Don’t you just love managing your 3,247 accounts and passwords in cyberspace? Imagine being a DBA who manages several hundred databases and requires a password for each of those. And of course said passwords expire after X days, right? Password rules, which cover things like limit of failed login attempts password lifetime reuse max password expiration grace time are defined by Profiles. You can view profile information by querying SYS.DBA_PROFILES. I was approached for help…
Microsoft has a lot to be proud of. They helped pioneer desktop computing. They have very successful platforms like SQL Server and Sharepoint. They are even working on a new mobile phone that doesn’t support copy and paste. But, I would argue their most popular product in use today is Excel. Mayhaps ‘popular’ isn’t the best word here. Most reasonable people will probably agree that Excel is the predominant number crunching tool in the marketplace.…
Updated for 2015! If I were attending as a developer/DBA, here are the things I would be doing: Take notes, collect materials. Come back to work, put on a lunch seminar sharing the biggest things you learned during the week – make it EASY for your boss to approve #OOW16. Put Twitter handle on name badge. Plan for sessions in advance using the Schedule Builder Only pack in carry-ons. You won’t want to be waiting…
I spend a lot of time speaking to PL/SQL development teams. A conservative estimate would break down to about 200 presentations a year and 2,000 developers. I have several stock presentations, but I prefer to have conversations with my audience rather than just start throwing slides up on the projector. If we find a topic of interest, then I can jump into presentation mode. When I get desperate for audience participation, I’ll start throwing concepts…
I travel quite frequently for my job. Number one on my list of ‘must have things’ on the road is a Navigation device. This used to be my trusty Garmin, but now thanks to my new Android device, I have Google Maps. There have been times and places where I don’t have the device available – either the GPS satellites cannot be acquired or i’m in D.C. where the accuracy of the positioning seems artificially…
In an earlier post, I discussed the merits and deficiencies around using the * syntax in a SELECT statement. I have been using this topic as a way to bring up lively discussions while doing database tools demos for our SQL and Oracle customers. I must admit I am extremely dismayed by the amount of Senior level folks who do not understand why this is not an ideal way to write queries. In a lot…
I had to check out Brent’s LinkedIn account to see just how long he had been at Quest. Wow, 2.25 years. It was only about a year ago that I became aware of Brent’s presence. I actually can’t remember if I stumbled across his blog first or heard his name mentioned in a conference call. Ahhh, as I type this, I now recall how I ‘met’ Brent. Via Twitter. @BetsyLM had compiled a list of…
After waiting nearly six weeks to receive my Incredible, I can honestly say it WAS worth the wait. Updated: Friday, July 16, 2010 Two Weeks Later… I have had very few problems with the phone and have been able to successfully navigate around them. The very first problem was with activation. Phone would not activate on its own. First Verizon support guy would not activate my phone. Second Verizon support guy, Chris, did activate it…
This is not a volley in the RDMBS wars. This is a quick cheat sheet for getting started using Toad for SQL Server if you are already used to using Toad for Oracle. Pages not Windows Toad for Oracle is a classic Windows application that utilizes a classic MDI presentation. Toad for SQL Server uses ‘Document Tabs’ for each ‘Window’ you have open in the application. Object Explorer vs Schema Browser Of course a ‘Schema’…
Updated 3/16/2014, Full disclosure: I picked up a 13″ MacBook Air this week I’m not sure I want it anymore. No, I do still want one, but the annoying voice in the back of my head has all but shut up. I know what you’re thinking, somewhere an angel has just lost it’s wings because I’m being selfish. As a professional geek, I’m supposed to buy this stuff and talk about it to everyone I…
