ORDS, SODA & JSON in the Database

Oracle Enterprise Linux RAC Clusters 11.1.0.7

We are a .NET shop, but I have been recently asked to evaluate APEX. To start, I installed APEX in a sandbox database and want to use the standalone listener. The installed in the database went fine, the listener is configured, and I have an open ticket with Oracle to get to the next step. That is prompting my questions below.

I understand that from development and forward, Oracle does not recommend the standalone listener. In those environments, the Java Enterprise Edition Application Servers of either Oracle WebLogic Server, Oracle GlassFish Server or Oracle Containers for J2EE are supported.

My database is in an Oracle RAC cluster and we don't want to run an Application Server on the cluster. How do sites generally install the application servers? On another standalone server with the listener running there? Is Windows the most popular environment for the application server? Are these licensed products?

I am placing the standalone listener on one of the RAC nodes for now since this is not permanent. I have heard, though, that the standalone listener needs to be on a separate server that has a web server installed (i.e. apache).

Can someone provide an overview of how APEX is used and its configuration?