I recently got a question about APEX, which in itself is kind-of funny as it’s a case of the blind leading the blind, but as a result of that question it became apparent the poster was running a very old version of APEX. My first reaction was “Dude, you really need to upgrade!”. It was at that point I was hit with a line I’ve heard a lot over the years.
“Our DBA(s) won’t install/upgrade APEX!”
This gets on my nerves for a few reasons.
- APEX is a free (no cost option?) tool. Why would you not take advantage of it if it fits your purpose?
- Even if you don’t want to use APEX directly, it comes with some useful code. I use the APEX_JSON, APEX_WEB_SERVICE, APEX_DATA_PARSER, APEX_ZIP and APEX_MAIL packages all the time from PL/SQL. Why would you hinder your PL/SQL developers by not giving them access to useful stuff?
- If you already have APEX installed, why would you possibly think it is good to run an old version? Like any other piece of software the upgrades include bug fixes, not just new functionality. Are you really happy about running with un-patched functionality?
- Of course the newer versions have improved functionality, which is just nice to have. 🙂
I guess I can kind-of understand companies/people who don’t want to install an extra product into the database as it’s another thing to manage, but I really don’t understand people running old versions. I see nothing but disadvantages in that…
So back to the title of this post, “Hey DBA, install/upgrade APEX!”
Cheers
Tim…
Hi Tim. We have APEX database, and we are currently trying to upgrade it. Problem is that its not so easy, as half of APEX resides on OS, and you need to somehow make DB and OS parts work together after migration.
I have not used APEX, but what you say makes sense.
A slightly unrelated question- we recently developed an ETL job that loads data into an APEX database (basically this is the underlying database for an APEX application). The DBAs gave us specific instructions not to stage or perform any transformations within the APEX database. We were told that the APEX licensing does not allow this. Is there any licensing restriction like this specific to APEX?
Ramil Rahimov: I don’t know what the “OS” bit you are talking about is. I install APEX on the DB and that’s it. I remove the software from the OS.
We front it with mod_plsql or ORDS, which has the images on it…
Mukundhan: I know nothing about that. I guess you need to raise an SR to ask about any potential implications…
Cheers
Tim…