AWS News Blog
Additional RDS for Oracle Features – VPC Support, Oracle Application Express (APEX) and Oracle XML DB
We have added three new features to Amazon RDS for Oracle Database to enable you to use it for more of your use cases:
- You can use Amazon RDS for Oracle in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
- You can use Oracle XML DB to store, retrieve, navigate, and query XML documents.
- You can use Oracle Application Express (APEX) to rapidly build web applications.
Judging from the number of requests that I have received for these features, I expect them to be very popular.
Amazon RDS for Oracle in Amazon VPC
You can now launch Amazon RDS DB Instances running Oracle Database within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Within a VPC, you can define a virtual network topology and customize the network configuration as desired. You can use subnets, routers, and access control lists to create the same type of network that you would find in a traditional data center. Amazon RDS for Oracle makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale Oracle Database deployments in the cloud. You can not only create Multi-AZ Oracle Database deployments with automated failure detection and recovery but also leverage Oracle Enterprise Manager to manage your databases. In addition, all of the other Amazon RDS for Oracle Database functionality is available including backup management, software patching, and easy scaling of compute and storage resources to meet changing needs.
Oracle APEX
Oracle APEX is a rapid web development tool for Oracle database and enables you to create and deploy rich web applications using a web browser and limited programming experience. Both the Runtime and Development environments are available and you can switch between them using our Option Groups functionality.
To start using APEX, you will need to create an RDS for Oracle DB instance (this is the APEX repository). You can also use an existing one if it is running engine version 11.2.0.2.v4 (or newer) of the RDS for Oracle Database. Apply the XMLDB, APEX, and APEX_DEV options via a RDS option group:
You will have to set the password of the APEX_PUBLIC_USER account and then unlock it.
You will also need to install and run the APEX listener (the HTTP server) on your own host or on an Amazon EC2 instance. As part of the configuration process, you will point the listener at your RDS instance.
Oracle XMLDB
Oracle XML DB is a feature of Oracle database that provides native XML storage and retrieval capabilities. It fully supports the W3C XML data model and provides new standard access methods for navigating and querying XML. With Oracle XML DB you get the advantages of relational database technology and the benefits of XML.
In addition to these new updates, we have also included support for Oracle Time Zone so you can change the time zone of your Oracle database. This enables you to consistently store timestamp information when you have users in multiple time zones by setting the time zone datatype TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIMEZONE.
These features are all available at no additional charge in all Regions where Amazon RDS for Oracle is available.