Oracle 11g RAC on NFS…

As a follow-on from my 10g RAC on NFS article, I thought it would be nice to have an 11g RAC on NFS article. The process is very similar, with a couple of exceptions:

  • The Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (vipca) runs in silent mode without any problems now. Under 10g, you had to use a “real” public IP address for this to work. Under 11g it now works with private IPs like “192.168.x.x” etc.
  • Oracle 11g includes a Direct NFS Client for “optimized” Oracle over NFS performance. I don’t have the relevant kit to do a performance comparison, so I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. If someone has some figures for this I would be interested to hear them.

Cheers

Tim…

Update: For information on Direct NFS Client performance look here.

Database 11g…

You’ve gotta love Eddie Awad! I think he deserves “Oracle Blogger of the Year” again for this post alone:

Download Oracle Database 11g Release 1 Now

I’ve added links to the 11g documentation, a documentation search and an error message search to the ORACLE-BASE.com website navigation bar.

Currently 11% downloaded. The internet is too slow. I demand it gets faster! 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Don’t talk to me for a month!

PPS. Just kidding. 🙂

Update: My first 11g article is now complete:

Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) Installation On Enterprise Linux 4.5 and 5.0

Polenta…

I was at the supermarket and by accident I came across Polenta, which is dried ground sweetcorn (maize). I initially thought it was couscous, which I eat by the bucket load, but was intrigued by a single warning on the back, which read,

“Warning. When cooking this product may boil volcanically.”

They should put that in big letters on the front of the packet! I would have bought it years ago if I’d seen a marketing campaign saying that.

I’ve just cooked some, and sure enough, it makes a right mess. Not surprisingly, it tastes like mashed sweetcorn, but the visual experience makes it must-buy product… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Work and Oracle ACE Director… (again)

Work (or not)

The company I work for was taken over 2 years ago and I’ve been waiting since then to see what the result of this takeover would be. In that time loads of staff have left and it’s been a bit of a nightmare.

Yesterday I had a meeting where I had to make some decisions about my future in the company. As most of my colleagues already know, I don’t believe there is a role for someone like me in a company like this, so I’ve made the decision that our paths should diverge.

The result of this is that some time in the next 12 months I’ve got to get off my ass and find a new job. At this point I don’t have a clue what I want to do next. I guess time will reveal all.

Oracle ACE Director

On a more pleasant note, I’ve been invited to become an Oracle ACE Director!

My initial reaction was, “We’re not worthy”, but then I decided it would be a cool thing to do. I’m waiting for clarification of the level of commitment required before actually accepting the offer. Most of the commitments are things I already do, but others include:

  • Attend annual Oracle ACE Directors’ meeting at Oracle Open World
  • Attend most web conferences with product team
  • Attend local Oracle event(s)
  • Present at non-Oracle event(s)

For someone like me, with no company backing, this is actually quite a big commitment. All the time comes out of my holidays and all the expenses come out of my pocket. Committing to Open World every year in itself is quite a financial drain. I guess guys from big consulting companies do this as part of their job already, but for me it involves putting my hands in my own pockets.

Over the next few days I’ll get some more feedback and have to make my decision. I like the sound of getting involved, but it may be a step too far for someone in my position.

Cheers

Tim…

ACE Director 2…

This morning I received and email detailing the merger of the ACE program with the Fusion Middleware Regional Director scheme. It’s a pity this mail didn’t come a couple of days earlier, then my “toys out of the pram” post yesterday wouldn’t have happened. I’m sure over the coming weeks the people I consider the stars of the Oracle world will be recognized as they should be.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle ACE Director?

Eddie wrote about the New Oracle ACE and Website, which was news to me, so I thought I’d take a look. The new category of “Oracle ACE Director” supposedly signifies “a higher level of expectation in terms of community activity”.

I must admit to feeling there were definite tiers in the ACE program. I personally consider certain individuals to be on a different level to the rest of us mortals, so the introduction of an ACE++ seemed like a good idea.

When I looked at the list of people who are ACE Directors the cynic in me came out in full force and here’s why:

  1. Every ACE Director has expertise in “Oracle Fusion Middleware”. There is not a single person listed as an ACE Director from a Database Management or Development background. So knowledge of the database, the product that made Oracle great, is not worthy of any note.
  2. The majority of ACE Directors are newly assigned ACEs, with a few notable exceptions. So all the people who were previously deemed worthy of ACE-dom are not actually as worthy as the new kids on the block.
  3. In my opinion, some people stand head and shoulders above the other people in the list of ACEs. When I look through the list, none of the real stars of the Oracle community are listed as ACE Directors. It seems people like Tom Kyte, Jonathan Lewis and Steven Feuerstein (to mention just three) don’t currently qualify as having “a higher level of expectation in terms of community activity”. Are you sure?

I’m sure that some of these points will be rectified in the coming weeks, and I don’t want to put other people and their achievements down, but for the moment, this whole re-jig of the Oracle ACE program doesn’t look right to me.

Cheers

Tim…

UPDATE: I subsequently read the top “Oracle ACE News”story, which says,

“The Oracle ACE and Oracle Fusion Middleware Regional Director programs have merged, with the latter now being known as “Oracle ACE Directors.” Furthermore, Oracle Database experts (on management and app development) are now eligible to serve as Oracle ACE Directors as well.”

That explains a lot of my current gripes. Hopefully, the rest will be ironed out soon.

Transformers…

For the last year or more in the UK they have been showing a Citroen advert on TV with a car that turns into a robot then dances, ice skates and runs. The camera work on this advert is really clean and you can see everything really clearly. I went into the Transformers movie expecting to see something similar, which no doubt tainted my view of the movie.

It’s a good movie and no doubt deserves the 8/10 ratings people have been giving it, but there were two major drawbacks, which seem to be common to every film these days:

  • If I make it longer, it must be better! Wrong! Keep kids films like this under 90 minutes and they will go down a storm. Take them above 90 minutes and they become boring.
  • If I shake the camera it will look exciting! Wrong! It just makes me want to start fitting. It seems these days the only prerequisite for being a Hollywood camera person is to have an acute case of Parkinson’s.

Moaning aside, I enjoyed it, but with a few minor modifications I could have come out saying it was the best film I’ve ever seen.

Cheers

Tim…