Tag: Oracle

Articles and stuff…

Articles:

I think I’m finally getting myself back on track. It’s been an unusual few weeks though.

I spent quite some time complaining that I couldn’t think of anything to write about and hoping 11g would inspire me. Since the release of 11g and the inevitable installation articles, I’ve felt rather lethargic again. Getting into a new version of the database is always a bit odd. For me it’s a combination of excitement and denial… 🙂

Well, I’ve finally updated the VMware RAC article for 11g, which was dependent on a RAM upgrade. It works fine, but very slow. Unless you want the ASM experience, I think the NFS RAC method is a lot cleaner and easier.

I’ve also started to plug through the DB new features. The first thing I played around with was Partitioning. I’m hoping I can keep up the momentum for a while. I wanted to sit the 11g beta OCP exam, but I know so little about 11g at the moment it seems really unlikely I’ll get to grips with it before the beta exam closes. It’s a shame really because it’s nice to be involved in the process.

Stuff:

I finished reading Vittorio the Vampire. Of all the Anne Rice books I’ve read I think it’s the weakest. It’s all a bit flowery and “mills and boon”. Not my cup of tea.

On a more serious note, my 5 year old nephew was in A&E last night with pneumonia. I was with him all day yesterday and although he wasn’t well, we didn’t suspect something so serious. A bit of Calpol and he was up attacking a balloon octopus with a plastic sword… Things got worse through the night which resulted in the A&E visit and the diagnosis. The doctor was surprised he was so active and chirpy considering. Tough as old boots! 🙂 He’s back at home now and all looks good, but it’s very unnerving. I suspect within a couple of days he will be back in full effect.

Cheers

Tim…

Oct-2007 DE SIG and PHP…

Yesterday was the Oct-2007 DE SIG. This proved quite an interesting experience for me because I gave a presentation on PHP and Oracle.

Now I like to think I know a bit about Oracle, but I’m not a serious PHP developer, more of a PHP Fanboy. Sure, I’ve been using PHP on ORACLE-BASE.com for a few years now, but there’s a big difference between using it and presenting about it. When Andrew Clarke asked me if I was interested in doing the presentation my initial reaction was to run a mile, but then I thought, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger… 🙂

The whole process has been really interesting, if a bit scary, and I got some useful feedback off Andrew later in the pub. I’d like to say a big thank you to Andrew for organising the event and inviting me to speak, and I hope the attendees found it useful.

I must admit to feeling more than a little relieved now it’s over. For my next few presentations I’ll return to the safe haven of my normal skill set. 🙂

I was late arriving at the event so I only got to see the two presentations that followed mine. The first was a demo of master-detail reports, flash charts and PDF printing in APEX. I really must spend some time looking at APEX. It’s really starting to look like a nice product.

Next, there was a presentation about JDeveloper 11 ADF New Features. There is some seriously cool Web 2.0 eye candy in JDeveloper 11 that is sure to attract some attention. Yet another thing on my list.

So much technology, so little time…

Cheers

Tim…

PL/SQL updates in Oracle 11g

On the surface, the changes to PL/SQL look rather minor, but there is some seriously cool stuff in there. I originally intended to write a single article, but some sections got too big so I thought it was worth sectioning them out into separate articles.

As usual, I’ve tried to keep the explanations brief and include cut & paste examples.

There are a couple more things I might add, but I’m not sure if they are too niche. I’ll see what I think over the next couple of days.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle ACE Program…

If you read Oracle blogs, you will probably have noticed a few lively debates about the Oracle ACE program. The announcement of the Oracle ACE Director category caused a bit of a stir, causing several people, including myself, to throw the toys out of the pram. I’m not totally sure what I want to say in this post, but I feel I need to say something, so here goes…

I was very flattered when I was nominated as an Oracle ACE. I’ve spent a lot of years writing about Oracle and it was nice to get a thank you from someone for my efforts. It was not something I expected, or really thought I was worthy of, but it felt good. I never considered it to be more than a pat on the back, but when I looked at the names of existing members it was a little daunting.

Worth to the community is a very difficult thing to judge. Some people have great technical skills, but quite a small readership, so they are not helping the wider audience, but they are raising the bar by which we all measure ourselves. Some people are less technical, but have a very wide readership, so they are helping to get the message out there. In my opinion, both of these groups of people have equal importance to the community, but service it in different ways.

I think we can also be a little myopic about the Oracle community, assuming it means the big names in the English speaking world. There are many large Oracle communities where English is not the first language. I don’t read articles or attend seminars in these regions, so I’m not in a position to “rate” these individuals and their contributions, but just because I can’t rate them doesn’t mean they have no value.

I think the Oracle community is still very database-centric, by which I mean value seems to be judged on the level of skill in the core database technologies. Oracle has moved on, so should we. My passion is still the database, but it is almost irrelevant to others, who could still arguably be called world leaders in their field, which is Oracle technology.

As for the Oracle ACE Director, it is now clear to me it’s just a pat on the back with some extra commitments. If people think it means more than that they are wrong.

I’m starting to bore myself now… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

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

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…