Oracle Reports for DBAs
:
As an Oracle DBA you might think that Oracle Reports have nothing to do with you, and you might be missing out on a simple means of generating reports to identify a source file, create an external table, write an SQL script and more.
Oracle: MOVE vs SHRINK Commands
:
This article discusses re-organizing a table using the move and shrink commands, then compares how the rows are compacted within Oracle blocks and how row chaining is resolved.
Oracle Automatic Storage Management
:
ASM provides many benefits, but also requires learning new concepts, commands, utilities, and administration tasks. Sean Hull examines what ASM solves, and what it takes to manage and weigh the pros and cons.
Oracle Applications:
Oracle Applications Reference Books
:
Aside from Oracle's own documentation covering Oracle Apps and a few books covering specific modules, the published books landscape regarding EBS is fairly barren.
There are two notable generalist coverage books available that can help you get a good jump on learning Oracle Applications.
Programming, Perl + Oracle
:
Perl is a powerful scripting language that can meet your day-to-day scripting needs as a database administrator, and if used prudently, and responsibly, as a language to build large web-based applications. Here's a quick introduction to using Perl with Oracle.
Managing Oracle's Undo Tablespaces
:
With the advent of Automatic Undo Management (AUM), Oracle abstracts the management
of undo space for you. Read along as Steve Callan explains the intracacies of undo tablespaces.
Migrating MySQL to Oracle Part 2
:
This two-part article discusses all of the steps involved in migrating a database and its attendant applications. Part 2 covers moving production data to development systems, Oracle Migration Workbench, database application migration and more.
Migrating MySQL to Oracle Part I
:
This two part article discusses all of the steps involved in migrating a database and its attendant applications, questions to ask
yourself, what to watch out for, and how to perform the whole thing within a limited window of downtime.
Oracle Library Cache—Part II
:
Part two of this article looks at issues that arise in the Library Cache, how to find those issues and offers solutions to fix them.
Oracle Library Cache—Part I
:
Gaining an understanding of internal Oracle structures is essential to becoming better DBAs and servicing our end user community. Oracle's library cache is one such internal structure that can help eliminate some very nasty denial of service requests originating from application users. Read on to learn more.
Oracle’s Transportable Automatic Workload Repository
:
Oracles Automatic Workload Repository provides a whole new way of gathering, comparing and storing statistics. Read on to learn how AWR differs from the old statspack reports.
Oracle: Synonyms’ Synonyms
:
Oracle restricts the length of object names (tables, columns, views, procedures) to 30 characters, but does not impose the 30 characters length restriction on synonym names. Read on to learn how to create synonym names of any length.
Spicing-up Oracle on Windows
:
This article
covers the use of setting some extra string values in the registry, how to
display what the values are set to, and how to work around the missing tool
known as oerr.
Manual Standby Database under Oracle Standard Edition
:
Oracle's Standby technology has been rebranded as DataGuard in recent versions of Oracle. But what about the folks on Standard Edition Oracle; are they left out in the cold? It turns out that it is still possible to create a *manual* standby database on Oracle SE. Here's how you do it.
Partition Pitfalls in Oracle
:
There are some partition pitfalls you should avoid,
and knowing what they are ahead of time can help prevent hours of down time.
Read on to learn more.
Oracle
DML Error Logging : There are at least three ways to make an otherwise
fatal error benign or harmless, two of which you are probably quite familiar
with, and a lesser known, but very versatile third method.
Super-Sizing
A Database: Oracle 10g Tablespace Enhancements : Oracle 10g's daunting
array of new features like extended FLASHBACK technology, Automated Storage
Management, and Grid Computing sometimes overshadow the more mundane -- yet no
less impressive! - improvements to its logical storage capabilities. This
article illustrates several enhancements to Oracle's already robust logical
storage structures, including the SYSAUX tablespace, BIGFILE tablespaces,
tablespace groups, and tablespace renaming.
A View
of Creating an Oracle User - Part II : After an Oracle user has been
created and schema objects have been built, best practices dictate that you
should not run your applications as the schema owner. Here is a shell procedure
and methodology to assist you in maintaining this segregation of application
user from database schema owner.
A View
of Creating an Oracle User - Part I : Before any schema objects can be
created, you must first create a user that will own these objects. This
somewhat simple procedure is often overlooked and it can open wide holes in
security and portability.
Collecting
Real Time Wait Events : There are two common ways of collecting wait
event information: the Oracle extended trace (10046 event) and using V$ views.
Learn how to collect wait event information using V$ views.
Collecting
Oracle Extended Trace (10046 event) : The most importing thing in
collecting trace data is collecting properly scoped data. Learn the pitfalls of
doing it wrong and the rewards of doing it right.
Oracle Session Tracing
Oracle
Session Tracing Part VI : Part six of this series discribes how to
access and generate reports off of the trace files we generated in Part five,
through the use of the TKPROF and trcsess utilities.
Oracle
Session Tracing Part V : Part five of this series will re-acquaint you
with Oracle's tracing mechanism. Read on to learn about creating trace files
for TKPROF.
Oracle
Session Tracing Part IV : Part 3 of this series examined how to enable
tracing of statistics through the DBMS_MONITOR package. This installment
focuses on determining which internal Oracle views hold the information to our
enabled statistical gathering.
Oracle
Session Tracing Part II : Part two of this series shows how to set two
more very important session environment variables to make tracing more
effective. Read on and learn how to set the module and action names.
Oracle
Session Tracing Part I : This is the first in a series introducing some
of the new tracing concepts and options within Oracle. This installment focuses
on the new CLIENT_IDENTIFIER environment variable that can be assigned to
sessions.
Making a
Connection from Oracle to SQL Server : SQL Server is gaining popularity
and there are many shops that I know of that have this database system within
their walls. Learn how to make a connection from Oracle to SQL Server using
Oracles heterogeneous Services ODBC agent.
The Oracle 10g Scheduler
The
Oracle 10g Scheduler, Part 3: Advanced Features : Oracle 10g's new
DBMS_SCHEDULER package offers significant advanced features over its
predecessor, DBMS_JOB, that any reasonably skilled Oracle DBA can use to insure
that sufficient resources will always be available for processing complex
business requirements. This article - the final in a three-part series - provides
some practical examples of how the new Scheduler can help a DBA to manage and
overcome these challenges.
The
Oracle 10g Scheduler, Part 2: Implementation : Oracle 10g's new
DBMS_SCHEDULER package offers significant improvements over DBMS_JOB for
scheduling jobs and tasks. This article – the second in a series – provides
practical examples of using the Oracle Scheduler's new functionalities,
including a discussion of transitioning from DBMS_JOB to DBMS_SCHEDULER.
The
Oracle 10g Scheduler, Part 1: Overview : Oracle 10g's new
DBMS_SCHEDULER package offers significant improvements over DBMS_JOB for
scheduling jobs and tasks. This article - the first in a series - provides an
overview of the new functionalities that the Oracle Scheduler provides for
DBAs.
Automate the
Sizing of your SGA in Oracle 10g : There are plenty of options
available for tweaking the SGA. However, without a complete understanding of
what our applications are doing in the background, our ability to guess the
appropriate amount of memory to give each of these individual components is not
always optimal. Oracle now has methods to determine most of the major
parameters all on its own.
True
Session Wait Activity in Oracle 10g : Catching a session waiting on a
resource used to be hit or miss. James Koopmann examines how Oracle 10g
expedites this process.
Oracle's
Sample Schemas: Saying Goodbye to Scott : Did you know that Oracle's
"Scott" schema is slated for the bone yard? How many thousands of
people have learned SQL, SQL*Plus, and PL/SQL on the back of poor old Scott?
Steve Callan introduces the new 'crew'--HR, OE, PM, QS and SH.
Multiple
Temporary Tablespaces in Oracle10g : The creation and use of temporary
tablespaces has just taken another leap in performance and manageability, which
should make us all re-think how we have created and assigned our users to
temporary tablespaces.
Transferring
Operating System Files from within Oracle : As new versions of Oracle
are released, we are less likely to access the operating system. The ability to
move data files from within Oracle is just one more great hook to the operating
system that aids DBAs in their daily tasks.
Oracle
Administration - Part 2 : Part one of this series covered some
important aspects of Oracle administration (MetaLink and licensing). Part two
of this mini-series highlights the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and Oracle
sales/reselling.
Oracle
Administration - Part 1 : This two-part series provides an overview of
Oracle administration, including the use and licensing of Oracle's software.
Connecting
with Oracle - Ensuring Sufficient Privileges : Be honest now, how many
times have you encountered the ORA-01031 error? Without a deeper understanding
of the "how do I authenticate thee, let me count the ways?"
relationship between the operating system and Oracle, you are doomed to
encounter this error time and time again.
Connecting
with Oracle: The Password Game : Steve Callan reviews the use of
Oracle's internal password function and the use of a SQL script for verifying
password complexity.
Connecting
with Oracle: Accessing Oracle via Access and Excel : Giving your users
the ability to access an Oracle database using either Access or Excel is easy
to do. It takes all of three minutes to set up the link or connection. Learn
how in Connecting with Oracle, Part 4.
Connecting
with Oracle: Oracle Ports : 1521. 1810. 2481. 7778. These are just a
few of the port numbers Oracle uses in networking. Everyone knows
1521 is the typical port number used by a listener, but how sacrosanct is that?
This article will help clarify some facts about port usage related to Oracle.
Connecting
with Oracle: Finding and Setting a Configuration File Location : You
can have a 'good' tnsnames.ora file, but 'reject' its use due to not knowing
where it is. You can have a 'bad' tnsnames.ora file in a location you know
about, and try to 'accept' its use. Both situations are bad. Fortunately, each
is easy to correct. Learn how to set a location for your tnsnames.ora file and
where to look for that location.
Oracle's
SPFILE - Part 2 : In part two of this series, Amar Padhi examines
practical example of working with the SPFILE.
Oracle's
SPFILE - Part 1 : Server Parameter File (SPFILE) is an extension of the
initialization parameter storage mechanism, which allows some additional
advantages as compared to the simple text based init.ora file. Learn which
parameters can be dynamically modified to affect the present instance, and
which require the instance to be brought down so that changes can take affect.
Materialized View Enhancements
Oracle
10g Materialized View Enhancements, Part 2 : The final article of this
series demonstrates how to utilize the new Partition Change Tracking features
of 10gR2 to speed the refresh of a partitioned materialized view and how
Partition Maintenance Operations help improve performance for partitioned
materialized views.
Oracle
10g Materialized View Enhancements, Part 1 : Learn about materialized
views in Oracle 10gR2, including enhancements to join-only materialized views,
new optimizer hints for improved QUERY REWRITE analysis, and improved
materialized view debugging tools.
Database
Migration – A Planned Approach : Migrating from one version to another
may be as simple as exporting the old and importing into the new, but chances
are there is a lot more involved than first meets the eye.
Oracle
Migration Workbench - Part 4 : Part four of this series goes into more
detail about SQL Server and how it compares to Oracle. This part of the series
also covers the setup and preparation to use Oracle Migration Workbench to
migrate the Northwind database from SQL Server to Oracle.
Oracle
Migration Workbench – Part Three : The end of Part Two of this series,
finished with loading data from the MySQL database into the Oracle
database/repository. Part Three will go into more detail about the Migration
Workbench console and learn how to configure some options.
Oracle
Migration Workbench - Part Two : At the end of Part One, we were at the
point where MySQL was ready to be installed. In part two of this series, we
will go through some quick setup steps, create a user with some privileges, and
load data - using several methods - into a MySQL database. Once the setup of
the MySQL database is complete, we will be ready to start using Migration
Workbench.
Oracle
Migration Workbench - Part 1 : By the end of this series, not only will
you be familiar with two other widely used and popular database systems, but
you will also know how to migrate data from these systems into an Oracle
database.
Oracle
Multi-Directional Data Replication : Part one of this series
illustrates the procedures for setting up bi-directional data replication and
conflict resolution between two databases using Oracle 10g Streams. This month
we look at the steps to add a new source site into our existing bi-directional
replicated environment.
Data
Replication Using Oracle Downstream Capture : Vincent Chan describes
how to effectively leverage and set up Oracle archived-log downstream capture
technology to replicate your enterprise data.
Oracle
Bi-Directional Data Replication : Part one of this two part series
provides the procedures for setting up bi-directional schema-level replication
and conflict resolution between two databases using Oracle 10g Streams.
Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
ASM Enhancements
: This article discusses using ASMCMD to identify diskgroups and data
files, finding where controlfile is located, reclaiming disk space and more.
Why
Oracle's Automatic Storage Management? : Oracle Database 10g's
Automatic Storage Management (ASM) makes Linux and UNIX database environments
disk space management a snap.
Oracle
10g Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Part 3: Advanced Features :
This article navigates the myriad ASM file naming conventions and templates,
provides examples of ASM storage management commands for adding and removing
disks and disk groups, and discusses how to convert an entire Oracle database
to use ASM storage instead of regular file system storage.
Oracle
10g Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Part 2: Sample Implementation :
Oracle 10g's Automatic Storage Management (ASM) features offer powerful tools
to Oracle DBAs to create and manage a robust, flexible, scalable file storage
system ready for access by any existing Oracle database instance. This article
-- the second in this series -- provides a simple yet practical demonstration
of setting up an ASM instance in both the Linux and Windows NT environments for
purposes of exploration and experimentation, including how to migrate existing
tablespaces to the ASM storage environment.
Oracle
10g Automatic Storage Management, Part 1: Overview : Oracle 10g's new
Automatic Storage Management (ASM) features allow an Oracle DBA to take
advantage of a robust, flexible, scalable file storage system that any Oracle
database instance can access. This article - the first in this series --
provides a high-level overview of the ASM architecture, and should be helpful
to any DBA contemplating the adoption of ASM for storing Oracle database files
as part of a high-volume storage solution.
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