Oct 26

12.2 RAC/GI New Features

I attended a session today at Oracle Open World 2015 by Markus Michalewicz which highlighted some new features we can look forward to for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12.2, currently in beta.  There were lots of new features, but a few stood out as major changes to the architecture.

Oracle 12.1 introduced Flex Clusters about two years ago. With Flex Clusters, you can have Hub Nodes and Leaf Nodes, the primary difference being that Leaf Nodes do not need access to the shared storage of the cluster. When this was announced, many people assumed you could run an Oracle RAC instance on a Leaf Node, but this was not the case. Not until Oracle 12.2 anyway. With 12.2, you can now run an Oracle RAC instance on a Leaf Node. There is one catch though. Since the Leaf Node does not have access to shared storage, there is no access to Online Redo Logs which means the instances on the Leaf Nodes are read-only to the data. This is a great way to offload reporting activities similar to the way people have been leveraging Active Data Guard. I haven’t seen this in action, but my initial thoughts would be that the DBA needs to weigh the performance carefully. Surely offloading reporting capabilities has its merits but it comes at the cost of additional latency when an instance on a Leaf Node needs to contact an instance on a Hub Node and transfer the blocks via Cache Fusion. After all, the Leaf Node has no direct access to disk so it must need to get the data block via a Hub Node.

Perform uniform shoulder checks: If you are attempting a levitra uk sexual act, the problem could be categorized as a disorder. What’s ED? ED or erectile dysfunction is type of buy canada cialis sexual dysfunction in males. This will in turn have the effect of reducing and totally eliminating some of the ailments that many people do not know. new.castillodeprincesas.com viagra properien In no case a user is allowed to consume more than one in a period of 24 hours. viagra 100mg no prescription (Tadalafil) produces very minimum to no side effects generally. The other big change I wanted to discuss is in relation to the GIMR database. The Grid Infrastructure Management Repository is a database to help collect performance metrics, introduced in Oracle 12.1.0.1. The 12.1.0.2 version made the GIMR mandatory. This database runs on only one node of the Oracle RAC cluster. In GI 12.2, we can now have a centralized GIMR on one cluster that other GI clusters can leverage. There are a whole host of ramifications for those that get to enjoy many RAC clusters in their enterprise.

While watching the presentation, it didn’t seem like these were major announcements. It almost sounded low-key. But I think that as we get to play with the 12.2 version, we’ll get a better handle of how much Oracle GI/RAC features just got a lot more expansive, which some might read as more complicated.

Oct 26

Oracle 12cR2 now in Beta

Today at Oracle Open World 2015, I learned that Oracle12cR2 is now in beta. I attended a session from Oracle VP Andy Mendelsohn where he highlighted a few of the new features found in 12.2. This is not an exhaustive list, but contains some highlights from that session.

 

  • Sharding for web-scale applications
  • Table and column names can be longer than 30 bytes, now up to 128 bytes.
  • AWR reports on Active Data Guard standby databases.
  • In-Memory operations can run on Active Data Guard standby databases.
  • Application Container
  • PDB Hot Clones
  • PDB Refresh is just a click away.
  • PDB Relocate with zero downtime

The initial invented remedies couldn’t valsonindia.com levitra tab 20mg become successful as were not so effective and painful as well, so further development in the medicament was done in order to make sure that surgery is performed by the Cardiologist you can consult them at Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai. You and your spouse may want to go together as a unified team levitra 40 mg so you two are both equally well informed. Psychological issues such as stress, depression and anxiety can stop the brain from freeing the one’s hormones and neurotransmitters that sign the penile organ is mandatory in having a gratifying skills, in your diet of canada generic viagra verify it in a big far. It could be because they levitra prices * Can be obtained at different price if get whole information about them.
 

Here is the official press release.  https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/db12r2-beta-oow-102615.html

Oct 23

SQL Developer 4.1.2

SQL Developer 4.1.2 was just released today. The new version can be downloaded from the usual place on OTN. I had no problems installing it on my MacBook Pro.

 
The viagra pills without prescription reasonable injury to the muscle cells of the corpora cavernosa. They help viagra without prescriptions canada in delaying ejaculation to a great extent. To lift heavy machinery, goods and a variety of materials in industry overnight levitra and related areas, using electrical chain hoists is considered the most economic and safe choice. As nicotine damages blood order cheap levitra circulation badly, L-arginine may offer some help.
sqldev412

Oct 21

Oracle 12c Upgrade Issues

I recently upgraded a critical production system from Oracle 11.2.0.4 to 12.1.0.2. This is also a 3-node Oracle RAC database. I ran into a few issues which needed resolution after the upgrade. Hopefully this helps out others in their upgrades.

The first issue was related to a Global Temp Table that is central to our custom app. The GTT was involved in too many Cartesian Products. The solution was to leverage Oracle 12c’s new Session Stats for GTT’s. This AskTom article discusses the new session stats. Tim Hall has another great article on the subject as well. So to solve the problem, I just added an appropriate call to DBMS_STATS in our package code where the GTT was populated with data. Unfortunately, I used GATHER_TABLE_STATS similar to the examples in the articles I linked above. In an environment with a high degree of concurrency, this led to too many ‘library cache pin’ issues. I modifed the package code to use SET_TABLE_STATS instead…much faster. All I needed to do was compute the number of rows, and with the knowledge of what a typical average row length would be, the rest of the stats were easy to compute. This alleviated the pin contention and that issue was resolved.

The next issue I had to fix was due an ORA-22990 error: “LOB Locators cannot span transactions”. A dev in our shop fixed the issue so I never determined the exact root cause. But something in 12c changed because the package with this code has been unchanged for at least the last 7 years. I have two guesses as to the root cause…either a supplied package is now issuing a COMMIT that wasn’t there before or a supplied package was spawning a new transaction. The dev just changed where we initialize the LOB locator to be a spot later in the code.

This is first visible on the face and body, obesity, cialis price try description and even acne. For the best consequences of Kamagra it is suggested to take alpha look here sildenafil from canada blockers. However, if http://robertrobb.com/disappointing-ballot-measure-debates/ low price cialis you are planning to start a business then you must have a web site. They help to carve out emotional cheapest cialis stress on bed that can cause embarrassment and depression. I’ve had Oracle 12c in our test pipleline since August, or about 2 months before we hit production. Its a fair question to ask why testing didn’t capture these issues prior to the prod upgrade. For the GTT table issue, we simply did not have enough load on the system with people hitting the same data points as our end users do. For the LOB Locator issue, the part of the application receiving this error is only executed during mid-to-late October, as I later found out. So it was never executed during our testing period. This is why we missed it during testing.

As I was fixing a few other minor performance issues (all resolved by updating table/index stats) and addressing the issues above, I learned that Oracle changed their stance on the free Extended Support for Oracle 11.2.0.4. I upgraded last Wednesday evening and on Friday, Oracle announced that free ES for 11.2.0.4 would be extended until May of 2017! One of the main drivers for me upgrading to 12c was to ensure that our mission-critical database would be supported and the initial free ES for 11.2.0.4 was to expire in January, just 4 months away. As I’m working through upgrade issues and I learned of this ES extension, I was starting to wonder if the announcement had a message (reading between the lines) that 12.1.0.2 wasn’t ready for prime time. I actually started the investigation on what it would take for me to downgrade this database. But I was able to work through all of the issues and today, life seems to be just great on 12.1.0.2.

 

Oct 14

Oracle Live SQL

Over the years, I’ve seen people ask questions on where they can access a demo Oracle database so that they can practice and learn SQL or PL/SQL. Until today, I never knew of any available Oracle testbed for public consumption. Now, Oracle Corp has provided us with LiveSQL.oracle.com and the only thing you need to access the site is a free OTN account.

Live SQL lets you access a SQL Worksheet where you can enter SQL and PL/SQL commands. You also have read-only access to the HR and SH sample schemas.

livesql1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can even create your own database objects.

livesql2

 

 

 

 

 

People cialis properien frequently have their post delivered to work. The first cholecystectomy; gallbladder removal surgery visit my web-site online doctor viagra was done in Berlin in 1882. Herbal Energy Vitamins for http://downtownsault.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/11-13-13-DDA-Minutes.doc sildenafil 100mg viagra Mind and Body are getting extremely tired which you might not realise straightaway. A disorder characterized by tadalafil samples feelings of apprehension or extreme anxiety is called anxiety disorder.  

 

 

 

 

A schema browser is included.

livesql3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you can save a library of scripts. Live SQL also lets you access Community Code, a growing repository of other’s shared code.

 

So for those of you that want access to a demo environment, Oracle now provides one. That being said, I still think there is huge value in downloading the Oracle RDBMS from OTN and installing it in your own private testbed. DBA’s especially, will learn so much more from this more traditional route than Live SQL.  For me, Live SQL will be great for those times when I just need to demo something and don’t have easy access to an Oracle database. But then this site probably wasn’t thinking of users like me as their target audience.

 

Oct 02

12c Adaptive Plans in SQL Developer

I’ve been working on tuning some SQL statements in a newly upgraded database, from Oracle 11.2.0.4 to 12.1.0.2. As I typically do, I like to use SQL Developer to see the Explain Plan. I was surprised to see some gray text in the Explain Plan output, which you can see below.

adaptive_sqldev1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first reaction was to freak out and wonder why Oracle has both a Hash Join and a Nested Loops join for joining two tables. Later on in the plan, I see an INDEX (FAST FULL SCAN) of the same table that has the INDEX (RANGE SCAN) performed. Why two accesses of the same table? What is Oracle 12c doing?

 

All of this is part of the new 12c Optimizer’s Adaptive Query Optimization. For this SQL statement, the Optimizer has determined to use an initial plan involving the Nested Loops join. For the plan that involves the Nested Loops join, Oracle will access the table with an Index Range Scan. The Optimizer has also decided that an Index Fast Full Scan into a Hash Join may be another execution plan to consider. Before the execution of the SQL statement begins, the Optimizer has two plans. One plan is the default plan and the other plan is the adaptive plan. Oracle will watch the execution of the SQL statement as it starts executing with the default plan. If Oracle determines this is the wrong execution plan, it can switch to the adaptive plan on the fly.

For more info on Adaptive Plans, see this white paper from Oracle. Pages 3-5 illustrate Adaptive Join Plans in action.

 
Forgive us make sure you if we occasionally appear a bit viagra cheapest pharmacy jealous of our time. Enjoy a happy sexual life. cialis lowest prices http://djpaulkom.tv/dj-paul-bbq-tv-rubbing-thighs/ It is an antidepressant and it cialis tab is performed especially in and around one’s genital region. Specifically, leadership is inspected to gauge if managers djpaulkom.tv generic cialis tabs support the program.
The gray text in the Explain Plan above are simply the adaptive plan.  SQL Developer 4.1 shows both the default plan and the adaptive plan.

 

Further down in the Explain Plan is the Other XML section, which can be seen below. We can see my db version is 12.1.0.2. We can also the info type shows this is an Adaptive Plan.

adaptive_sqldev2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the section titled “rows”. We can see each row of the Explain Plan. Those lines where “skp=0” are part of the default plan. The lines where “skp=1” are the adaptive plan, which we now know appear as gray text in SQL Developers.

Sep 30

Tuning SQL Statements in SQL Developer

This video shows a few tips on how I use SQL Developer when tuning a SQL statement. I hope it helps someone.

 
IVF remains more complicated for Obese Women viagra uk buy and they require a decent number of meds to correct the issue. Blood gushes into the spongy erectile tissues to make the organ ready to perform and producing harder erections for more pleasing canadian cialis mastercard sexual activities. As generic viagra germany http://greyandgrey.com/papers-publications/comment-on-ins-dept-report-march-2008/ it stands, the new research may encourage more doctors to prescribe either drug as a preventative measure. It helps in dealing with any obstructions or Dosage and Prices viagra generic cheap other issues faced by people in the way of normal reproduction process.k.
 

Link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/MCOhtc_ubqc

Sep 28

Oracle Database Developer Choice Awards

The Oracle Database Developer Choice Awards are open for voting. You can cast your votes until free viagra uk Order Page This pill may be taken between 30 minutes and 4 hours prior to commencing sexual activity. The case consist two section of the penile packed with blood i.e. corpora cavernosa an erection tadalafil online 40mg arises. It lowers try these guys buy cheap cialis one’s stamina and deteriorates the quality of erections. He was moved to the online levitra Denver Nuggets. October 15th. The candidates are all well deserving of the award. So vote for your favorite today!

Sep 18

Benefits of Learning New DB Systems

I’m currently taking an online class from MongoDB University to learn how to be a DBA for MongoDB. My company doesn’t have any plans for MongoDB at this time. But I find that such a class can help me learn more about the product and maybe I’ll find that this product is a good fit for some future database requirements. For those interested in the class, here is a link. I highly recommend it and the best part is the cost!

As I’m nearing the end of the 7 week course, I started contemplating the benefits of database administrators learning multiple database systems. Some DBA’s are charged with only one type of database system. My first DBA job was such. I only used Oracle there. In my second DBA job, I was hired for my Oracle expertise. Shortly after I started with the company, they needed to deploy SQL Server and wanted to send someone from the DBA team to a class on the subject. I jumped at the chance. Most of us get involved with the database systems used by the company that employs us, and that’s where it ends. Sometimes, the company will get a new database product in the door and the DBA gets to stretch their wings with the new product. And then there are companies that have a large database footprint and can enjoy the luxury of hiring specialists. So they will hire some Oracle DBA’s and some SQL Server DBA’s, etc. In those companies, the DBA often gets put into a silo.

There are benefits of specializing in a specific product. You get to be real good with it. You get to learn all of the nuances of that product. And that can make you very beneficial to your employer. Some people don’t get to specialize, which brings up the phrase that says something like “he’s a jack-of-all-trades and master of none”. This can be beneficial as well until there is a sticky problem that needs a level of expertise the jack-of-all-trades has not had time to learn because they were too busy with their fingers in all those different types of database systems.

It is obvious that my expertise lies with Oracle. But I’ve worked with mySQL, Postgres, SQL Server, Adabas, IMS, and many others. Unless you’ve been hiding under a database rock somewhere, you’ve been hearing of the new wave of database engines…MongDB, Hadoop, Cassandra, Neo4j, and others. The database market is certainly changing.

As IT professionals, we have to learn to adapt to the changes. My Oracle expertise will still be needed for the foreseeable future. But what changes await me more distant in the future? Well if I could answer that question, I’d make a killing betting on sports! We can’t see the future. We can only prepare for it the best way we can, armed with the knowledge we have today, and prepared to adjust that knowledge as we learn more tomorrow.

Change is constant in IT and the new database engines being implemented today are further proof. It is human nature for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) to creep in when thinking about this change. Will these new database systems mean the end of my career? Will I be replaced for another DBA that knows one of these products? I say to embrace the new technology. I still remember the day I was asked if I wanted to go to SQL Server training. I was excited for the opportunity. As time has passed, I’ve come to grips with the reasons why I like learning about database systems other than Oracle, which brings me to the point of this article. What are the benefits of database administrators learning multiple database systems? I’ve compiled a list of the benefits from my viewpoint. Other’s may have things to add to the list, so feel free to send me a comment or two. In no particular order, here are the benefits I see.

This condition can occur when a in stock viagra from usa woman doesn’t ovulate at all or ovulate infrequently, it causes infertility. Online pharmacy has a wide range of medicines based on allergies, Alzheimer, antibiotics, antifugal, anxiety, cancer, hair loss, high blood pressure, insomnia, diabetes skin care and much more of cost of levitra that. All 3 has been duly accredited by buy sildenafil the FDA. If you have some kind of rosacea, or suffer from other dermatitis problems of the contemporary world and is cipla viagra generic a result of eminent anxiety caused by excessive work loads or concern. * When I learn a new database system, I try to go back to database theory. The type of theory they love to espouse in academia. This isn’t real-world stuff, but purely theoretical. Not practical at all. But the theory is important. And having a solid understand of database theory helps me quickly learn a new system. For example, I know the theory behind locking for concurrency control. When I am learning a new database system, I don’t have to learn transactional control from scratch. I leverage my existing knowledge, relying on that theoretical foundation, and figure out how that specific system implements it. In this way, I can appreciate the strengths of that particular system and know to stay away from its weaknesses. Learning new database systems reinforces the core database theory I know. It also gets me thinking about implementation of that theory in a new way that I may not have thought of before.
* From a career standpoint, I don’t think its a great idea to be put into a silo where I know only one thing. As I alluded to before, the only constant in the IT business is change. If I’m in a silo, what do I do when the only thing I know is gone? If all I knew was IMS, my job prospects would be pretty slim. For a career longevity standpoint, knowing multiple systems keeps me employed for the long haul.
* Again from a career standpoint, knowing multiple systems helps my company be more flexible with their database deployments. The business may have a requirement to host data in more than one database system. If I can’t support more than just Oracle, then I’m probably not the person for the job. Keeping flexible with the database systems I support makes the business more flexible and makes me more valuable to the business. The more valuable I am, the more job security I have and the more money I’ll make.
* New technology is cool! Like many in the IT business, I’m drawn to computer systems in general. We all like new tech. That new shiny smartphone. Now that smartphones are commonplace, we’re looking to Fitbits and now smart watches. We always like the new applications. I’ll upgrade to newest version of MS Office, not for the new features, but because I’m tired of seeing that same look and feel for the last 3 years. Being that I love working with data, nothing is cooler than that shiny new database engine I’ve never seen before.
* A new database system breaks up the monotony. We can all get complacent and bored with things from time to time. That’s human nature. Oracle likes to break up that monotony for me by introducing a new version with all of its new features that I need to learn. But sometimes I like to just learn a new product.
* A new database system may make you appreciate your old one! Just because the system is the newest thing around, doesn’t mean its better than the tried and true system that I’ve been working on for decades. It might be time to reinforce that and learn why I still use that old system.
* A new system may force you to think about your old system in a different light. It may get you to think outside the proverbial box, which can sometimes lead to different solutions. When learning the new system, you may go back and find a different way to implement something in the old system.
* Trolls exist everywhere! They don’t live solely under bridges any more. We’ve all been hit with the psuedo-IT professional that read some article somewhere and thinks they know more about the latest/greatest technology than you do. This video is hilarious and reminds me of similar conversations (Note: video does contain foul language) I’ve been unfortunate to have over my career. As database professionals, we must be able to talk intelligently on what a database system can and can’t do well. If we don’t learn about those systems, how can we be an advocate for the proper technology to meet the business requirements? In addition, my company is counting on me to provide solid advice for our corporate database architecture. I don’t want to be the guy that deployed a specific database engine only to find out a year or so down the road that we deployed the wrong thing. Knowledge is key in defending against trolls and helping the business make solid decisions.
* You never know when something new will come along and intrigue you more than what you’ve been working on. I know of a number of Oracle DBAs who are no longer working with the Oracle product and have decided they like something else better. How will you know if the grass is greener on the other side if you don’t go over there for a visit? I’m not necessarily advocating looking for the greener pasture, but I don’t like to close doors before I’ve stepped through them either. So have a look. Take a peek. Kick the tires a bit. It can’t hurt.
As a DBA and as an IT practitioner, I’ll still be looking at new database systems as they mature and become relevant. I’m sure that I’ll keep this up throughout the remainder of my career. I find benefit, even in my current job duties, to learning something new, even if that new thing doesn’t have any direct correlation to what I’m working on today.

There may be readers who disagree with some of the things I’ve said above. That’s ok. We aren’t talking about facts here, just opinions so there is no right or wrong. Feel free to leave comments and discuss in more detail if you like.

Aug 31

Oracle 12c Upgrade Issues

I’m in the middle of testing for my company’s Oracle 12c production upgrades coming in September. Thankfully, I have a lot of good testbeds to fine-tune the upgrade process before proceeding to production. So far, things have been pretty smooth, even much better than my 11.2.0.3 to 11.2.0.4 upgrades a year ago. I thought I’d outline a few things I’ve dealt with during our testing in case this helps someone else down the road.

 

  • New for me this year is that our Test database environment is now Oracle RAC. Previously, my only non-production RAC machines were empty databases on  VMs. At least now I can test out GI upgrades with our data. This is huge and led me to the next bullet point.
  • Ran into Bug 19582630 in my Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.2 installation. The new Memory Guard would incorrectly detect an out-of-memory condition which I blogged about here. A workaround was employed until such time as the bug’s patch could be installed.
  • WM_CONCAT is no longer with us. This broke 4 packages for application code. It was easy to use LISTAGG as a replacement.
  • Oracle 12c has deprecated the SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON parameter. Changing to case sensitive passwords could break our application. I now have a utility to make application passwords case sensitive and I can now move forward.
  • Hit Bug 20369415 in which an ACL with a timezone caused upgrade issues. The solution was to drop the ACL and recreate it without the timezone information.
  • Whomever installed this database initially installed many unused database options like APEX, OLAP Catalog, and the EM Repository. I finally got around to removing these prior to the upgrade.
  • CVU reports are not being purged. See Note 1964482.1 for details. I’ll get a cron job setup to remove these on a regular basis.
  • Oracle 12c’s new security model with respect to Invoker’s Rights procedures required us to GRANT INHERIT ANY PRIVILEGES to a specific schema user.

How does Confido from Himalaya helps you terminate Premature Ejaculation and Erectile Dysfunction? Confido is manufactured and prepared from naturally available herbs like Salep Orchid or Salabmisri, Hygrophilia or Kokilaksha, Lettuce, Cow-Itch Plant, Suvarnavang viagra pills in canada etc. But now it is easy to cure this prescription viagra online disorder with so many drugs available in market or on online stores based in Australia. discount levitra no rx Really, it is not so. Let him/her know if you have levitra 20mg australia health ailments related to the pelvis.
 

That seems to be it for me, at least so far.  I’ll be rolling through the rest of our non-production databases soon before upgrading prod to 12c in a few weeks. My fingers are crossed that I’ve handled all of the upgrade issues.