Re: oracle context option used in webapplications

In article <35AF5D63.CB8D6DB2_at_wxs.nl>,
  Ronald Doelen <ronald.doelen_at_wxs.nl> wrote:
> Does anyone have experience with the Oracle ConText option.

We've been using it on a major public site for about 8 months now.

> Does it works as well as Oracle claims.

It works very well. The technology is top-shelf.

> How well does it integrate with the oracle tools.

I don't have any information on this. We call ConText from Perl scripts.

> What impact does the Oracle ConText option have on the database.

It puts all of its data in its own user / schema. It requires ConText processes to be running to handle queries and index updates. These processes are not involved with non-ConText database queries. It creates a number of tables that store the text indices, and it creates a number of Oracle indices on these tables.

The database itself shouldn't slow down while ConText is running, although it will, of course, consume CPU cycles to some degree. This should only be an issue when it is indexing.

> How much maintenance is required.

This is where it comes up short. Support is at a minimum, since there are very few people in Oracle Support who are familiar with the product (we usually have to explain what it is to the first tech to answer our call). Eventually, people familiar with the product get involved, which usually is someone who is VERY familiar with it, thankfully. The documentation is there, but scattered in multiple files and chapters. Administration is very poor, although a GUI tool does exist (we were unable to use it in our distributed environment).

I would like to say it's a matter of fighting with it as you set it up, and then it runs like a dream. However, we've encountered problems here and there while it's been running. It seems to be getting stuck while attempting to handle a query request or a request to update its index, and then response gets stalled or slowed. We're in contact with them now to solve just this sort of problem.

I should mention that we are running ConText v2.3 on a 7.3 Solaris db. Your mileage may vary, especially if you are using Oracle 8.

                                                -Jon.
--
 Jon Atkinson * Senior Developer * Virtual Frontiers

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