Oracle WebLogic Server Selected by CERN to Manage HR and Administrative Applications

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has selected Oracle WebLogic Server (www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/weblogic/overview/index.html) to manage technical applications, as well as the numerous HR and administrative Java-based web applications used by CERN employees. In December 2010, the first Oracle WebLogic Server application was deployed to schedule LHC (Large Hadron Collider) interventions.

Using Oracle WebLogic Suite Virtualization Option (www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/application-server/weblogic-suite-virtualization-067887.html) , which brings together Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition (www.oracle.com/appserver/jrockit/index.html) , running on Oracle VM server virtualization software, CERN can more rapidly provision and deploy virtual machines, maximize their hardware and management resources and reduce costs.

Oracle WebLogic Server on JRockit Virtual Edition eliminates the operating system as it runs directly on the hypervisor using Oracle VM and frees up system resources, allowing CERN to run more application server instances on the same hardware.

CERN recently performed tests on Oracle WebLogic Server on JRockit Virtual Edition with a representative workload using APT (Activity Planning Tool), a CERN application used to manage resources and budgets, plan new contracts, order replacements and other important administrative operations. The tests confirmed that highly intensive workloads run equally well using Oracle WebLogic Suite Virtualization Option compared with the same workloads on a physical machine.

In CERN’s production experience, JRockit Mission Control has been a very useful tool to identify bugs and capture the production state of the machine, which can be used for later analysis of memory leaks.

CERN has also integrated Oracle VM (www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/oraclevm/index.html) in CERN’s Extremely Large Fabric Management System, which automates the installation and configuration of bare metal servers. As a result, CERN can install and configure a server in 20 minutes without any human interaction.

In addition, Oracle VM makes it easier for CERN to deploy and manage software applications and is highly optimized to run business-critical database and application workloads efficiently and cost-effectively.

“We chose Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle VM because they enable us to make better use of our physical and virtual resources and it covers all the needs of our applications with better efficiency, less risk and an improved quality of service,” said Carlos Garcia Fernandez, computer scientist at CERN. “Oracle WebLogic Server easily integrates with the other Oracle products we have at CERN and provides a consistent and stable platform for deploying numerous applications in a large scale environment.”