Oracle 10g Release 2 Installation Guides

I’ve just started producing some brief installation guides for Oracle 10g Release 2 on different versions of Linux. Here’s what I have so far:

Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.1) Installation On Fedora Core 4
Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.1) Installation On RedHat Advanced Server 4.0

I’ll see if I can get RHEL3 and FC3 done tomorrow, but no promisses.

Interestingly, Red Hat AS 2.1 is not a supported platform for 10g R2 according to the OUI valid platform list. I guess it was about time they dropped this version, but I thought they might carry it forward to the end of 10g. Now some people wil be forced to do an OS and Oracle upgrade.

Happy installing…

Tim…

10g Release 2, Oracle Spending Spree and Unsecured Wireless Networks

I’m struggling to come to terms with the fact that 10g Release 2 is still not available for download. If you’re struggling to cope with its absense you can get ahead of the game by reading these articles:

Oracle Database 10g: Top Features for DBAs – Release 2 Features Addendum

Some very cool stuff has been added in this release!

Oracle has continued it’s spending spree. See: Oracle goes shopping again.

We often talk about the lack of security on wireless networks, but could we find ourselves in court if we use them? Sounds like the answer could be yes! See:

Man Arrested for Using Open Wireless Network

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Did I mention I was still waiting for 10g Release 2?

Star Wars, Lego and a Webcam…

I’ll start this post by stating the few facts:

  • I’m not a major Star Wars fan. I’ve watched all the films, but I’m certainly not a geek about them.
  • I played with Lego as a kid, but it’s not my thing now, unless I’m playing with my nephew.
  • I don’t own a webcam. Actually I can’t think of anything worse than seeing moving pictures of myself on the net.

That said, I think this link is really cool: Lego Start Destroyer

I just think it’s really funny. Imagine the scene, it’s midnight and you decide to build an enormous Lego model of a star destroyer that takes you 10 hours to complete. On top of that you decide to film it using your webcam to create a time-lapse recording of the event for the world to see. Fantastic!

I love technology 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Robert Freeman’s Blog…

I’ve just noticed that Robert Freeman has removed the ability to add comments to his blog and may stop blogging altogether, see his post entitled Removal of comments…

I hope he’s able to carry on blogging. I think it’s good to hear a variety of opinions and I like to read peoples off-topic posts as they give an idea of the personality behind the blog.

Cheers

Tim…

Happy birthday to me!

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Another year older and supposedly another year wiser.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I seem to have missed a few years between 18 and 36. Where did they go and what was I doing? It’s all a blur.

I was sure that Larry was going to release Oracle 10g Release 2 in time for my birthday!

I’m off to hit the books.

Cheers

Tim…

Are we big fish in a small pond?

How well do we as Oracle professionals cope on the worldwide stage?

I was struggling to answer a question on my forum yesterday. My gut reaction was that both the question and answer were simple, but I seemed incapable of grasping the issue. The reason for my difficulty was that English was not the first language of the person asking the question. This made me feel guilty on a couple of levels:

  • I’m a bit ashamed of the fact I can’t speak another language. I was terrible at French and German at school and two years of Japanese lessons left me in a position where all I can do is count to 10 and introduce myself. Not a massive return on my investment 🙂
  • I could imagine the frustration on the part of the other person. A newcomer to Oracle has enough to deal with, without having to cope with a language barrier on top of everything else.

This got me thinking about how we in the English speaking Oracle world must be percieved on the world stage.

I did a quick scan on the net and found a Population by Country breakdown. When you take a look at the numbers you’ll see that in comparison to China and India most countries seem relatively insignificant in population terms. Both these countries have recently seen a boom in their IT industries to the point where they are fast becoming IT superpowers. With that in mind, our myopic view of the IT industry seems very much like being a big fish in a small pond.

In actual fact, the IT industry is more than aware of this fact. So much so that even a certain company with the motto “Don’t be evil.” thinks nothing of censoring its content to get its foot in the door. Of course, they’re not the only people at it:

To return to my initial questions:

  • Are we big fish in a small pond? I think so.
  • How well do we as Oracle professionals cope on the worldwide stage? Not so well.

I would be interested to know the reactions of people on both sides of the debate. If English is not your first language do you feel left out in the cold, or have you come to accept that English is a prerequisite in the IT industry?

Cheers

Tim…

My Utopian Development Environment

Some thoughts about my perfect development environment. Of course it will never happen 🙂

Compulsory PL/SQL APIs
Client application developers would have no direct access to tables. Not even for queries. All access would be provided by PL/SQL APIs. I like this because:

  • It removes the need for triggers as all inserts, updates and deletes are wrapped in APIs. Instead of writing triggers you simply add the code into the API. I loath triggers.
  • It prevents people who don’t understand SQL writing stupid queries. All SQL would be written by PL/SQL developers or DBAs, reducing the likelyhood of dodgy queries.
  • The underlying structure of the database is hidden from the users, so I can make structural changes without client applications being changed.
  • The API implementation can be altered and tuned without affecting the client application.
  • The same APIs are available to all applications that access the database. No duplication of effort.

J2EE abolished
I like Java, but I dislike J2EE. When I look at the way J2EE applications interact with the database it worries me. Perhaps I’ve been unlucky, or perhaps I’m missing the point, but I think it’s shocking. Using container managed persistence (CMP) to generate SQL on the fly worries me. I want to know at development time what is going on. I want to be able to cut and paste the SQL, not try and capture or trace it during a run. At least with bean managed persistence (BMP) you get this, but Java developers seem to avoid BMP like the plague.

Even when J2EE developers use BMP with calls to PL/SQL APIs, the containers have some strange ideas about what’s sensible. To update a record the container requests a query, update and requery of the data, rather than just a query and update. What’s this extra work for? I know what the state of the data is. I’ve just updated it. Even if someone does sneak an update in after me, the bean is being destroyed so the extra query was pointless.

I’m not saying that J2EE is pointless, I just think that 90% of the people out there don’t know, or care, how badly their applications interact with the database. Maybe some Java guru will tell me why I’m talking rubbish, but I can only judge this on my experience and that tells me that J2EE applications are not performant.

Miscellaneous
Just a few extra points to throw into the mix.

  • All client application developers would understand the rudiments of SQL, PL/SQL and DBA work. They don’t have to be experts, but they should understand the basic concepts.
  • All DBAs would understand the rudiments of client application develpment work. Once again, they don’t have to be experts.
  • All DBAs would be skilled at SQL and PL/SQL. I feel they should be the best in the company, but I know others would disagree. Oracle has now dropped the requirement for PL/SQL in the OCP DBA syllabus. In my opinion this is a mistake.
  • Managers would understand when a decision should be made by the techies.
  • Techies would understand when a decision should be made by the management.
  • People would share ideas and information, rather than trying to empire build.
  • Companies would encourage reskilling of employees.
  • Techies would want to keep there skills up to date, or make way for someone who does.
  • Applications would be planned, designed and built using more formal methods, not RAD or iterative development.

Perhaps the most important point is that I would be presented with lavish gifts whenever I entered the room.

Cheers

Tim…