Category: Oracle

My company has just bought several PL/SQL Developer licenses and it’s a pretty good tool, but every time I edit a source file I keep accidentally using my beloved UltraEdit (a posh text editor). I then compile the code using SQL*Plus.

Now I know that PL/SQL Developer is designed for the job, but I have everything I need with UltraEdit. I don’t need a code beautifier because I know how to indent code. I don’t need a debugger as I instrument my modular code. I’ve had syntax highlighting for years in UltraEdit.

I’m seriously starting to think I’m becoming an old fart.

Please, somebody validate me. Tell me it’s OK not to use posh IDEs…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I’m thinking of switching from FireFox to Lynx as my main browser. Those new fangled graphical browsers will never catch on…

I had to laugh when I read Jeff Hunter’s blog entry entitled Backup Top 11. That’s not to say I don’t agree with him, in actual fact he’s right on the money!

I just imagined seeing him having convulsions when he saw the state of the backups here. It’s not a pretty site, but you can lead a horse to water…

I guess I should shut up now before I lose my job.

Cheers

Tim…

I’m having an intermittent problem with a Java Stored Procedure. I raised a TAR with Metalink who asked me to run oradebug against the process to pull out errorstacks. Doing this not only killed the session, but brought down the whole instance and OS!

Next I started to get errorstacks out using dbms_system.set_ev. This seemed to work, but it produced truncated errorstacks.

Now I’m debugging the errorstack production in order to allow me to debug the original Java issue.

The joys of running Oracle on Tru64…

Oracle support their products on a ridiculously large number of operating system platforms. It’s a statement of fact, but in reality what does this mean. Over the last coupe of years I’ve come to believe that Oracle “port” to many platforms, but they can only effectively “support” a limited range of those platforms.

These are my thoughts on the relevance of several operating systems on a per-product basis…

Oracle 10g Database:

Linux – Works very fast and is extremely reliable, provided you are VERY careful about what OS packages you update.

Solaris – I like Solaris, but I question using expensive Sparc hardware when Linux on x86 runs faster. Never used Solaris on x86, but then why would I? That’s what Linux is for 😉

HP-UX – Works well, but it’s a dead platform. Ask anyone within HP and you will know that Tru64 and HP-UX are not long for this world. HP-UX on x86? Yeah, right!

Tru64 – Contact Oracle support for help on Tru64 and you will soon find out they don’t have access to Tru64 instances to test anything worth doing. It’s a great platform but it’s already been end-of-lifed by HP so don’t even go there!

Windows – Oracle works well on Windows, but it’s not as fast as running it on top of Linux, so why put money into Bill’s pocket for lower performance?

Oracle 10g Application Server:

It’s a Linux product. Running it on any other operating system is a waste of time and money.

Please don’t try and run it on Tru64. You’ll spend months fighting it and eventually get HP to replace your Alpha kit with x86 kit for free. It happened to me 😉

Oracle Collaboration Suite:

It’s a messy and overcomplicated product built on 9iAS components. In my opinion 9iAS was a total abortion, and I’m not too fond of OCS.

Anyway, it’s a Linux product. To paraphrase a conversation with Oracle consultants, “It’s supported on a number of platforms but it’s a Linux product.” Enough said.

Oracle E-Business Suite:

See AS10g and OCS.

From this post you might conclude one of two things:

• I’m a rabid Linux fan.
• I’ve used Oracle on many platforms and always found the best way to get support is to use the latest version of a product on the platform Oracle prefer and Oracle currently have a love affair with Linux.

I like to think it’s the latter, but I do find myself foaming at the mouth in the presence of penguins…

Cheers

Tim…