Since I announced my new job at Oracle, I’ve had more than a few friends and associates approach me about databases. They’ve always wondered just what it is that I talk about all the time, or perhaps they want to get their feet wet and want to know more about data in general. I think this is fairly normal and …
Oracle Discovery Tool?
My employer has a freeware utility you can run on your network to find and document instances of SQL Server. One of SQL Server’s primary advantages is also one of its primary disadvantages – you can spin one up in a manner of minutes. To grow deals at a company buying our SQL Server software, we’d offer to document their …
We’re Gonna Need a Bigger TEMP Tablespace
It’s one of the most iconic scenes in American film – Roy Schneider’s character is chumming the water and sees the shark they are hunting. The massive size of the fish causes him to comment, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” It’s shark week, and I was struggling with inspiration for blog posts, so apologies if this metaphor is stretched …
Putting the Cart in Front of the Horse
People are always asking me, ‘Jeff, what’s going to be in the new version of X?’ or ‘Jeff, what’s new in X?’ or ‘Jeff, what’s wrong with you?!?’ If I’m feeling particularly chippy, I’ll reply something along the lines of ‘How well do you think you’ve mastered the current version of X?’ If you haven’t seen something before, that means …
Oracle 12g This Fall?
Post Updated on November 10, 2011. 11gR2 was supposed to be 12g..or so the story goes. You can read tons of posts on OTN from several years ago where 12g is referenced. Nothing recent though. So… Oracle Open World 2011 is coming soon, and you know the Big Red Machine will want to have a big splash. Will it be …
Response: Normalization Myths that Really Make Me Crazy
Disclaimer: When I wrote this I was not an employee of Oracle, a RDBMS vendor. I am now, and you should know that. First, please go read Karen Lopez’s rant on Normalization Myths here. Now, a bit of my experience with relational database theory, design, and practice. As a senior Computer Science undergraduate I took a 200 level course on …
How Many Rows will my Query Return?
You want to know how much pain you are going to inflict on the server and network before you run that ad hoc query? An explain plan can give you an idea of how long it might take to run, and tell you how much data it thinks will be involved. Cardinality – Fancy Word, Simple Concept From Wikipedia: “In …
They Just Write SQL Statements
“Those people are fine, they JUST write SQL.” I often hear this in the context of visiting customers and offering to provide training (and yes, software) to their database users. There is a class of people who are deemed unworthy of such productivity tools because they do nothing but ‘just write dumb SQL all day long.’ The only problem is, …
On Real-Time SQL Monitoring and the /*+MONITOR*/ Hint
Oracle 11gR1 Enterprise Edition with the Diagnostic and Tuning packs has a very compelling new feature, Real-Time SQL Monitoring. Oracle thinks enough of the feature that it was highlighted prominently in whitepaper by ACE Directory Arup Nanda titled “Oracle Database 11g: The Top Features for DBAs and Developers” (read it here) Long story short: Too late or too lazy to …
I Only Use SQL*Plus, a Desperate Cry for Help?
Disclaimer: I work for Oracle now. This post pretty much pertains to any and all database IDE and GUIs. –Thanks, Jeff 1/25/2012 Let’s get this out of the way, because anyone who knows me, knows that I have a HUGE bias in this argument: I work for Quest Software, and my primary job is to help sell Toad for Oracle. …