[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]
The code name “Oslo” repository is a SQL Server 2008 database for storing and managing models for the enterprise. The “Oslo” repository plays a central role in the code name “Oslo” modeling technologies vision of productively building and managing model-driven applications.
Organizations today routinely repeat the same complex task of designing enterprise-ready databases to store data related to their application and business requirements. The “Oslo” repository simplifies this task by providing a Base Domain Library (BDL). The BDL provides tables and procedures that support features such as claims-based security, change tracking, versioning, and localization. The “Oslo” repository enables organizations to more quickly focus on modeling tasks by reducing the database design and architecture requirements to support the resulting models.
Benefits of a Central Repository
Application development teams share a central storage location for data associated with all stages of the application lifecycle. This provides improved communication and an ability to view the application as a whole as well as drill into implementation details when needed.
IT operations also benefits from storing groups of related information together in the “Oslo” repository. This information includes machine configuration data, scripts, and business processes. Storing this information in the same “Oslo” repository database that contains application models enables the connection between this information and the applications it applies to.
All users and applications leveraging the “Oslo” repository database benefit from its design as well as its use of SQL Server 2008. The Base Domain Library (BDL) provides important infrastructure services and features. The design of the “Oslo” repository provides open and flexible access to the data it contains, but it also enforces security using “Oslo” repository Folders and updatable security views. Rather than requiring a fixed API to implement security, users and applications can use any data access technology to interact with the “Oslo” repository. Security is maintained through the updatable security views, and individual rows of data are secured by their association with Folders. In addition to data access and security patterns, the BDL provides many other important services. For more information about “Oslo” repository scalability, performance, and other design features, see Enterprise-Ready Features.
Oslo and the "Oslo" Repository
The previously described benefits apply directly to the requirements of “Oslo” modeling technologies that supports enterprise development on the .NET platform. “Oslo” tools and technologies rely on the “Oslo” repository to design, develop, deploy, and manage model-driven applications. The “Oslo” repository provides a central location to store and manage models, which makes the “Oslo” repository a unifying foundation for all of the “Oslo” modeling technologies.
The “Oslo” repository is the central location for storing models. An organization might create a model in the “M” language and then load that model into the “Oslo” repository. Once there, a development team can create an application that reads the new model, adds data to the model, and uses the model to drive application behavior. Other tools, such as Microsoft code name “Quadrant”, integrate with the “Oslo” repository to enable a rich graphical experience for exploring the models in the “Oslo” repository.
For more information about “Oslo” modeling technologies, see "Oslo" and Model-Driven Applications.
See Also