Getting a handle on mobile data
- by Eric Jensen
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written by Ashok Joshi
The proliferation of mobile devices in the corporate world
is both a blessing as well as a challenge. Mobile devices improve
productivity and the velocity of business for the end users; on the other hand,
IT departments need to manage the corporate data and applications that run on
these devices.
Oracle Database Mobile Server (DMS for short) provides a
simple and effective way to deal with the management challenge. DMS
supports data synchronization between a central Oracle database server and data
on mobile devices. It also provides authentication, encryption and
application and device management. Finally, DMS is a highly scalable
solution that can be used to manage hundreds of thousands of
devices.
Here’s a simplified outline of how such a solution might
work. Each device runs local sync and mgmt agents that handle
bidirectional data flow with an Oracle enterprise backend, run remote commands,
and provide status to the management console. For example, mobile admins could
monitor multiple networks of mobile devices, upgrade their software remotely,
and even destroy the local database on a compromised device. DMS supports
either Oracle Berkeley DB or SQLite for device-local storage, and runs on a wide variety of mobile platforms. The schema for the device-local database is
pretty simple – it contains the name of the application that’s installed on the
device as well as details such as product name, version number, time of last
access etc.
Each mobile user has an account on the monitoring
system. DMS supports authentication via the Oracle database
authentication mechanisms or alternately, via an external authentication server
such as Oracle Identity Management. DMS also provides the option of encrypting
the data on disk as well as while it is being synchronized.
Whenever a device connects with DMS, it sends the list of
all local application changes to the server; the server updates the central
repository with this information. Synchronization can be triggered
on-demand, whenever there’s a change on the device (e.g. new application
installed or an existing application removed) or via a rule-based schedule
(e.g. every Saturday). Synchronization is very fast and efficient, since only
the changes are propagated. This includes resume capability; should
synchronization be interrupted for any reason, the next synchronization will
resume where the previous synchronization was interrupted.
If the device should be lost or stolen, DMS has the capability
to remove the applications and/or data from the device. This ability to control
access to sensitive data and applications is critical in the corporate
environment.
The central repository also allows the IT manager to track
the kinds of applications that mobile users use and recommend patches and
upgrades, while still allowing the mobile user full control over what
applications s/he downloads and uses on the device. This is useful since
most devices are used for corporate as well as personal information.
In certain restricted use scenarios, the IT manager can also
control whether a certain application can be installed on a mobile
device. Should an unapproved application be installed, it can easily be
removed the next time the device connects with the central server.
Oracle Database mobile server provides a simple, effective
and highly secure and scalable solution for managing the data and applications
for the mobile workforce.
