PIVOT and UNPIVOT in 11g…

I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing again after my 2 month layoff. It’s a little daunting, but quite fun as well.

There’s a bunch of 11g new features that didn’t make it into the OCP exam, and the PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators fall slap bang into that category.

Pretty neat!

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle 11g RAC On Linux Using VMware Server 2…

I mentioned in a previous post I had taken the plunge and upgraded to VMware Server 2 on my laptop. Now I’ve also upgraded my main machine at home and it seems to be working fine. Probably the most complicated thing I run at home is a virtual RAC, so I wrote a new article to document the installation:

From a user point of view, the only difference between VMware Server 1.x and 2 is the new web-based managment interface. The VM setup itself is almost identical and as you would expect, so is the Oracle installation.

So far so good.

Cheers

Tim…

Back in Birmingham…

I’m back in Birmingham after my mammoth conference run, but I’m finding it a little hard adjusting to normal life again. For a start, it’s 03:15 and I had breakfast at 23:00. As you’ve probably guessed by now I’ve not adjusted to the UK timezone very well. I’m stuck somewhere between NZ and UK.

The weather is pretty grim at the moment. This is made worse by the fact I’m mostly awake at night. Having come from spring in NZ, this is a bit of a shock, and quite depressing.

The conference run went really well. OpenWorld was it’s normal larger than life self. There is the normal world, then there’s OpenWorld. It’s pointless trying to describe it, you’ve just got to live it.

The Australian Oracle User Group (AUSOUG) events were really cool. The people are really easy to get along with and the events were good fun. My talks went down pretty well, which was a relief.

The New Zealand Oracle User Group (NZOUG) conference was a little smaller than the Australian events, but that made it a lot more personal. I got to spend a little more time speaking to people on a one-to-one basis, which is a bonus.

About 20 months ago I wrote a rather desperate post about a friend leaving for NZ. Most of the time in NZ I was staying with him, his girlfriend and their 7 month old daughter. It was really great getting together again. It made NZ feel more like home than Birmingham. As a result, leaving was not the most pleasant experience and it all got a bit messy at the airport. Going through the airport security checks in tears is not a good look. 🙁

So I’m back, feeling a bit flat and a little depressed. Hopefully, things will feel a little better in daylight…

Cheers

Tim…

VMware Server 2.0…

I’ve just taken the first tentative steps into the world of VMware Server 2.0. I had read some blogs posts about people experiencing issues and reverting to the previous version, but so far so good. I’ve installed it on my laptop and upgraded the VMware Tools on VMs and it all seems to be behaving so far.

Running previous VMware Server versions on Vista had one big drawback. The first VM to start after a reboot caused the whole laptop to hang for 5-10 minutes. Version 2.0 seems to have solved this problem. No hangs and the VMs seem to start pretty fast.

Version 2.0 also includes support for RHEL5 and its clones.

When I get back home I’ll have to give it a try on my main machine and see how RAC installations cope.

Cheers

Tim…

Maskerade, Feet of Clay, Hogfather, Jingo, The Last Continent and The Celestine Prophecy…

I’ve read a five more of the Discworld series.

Maskerade: The witches get involved in a Phantom of the Opera plot.

Feet of Clay : The City Watch are involved in a detective story involving Golems, men made out of clay.

Hogfather : Death takes over the role of the Hogfather and leaves his granddaughter to carry on the family business.

Jingo : Ankh-Morpork goes to war with Klatch over a mysterious new island.

The Last Continent : Rincewind and the Wizards get mixed up in the creation and evolution of the continent XXXX, which has striking similarities with Australia. This was especially funny as I started reading it when I was in Australia. No Worries! 🙂

On a completely different tack, one of my friends recommended The Celestine Prophecy. It’s written in the first-person, so it has the feel of fact, rather than fiction. Quite an interesting book really. Anything that makes you question your belief system is interesting, even if it is a bit fanciful.

That brings me up to date I think. I best get out to a book shop and get the next Discworld book. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…