Author Archives: alesk
The missing blog…
…about Oracle is finally here. To my pleasant surprise Jože Senegačnik finally stopped resisting to write about Oracle database in his recently opened blog. I say, better late than never :-).
Jože is, among other things, co-author of the forthcoming Apress book,
“Expert Oracle Practices”, that I consider as a sequel to Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table:
Now you know how you’ll start a shopping season in 2010 :-).
OracleXE on Windows7
I was utterly surprised when I found out today that OracleXE installs and runs on Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit) flawlessly. [Note: I run Windows 7 as a guest inside VirtualBox machine with merely 756MB of RAM].
Can’t even remember when was the last time when I worked with XE. Based on my recent experience with Oracle10g R2 installation on my Windows7 notebook I certainly didn’t expect that OracleXE would install without a hitch, but I’m glad that it did! I decided to test OracleXE on Windows 7 for the purpose of small in-house project, nothing spectacular but nevertheless the care should be taken to properly protect OS and XE database.
I installed OracleXE for Western Europe with LATIN1 and then changed the code page to Eastern Europe LATIN2, more precisely to EE8MSWIN1250 as I already wrote once. I don’t need nor want unicode for this particular project.
Of course, first thing every self-respecting DBA should do after Oracle XE installation is this:
When deployed to production adding at least one additional copy of control file plus redo log mirroring is also something it must be done, unless it’s a “toy” database with worthless data.
Resetting TCP/IP stack on Windows XP
Last week I installed IXIA Endpoint on my PC for the sake of some network benchmark test done by our network support contractor. A couple of days later I noticed weird behavior accessing shared files from one of our server. Only my workstation has sporadic problems accessing files (SMB as well as RDP protocol) on single server. IXIA endpoint was my first suspect because I allowed IXIA install program to change my TCP/IP settings. De-installing IXIA endpoint didn’t help and neither updating Windows XP with the latest hot fixes. Partly due to the time pressure I gave up with troubleshooting and decided to simply reset TCP/IP settings according to Microsoft support Article 299357.
Simple netsh command followed by reboot did the trick:
cmd> netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
The problem seemed to go away. In resetlog.txt netsh writes every registry key or value that was either reset, added or deleted. Another Microsoft article worth having among bookmarks when you need to troubleshoot network connections is How to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity with Windows XP.
Truly irritating advert(s)
No, it’s not that pesky TV advert “…our tooth brush will clean 19% better than…” or “…our Magic Washing Powder will remove 31% more stains compared to our competitive product…[you know, not just 30%, it’s 31% because it should sound more scientific and convincing enough, right? :-)] “, or tons of similar adverts that expect that we’re all stupid. I though this stupidity in advertising is reserved for big chemical/pharmaceutical TV ads, I was wrong.
In late summer (August 2009) when I first read Oracle sponsored Edison Group report I just laughed. However, recently I got the link to this pathetic pamphlet from two different newsletters and decided it’s time to rumble a bit. I don’t have anything against Oracle. Hands down Oracle database is simply a better product than MS SQL 2008 and I’m glad that I work with Oracle products in general. At the same time, I do recognize and respect competitive products, such as MS SQL and DB2. All products have their strengths and weaknesses, including Oracle. That’s why I take such marketing pamphlets reports insulting, because they expect I’m a retarded troll, the same guy who is shopping for that 19% more efficient toothbrush.
An abstract from Edison Group: Oracle Database 11g Saves 41% in DBA Costs Over SQL Server 2008″:
[Sponsored by: Oracle Corporation] In this whitepaper presented by the Edison Group, reveals how Oracle Database widens the manageability lead over Microsoft SQL Server 2008. The study shows how Oracle Database can save 43% in time and 41% in database management costs over Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
Quick search revealed similar sponsored pamphlets reports:
- Edison Group: Oracle Saves 43% in Database Management Cost over IBM DB2 and IBM Response to Edison Group Report
- Edison Group – Oracle Unbreakable Linux: True Enterprise-Quality Linux Support
The moral of the story is that money can (still) buy “studies” that can prove anything to anyone, hardly a surprise in today World. It’s their right to abuse such reports in marketing campaigns as it’s my right to tell them “No thanks! Sell this rubbish to someone else!”.
Now, I’m off to brag around of being 41% more efficient than my MS SQL Server colleague.[grin]
My Oracle Support – Day 2
Is Emperor actually naked?
At this point in a fairy tale a child in the crowd calls out……[you know what :-)]. I sincerely hope in happy ending of this tale. Can’t help but not to agree with Daniel Fink on this one.
dbaportal.eu 
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