Modern Oracle Catalog Architecture - Exercise

House-O-Pets is launching a new website for its online product catalog. The catalog combines product data, category information, product images, and searchable content. In the past, organizations often tried to solve this problem by generating large numbers of static HTML pages and placing image files in server directories. In a modern Oracle environment, the same business goal is achieved more effectively by separating responsibilities across specialized platform components.

Your task is to design a directory, storage, and application strategy for this catalog using current Oracle technology. Product data should be stored in Oracle Database 23ai. Images and other unstructured files should be stored outside the database in cloud object storage, with their metadata recorded in relational tables. The web tier can expose catalog data through ORDS, through a Java application running on WebLogic, or through a lightweight front end that consumes REST endpoints.

The business wants customers to search products quickly, browse category pages, and retrieve product details and images with good performance as the number of users grows. Your design should reflect a modern Oracle deployment model rather than a legacy Oracle Internet Directory or interMedia-era implementation.

Observe the project information below. Using the scenario details, devise your own set of logical directories, storage locations, and application components for the online catalog. Your design should include a list of directories, buckets, API paths, or application modules, and it should address these questions:

1. Where should product data be stored?
2. Where should product images and downloadable media be stored?
3. How can Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) or WebLogic help deliver the catalog to users?
4. Why is storing image metadata in the database easier to maintain than embedding everything directly in static web pages?
5. How does this architecture improve scalability and searchability compared to a legacy static-page approach?

Application Components and Storage Design:
Application module: catalog-api
Purpose: Exposes product and category data through ORDS REST endpoints or a Java application deployed on WebLogic.

Database schema: product_catalog
Contents: products, categories, product_images, inventory_status, product_attributes.

Object storage bucket: product-media
Contents: product images, PDFs, marketing assets, and downloadable media files.

URL path: /api/products/
Purpose: Returns catalog data as JSON for product search and product detail views.

URL path: /products/
Purpose: User-facing catalog pages generated by the web application or front-end layer.

Database table: product_images
Contents: product_id, object_name, public_url or signed_url, alt_text, mime_type, display_order.

Optional search page: search-products
Purpose: Allows users to search the catalog by keyword, category, or attribute without relying on manually generated HTML files.