Month: October 2009

You know you’re an Oracle geek when…

You know you’re a geek when…

Faced with the choice between drinking, dancing and eating at the OTN Night party or attending the OTN Installfest, you go to the OTN Installfest…

Without making myself sound even sadder than I am, this years Installfest had some quite exciting stuff in it.

Btrfs – You love Linux, but you wish it had an enterprise class filesystem. There’s one coming thanks to Oracle…

JRocket Virtual Edition – You want to provision a new App Server on Oracle VM. So you have to install and patch an OS and then install the app server right? Wrong! You use JRocket Virtual Edition which installs directly on Oracle VM. No OS, nothing!

Assembly Builder – You need to provision a new multi-server system on Oracle VM. Maybe 2 DNS servers, identity manager server, a 2 node RAC database and a couple of app servers. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could drag and drop a few boxes onto a screen, draw lines between them and fill in a couple of properties then hit go! I’ve seen a demo of just that. It takes OEL JeOS and Oracle VM Template Builder to the next level.

Wim Coekaerts and his team are stars.

Fun, fun, fun…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Oh yeah. Oracle Validated will soon be updated to work with 11g R2.

OpenWorld Events – Monday…

I intended to go to some regular sessions, but changed tack and spent the day in Moscone West at the Unconference instead.

  • Chalk & Talk: The Core Performance Fundamentals Of Oracle Data Warehousing (Greg Rahn, Database Performance Engineer, Real-World Performance Group @ Oracle): I’m not a DW guy and I don’t work with Exadata kit, so this was pretty interesting for me. It’s pretty wild what this Exadata stuff can do. I’ll be going to the Terabyte session tomorrow where they will be doing a bunch of live demos.
  • Fundamentals of Performance (Oracle ACE Director Cary Millsap): I’ve seen Cary speak a few times and each time I really enjoy it. His presentation style is effortless and his explanations are so clear. He’s one of those people that raises the bar.
  • Oracle Exadata Storage Server FAQ Review and Q&A with Kevin Closson (Performance Architect, Oracle): Read Kevin’s blog and you will know he is passionate about storage and hardware. Watching him present on Exadata was like watching a freakishly eloquent child with a new toy. You come away desperate for Santa to bring you one at Christmas.
  • Visualization Session – Make your charts more effective for troubleshooting and presenting (Oracle ACE Chen Shapira): Chen took a specific use case and showed a variety of graphing methods that could be used to represent the data. It’s interesting to see how your perception of the data changes depending on the method used, and how some can distract from your message.

Alex did a video interview with me, Chris and Jacco. It’s very embarrassing and he promised to edit it, which he didn’t. You can see it here.

I’m off to the OTN night now.

Cheers

Tim…

Get your OTN Installfest Media kits…

The first 500 people at Wim Coekaerts (VP of Linux and Virtualization Engineering) Q&A session getthe OTN installfest media kit. It contains:

  • Enterprise Linux 5 U4 32 & 64 bit
  • Oracle 11g R2 Database 32 & 64 bit
  • Fusion Middleware DVD for Linux
  • SQL Developer
  • APEX
  • Oracle VM (2.1.5)

And much more…
The event is 7:30-9:30 Yerba Buena Theatre, left of OTN tent on Howard Street.

Get there early to get your free stuff… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle ACE Dinner: The Dutch Invasion…

It was the Oracle ACE dinner last night, which clashed with the reception party and the Oak Table party. Luckily we managed to steal a few people from both.

There was a very strong Dutch presence last night. I think we need to move to stop this invasion of freakishly tall people from entering the ACE program. It’s raising the average height and making me appear shorter than I am…

Probably the biggest topic of conversation was the upcoming Oracle games console. Even a few of the Oracle rockstars present have started to take notice now. Damn those non-disclosure agreements. This needs to go public and it needs to go public now…

Cheers

Tim…

Develop Day…

The Develop day is my first conference day, but I guess for most people it is Day -1. After purposely leaving my calendar empty, I ended up filling the day quite well.

  • What Are We Still Doing Wrong? by Tom Kyte: It’s always a pleasure to hear Tom speak. He always has a good balance of content and humor and engages the audience so well, even in a massive room like today. Check out the slides when they come out. There are a number of the links to WTF style code samples and questions.
  • Welcome to the Oracle Application Express Sunday Symposium (ODTUG/IOUG) by Scott Spendolini and Dimitri Gielis: I grabbed some food with Scott yesterday and we discussed the contents of this talk so today it was a bit like deja vous. 🙂 Scott and Dimitri set the scene for the rest of the weeks presentations by explaining why APEX is a valid option when it comes to migrating/converting from legacy to web technology.
  • Oracle XML Database: Design Concepts for XML Applications That Will Perform by Marco Gralike: I’ve been working with the XML features of Oracle since they were introduced, but on a very small scale. Marco on the other hand has been doing the real deal. It’s good to hear some numbers from someone in the trenches.
  • Designing PL/SQL with Intent by Andrew Clarke: I’ve been presenting for about 2 years now and I guess it’s all thanks to Andrew. He gave me my first speaking opportunities as part of the UKOUG SIG events. He also gave me loads of tips about presenting, so I am forever in his dept. This talk was about the concepts behind design patterns as they relate to PL/SQL. Rather than go for the easy prescriptive option, he used design patterns for town planning as his metaphor and then related them to PL/SQL. I really liked the way it worked out. When I see people do these styles of talks I’m always a little jealous because it’s not something I can really pull off.
  • Oracle XML Database: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 New Features by Marco Gralike: The second talk by Marco I attended today (I’m not stalking him). As the name implies, this one was a quick romp through the new XML DB features in release 2, but it also mentioned some of the stuff from release 1.

One of the really nice things about all the traveling and speaking I’ve been doing over the last year is I’ve met so many people. Walking round today I keep bumping into people I’ve met at other conferences. It invariably results in me saying, “I’ve met you before but I don’t have a clue where!” 🙂 It’s cool because even though this is a massive event, it can still feel intimate when you are constantly meeting friendly faces.

It’s the ACE dinner tonight. I’m feeling a bit battered now, but I’m sure I’ll get my second wind by the time it starts.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle ACE Director meeting and stuff…

The ACE Director meeting went well yesterday. On the database base side there were a couple of really neat things mentioned that they are considering for the next release. As usual it’s all a big secret, so it looks like I’ve got to keep my fingers crossed and my gob shut for a couple of years…

Lots of the other stuff went over my head. I’m just a DB guy, so the middleware and SOA stuff confuses me. 🙂

The prototype of the Oracle games console was awesome. Can’t wait to see what impact it has on the gaming sector. I think it’s going to strike fear into the hearts of Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony.

It’s was cool to hook up with all the usual suspect, and meet a few new faces.

After the meeting it was a very jerky bus trip into the city to check into the InterContinental hotel. I’m so close to the Moscone Convention Center that if I threw myself out of my 19th floor window I would practically be in/on Moscone West, albeit rather flat. My room is awesome.

In the evening I went out with a couple of the guys to a local Irish bar where Anjo forced me to drink beer. He really is a very bad influence on me. Doug Burns bailed on us. Probably suffering from “jet lag” again.

So I have today off before the circus comes to town tomorrow. I’m a combination of exited, nervous, daunted and tired.

On a slightly different note, I actually cleared my inbox for the first time in several months. I feel an air of calm descending over me… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Arrived in San Francisco…

I arrived safely at San Francisco. My trips to OpenWorld are never without drama. My first flight was delayed due to problems at Frankfurt, making it look like I would miss my connection. Fortunately a slot opened for us and we got to Frankfurt 15 minutes late, instead of the original estimate of 40 minutes. I got to the next gate with about 10 minutes to spare so all was good.

I decided to try out the “get drunk and pass out” method of flying for the second leg. For me this involved two Gin & Tonics. It had the desired effect of making me drunk, but unfortunately didn’t result in any sleep. As the flight went on I started to get a hangover, so the whole thing backfired on me. I won’t be trying that again. At least the experiment didn’t cost me any money. The air steward seemed to take a shine to me and refused to let me pay for my drinks, even though he charged everyone else. Top bloke!

The Oracle ACE director meeting is tomorrow, so I’m going to get some food and try to sleep.

Cheers

Tim…

People, guns and headache pills…

I’m sitting at Birmingham airport about to embark on my trip to OOW 2009. I’m always a bit nervous before OOW. It’s so big and so daunting. I know I’m going to enjoy it, but the prospect seems a little overwhelming…

Airports are unusual places, mostly because of the people that populate them. Looking around I see several distinct types:

  • Business People: Moving straight from the plane to a meeting, so they have to look neat. As a result they look overdressed for several hours in a glorified cattle truck.
  • Holiday Formal: These holiday types are still of the attitude that air travel is a special occasion, so they are going to get dressed in their Sunday best and make a big thing of it. Listen darling, those heals are not suited to 11 hours in a plane!
  • Holiday Slob: People well versed in the hell that is international travel. Comfort is king and they don’t care what they look like. I lump myself in this category.
  • Unhappily Married: Couples sitting together because they have to. Not speaking because there is nothing to say. One look tells you this is the beginning of the holiday from hell.
  • The Normals: Regular folk who don’t fit snugly into any of the categories mentioned above.

The police in the UK don’t carry guns, so it still makes a big impression when I see the armed police at UK airports. I just stood in a queue at Boots with an armed police officer. He was buying headache pills…

Am I the only one concerned that someone is walking round with oozy and a headache? Needless to say I didn’t make a joke about it. I didn’t really fancy a strip search from a guy with a gun and a headache, although I guess some people would pay good money for that… 🙂

This post will come to the net a little late as the internet terminal I’m using doesn’t have a functioning space bar, so this post will need some editing before going live.

Cheers

Tim…

District 9…

District 9 certainly wears its influences on its sleeve. It has the grittiness of Cloverfield, a touch of The Fly, a dab of Alien Nation and a big dose of social commentary about Apartheid. The poster gives the impression it’s going to be another Independence Day, but thankfully it’s not.

The film shows humans at their worst, but looking back through history you can just see this type of thing happening. Being based in South Africa just adds to the weight of the story.

It’s a really cool film and makes a change from the super-slick Hollywood Sci-Fi stuff.

Cheers

Tim…

When routers go bad…

I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my internet connection over the last three days. Each night the connection dropped and it took ages to reconnect. It came to a head this morning when my router had once again disconnected, but refused to reconnect.

I phoned the support number for the ISP and they were very helpful, but life can get a little tricky when you don’t have a Windows PC to plug into the ADSL modem they supply. After a little messing around they agreed to escalate my issue.

While I was waiting I went to the local PC World store and bought a new router, just in case. I got home and as soon as I plugged it in it connected. Typical…

So this is my third router now. The first one started to smoke. The second died silently and smokelessly. Let’s see how long this one lasts.

Cheers

Tim…