining vertical integration? Maybe it was another class where the angle was “one vendor, one throat to choke.” I don’t recall. One of these adages might apply to Oracle, search and performance.
In case you don’t recall the architecture of the Secure Enterprise Search system, here’s a diagram from the March 2010 white paper. The image comes from Oracle is owned by them:
Notice the hooks to “tiers” and the Oracle database. Not shown in the diagram is the Oracle security server and its components.
Who Will Buy?
Oracle DBAs. Once the certification is in hand, why go off the reservation? The cost of the system for a single processor is about $35,000. However, the pricing options require some careful study. Among the points to consider are: What’s a processor? What’s a user? What’s a user/processor combination? What are the requirements for the system? Get started with the software licensing fee here. Before you plug in your credit card, make sure you know the hardware and other Oracle components required to make this system sing a happy tune.
Want more? What gaps exist in the search system? Not in this free Web log write up, gentle reader. More invokes the addled goose’s invoice gene.
Stephen E Arnold, July 2, 2010
Freebie
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