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Scripting for Oracle DBA

News	See also	Recommended books	Recommended Links	Recommended Papers	Tutorials	SQL
Oracle access from Perl	Oracle Security	SQL Injection	Oracle Audit Scripts	Oracle Performance Tuning	Humor	Etc

Perl is a very powerful tool for Oracle database administrators, but too few DBAs realize how helpful Perl can be in managing, monitoring, and tuning Oracle9i, Oracle8i, and earlier databases.

While Perl is installed by default on all commercial Unixes, Linux provides the best scripting environment for Perl of all Unixes. Solaris 10 come the second close. Given that most of Oracle's application stack is certified for use on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, it would make sense for anyone currently deploying Oracle applications considering a move to Oracle. Nonbreakable Linux to try Oracle's offering instead of Red Hat. It is a cheaper hardware than hardware from traditional vendors used for Oracle (with the exception of Sun, where Solaris can be used on Intel servers too)

Perl DBI is a generic application programming interface (API) used to connect to Oracle database from Perl. It was strongly influenced by ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard. Oracle uses the DBD::Oracle driver, another Perl module that provides the actual communication to the low-level OCI code. It is OCI that makes the final connection to the Oracle database.

Perl DBI connectivity was first implemented in 1991 when an Oracle DBA, Kevin Stock, created a database connection program called OraPerl that was released for Perl 4. Over time, similar Perl 4 programs appeared, such as Michael Pepper's Sybperl, designed for communication with the Sybase database. Perl DBI module was developed around the time Perl 5 became available and it incorporated new object oriented features of Perl 5.

DBI architecture permits to connect to any database, as long as you had the right driver. For Oracle such driver is DBD::Oracle written by Tim Bunce, the main creator of Perl DBI. Among the calls used by Perl DBI module:

available_drivers( ) Lists all of the available DBD drivers including DBD::Oracle
data_sources( ) Lists all of the databases available to DBD::Oracle
connect( ) Establishes an Oracle database connection
disconnect( ) Disconnects a login session from Oracle
err( ) Returns the relevant Oracle error code
errstr( ) Supplies an associated Oracle error message
prepare( ) Prepares a SQL statement for execution
execute( ) Executes a prepared statement
do( ) Prepares and executes a single SQL statement all together
bind_param( ) Binds a value to a prepared statement
commit( ) Commits a transaction
rollback( ) Rolls back a transaction
table_info( ) Fetches metadata information from a table
fetchrow_arrayref( ) Fetches a row of data into a referenced array
fetchrow_array( ) Fetches a row of data into an array
selectrow_array( ) Executes prepare( ), execute( ) and fetchrow_array( ) all in one call \

See Connection to Oracle database from Perl scripts for more details

There are many excellent Perl modules and complete open source applications that are freely available for Oracle DBAs to use. You can also create custom application using Perl/Tk, Perl's toolkit for developing graphical user interfaces.

There are many useful Oracle database administration scripts written in Perl and freely available on the Net. For example the books like Perl for Oracle DBAs and Oracle Scripts (both now outdated) contain set assembled by authors from various sources.

You can also create Web applications using Apache with Perl and Oracle

Many Oracle DBAs spend at least part of their time dealing with data warehousing as well as database administration. They often need to clean and transform data that originates in other databases and applications and is now destined for Oracle.

Perl, with its regular expressions and high performance, is one of the best solutions around for preparing data for use in data warehouse applications. Data mangling is the term used to describe the data cleaning, formatting, and transformation often required by data warehouses. There is a Perl book devoted to data mangling.

Every DBA ends up needing to write quick ad hoc programs simply to glue things together in their databases. Perl is perfect for this task. It also makes it easy for you to add, change, or customize your pet scripts.

Notes:

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The site contain some broken links as it develops like a living tree... Please try to use Google, Open directory, etc. to find a replacement link (see HOWTO search the WEB for details). We would appreciate if you can mail us a correct link.

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Old News ;-)

Oracle UNIX-Linux Administration Tips

These are tips and techniques from my book "Oracle UNIX Administration Handbook" by Oracle Press.

vnunet.com analysis Oracle unveils Database 11g - vnunet.com

[Jun 25, 2008] freshmeat.net Project details for check_oracle_health

About:
check_oracle_health is a plugin for the Nagios monitoring software that allows you to monitor various metrics of an Oracle database. It includes connection time, SGA data buffer hit ratio, SGA library cache hit ratio, SGA dictionary cache hit ratio, SGA shared pool free, PGA in memory sort ratio, tablespace usage, tablespace fragmentation, tablespace I/O balance, invalid objects, and many more.
Release focus: Major feature enhancements

Changes:
The tablespace-usage mode now takes into account when tablespaces use autoextents. The data-buffer/library/dictionary-cache-hitratio are now more accurate. Sqlplus can now be used instead of DBD::Oracle.

[Mar 26, 2008] InternetNews Realtime IT News – Oracle Expands Its Linux Base by Sean Michael Kerner

Oracle claims that it continues to pick up users for its Linux offering and now is set to add new clustering capabilities to the mix.

So how is Oracle doing with its Oracle Unbreakable Linux? Pretty well. According to Monica Kumar, senior director Linux and open source product marketing at Oracle, there are now 2,000 customers for Oracle's Linux. Those customers will now be getting a bonus from Oracle: free clustering software.

Oracle's Clusterware software previously had only been available to Oracle's Real Application Clusters (RAC) customers, but now will also be part of the Unbreakable Linux support offering at no additional cost.

Clusterware is the core Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) software offering that enables the grouping of individual servers together into a cluster system. Kumar explained to InternetNews.com that the full RAC offering provides additional components beyond just Clusterware that are useful for managing and deploying Oracle databases on clusters.

The new offering for Linux users, however, does not necessarily replace the need for RAC.

"We're not saying that this [Clusterware] replaces RAC," Kumar noted. "We are taking it out of RAC for other general purpose uses as well. Clusterware is general purpose software that is part of RAC but that isn't the full solution."

The Clusterware addition to the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support offering is expected by Kumar to add further impetus for users to adopt Oracle's Linux support program.

Oracle Unbreakable Linux was first announced in October 2006 and takes Red Hat's Enterprise Linux as a base. To date, Red Hat has steadfastly denied on its quarterly investor calls that Oracle's Linux offering has had any tangible impact on its customer base.

In 2007, Oracle and Red Hat both publicly traded barbs over Yahoo, which apparently is a customer of both Oracle's Unbreakable Linux as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

"We can't comment on them [Red Hat] and what they're saying," Kumar said. "I can tell you that we're seeing a large number of Oracle customers who were running on Linux before coming to Unbreakable Linux. It's difficult to say if they're moving all of their Linux servers to Oracle or not."

That said, Kumar added that Linux customers are coming to Oracle for more than just running Oracle on Linux, they're also coming with other application loads as well.

"Since there are no migration issues we do see a lot of RHEL [Red Hat Enterprise Linux] customers because it's easy for them to transition," Kumar claimed.

Ever since Oracle's Linux first appeared, Oracle has claimed that it was fully compatible with RHEL and it's a claim that Kumar reiterated.

"In the beginning, people had questions about how does compatibility work, but we have been able to address all those questions," Kumar said. "In the least 15 months, Oracle has proved that we're fully compatible and that we're not here to fork Linux but to make it stronger."

Basic Linux Shell Scripting for Oracle DBAs

Guide to Linux File Command Mastery

[Jul 12, 2007] vnunet.com analysis Oracle unveils Database 11g - vnunet.com by Ian Williams

Oracle has introduced Oracle Database 11g, claiming that the latest release boasts more than 400 new features, 15 million test hours and 36,000 person-months of development.

The release extends Oracle's database clustering, data centre automation and workload management capabilities, and introduces a multitude of new features.

Oracle Data Guard enables simultaneous read and recovery of standby databases making them available for reporting, backup, testing and 'rolling' upgrades to production databases.

Real Application Testing uses virtualisation techniques to help customers test and manage changes to their IT environment.

Oracle Database 11g also offers a host of new data partitioning and compression capabilities that form part of information lifecycle management and storage management.

Oracle Total Recall enables administrators to query data in designated tables 'as of' times in the past. This is touted as an easy, practical way to add a time dimension to data for change tracking, auditing and compliance.

Oracle Flashback Transaction enables users more easily to back out of a transaction made in error, as well as any dependent transactions.

The system supports parallel backup and restore to help improve the performance of very large databases, and hot patching which improves system availability by allowing database patches to be applied without the need to shut databases down.

Oracle 11g also includes new security features including improved Oracle Transparent Data Encryption capabilities beyond column level encryption.

[21-Feb-2007] Guide to Advanced Linux Command Mastery, Part 2 by Arup Nanda

Oracle ACE Arup Nanda offers a tour of slightly more advanced Linux commands useful for Oracle users, whether developers or DBAs.

[11-Aug-2006] Guide to Advanced Linux Command Mastery, Part 1 by Arup Nanda

In this four-part series from Oracle ACE Arup Nanda, you will learn some not-so-well-known tricks for various routine Linux commands, as well as use cases for more sophisticated commands.

Guide to Linux Filesystem Mastery [05-Nov-2004] by Sheryl Calish

What is a "filesystem", anyway? Sheryl Calish explains the concept as well as its practical application.

Guide to Linux Archive Utility Mastery [30-July-2004]
by Sheryl Calish
Sheryl Calish continues her "Linux Mastery" series with an introduction to the effective use of the tar, cpio, and rpm facilities for archiving and restoring files.

[08-Apr-2004] Vimming with SQL*Plus by by David Kalosi

Are you using Vim, one of the most popular text editors among Linux sysadmins, in an Oracle environment? If so, here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of the tool.

[19-Dec-2003] Using the sed Editor by by Emmet Dulaney

The sed editor is among the most useful assets in the Linux sysadmin's toolbox, so it pays to understand its applications thoroughly.

[16-Jan-2004] AWK: The Linux Administrator's Wisdom Kit by Emmett Dulaney

Learning Linux? This introduction to the invaluable AWK text-manipulation tool will be invaluable.

Oracle Linux Technology Center

Installation Guides

Note: not supported unless otherwise indicated!

Oracle Database 11g on x86; generic (Oracle - supported)

Oracle RAC 10g Rel 2 on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI (Jeff Hunter)

Oracle Database 10g Rel 2 on x86; generic (Oracle - supported)

Oracle RAC 10g Rel 2 on x86; RHEL4 and SLES9 (John Smiley)

Oracle Database 10g Rel 2 on x86; RHEL3, RHEL4, SLES9 (John Smiley)

Oracle Database 10g Rel 2 on SLES10 (Novell)

More Install Guides...

Sun/Oracle Best Practices (January 2001) by Bob Sneed

In this paper, Best Practice concepts are first defined, then specific high-impact technical issues common with Oracle in the Solaris[tm] Operating Environment are discussed.

Oracle Database 11g to feature XML enhancements By Mark Brunelli, News Editor

12 Dec 2006 | SearchOracle.com
The latest version of Oracle's flagship database -- Oracle Database 11g -- includes a slew of new XML-related features and enhancements, an Oracle executive said.

The main XML upgrades in Database 11g focus on XML DB, Oracle's XML storage and retrieval technology. They include a new binary XML data type, a new XML index and enhanced support for XQuery and other emerging standards, said Willie Hardie, Oracle vice president of database product marketing. Database 11g is currently in the beta testing phase and expected to be released commercially within the next year.

Oracle's database management system (DBMS) has long offered native XML support, meaning that XML data can be stored within the system itself in object-relational or character large object (CLOB) formats. Database 11g expands on this feature by adding the ability to store XML as a binary data type, Hardie said.

"What we're doing with 11g is giving customers more options in terms of how they want to store the data," he said.

Hardie said some of the benefits of native XML support include greater security and the ability to more quickly access the XML data.

"At the end of the day […] an end user doesn't really care too much about where that data sits," he said. "The importance is in how quickly they can get at that data."

On the standards front, Database 11g offers greater support for XQuery, a proposed standard that allows users to extract information from an XML file; the Content Repository API for Java Technology (JSR 170); and SQL XML, which defines a standardized mechanism for using SQL and XML together.

Database 11g also offers "duality" between SQL and XML, meaning that users have the ability to embed XML statements within PL/SQL and vice versa, Hardie said.

Meanwhile, Database 11g developers will have the choice of implementing schema-based or non-schema-based XML definitions, depending on the level of flexibility the application they're working on requires, he said.

"[With a] schema-based-type application, the application needs to know the structure of that piece of XML," he said. "Other times you might not want to know that and you'll store it in a non-schema-based format."

DBAHelper A collection of scripts for the Oracle DBA.

DBAHelper is a collection of scripts to ease the daily maintenance work of Oracle database administrators. Examples are moving objects between tablespaces, analyzing schemata, and rebuilding invalid indices.

Also included is a little framework to simplify the use of RMAN (this framework depends on the use of Oracle 10g with the Recovery Area enabled and properly sized, so all backups go there).

O'Reilly Five Timesaving Unix Commands for Oracle DBAs A Script to Check Oracle Values on Hundreds of Databases

One thing I always needed for Unix was a way to run the same SQL*Plus command on every database, and even databases on other servers. I had a manager who wanted to know the default optimizer mode for every database at a shop that had over 150 databases on 30 database servers. The manager allotted me two days for this task, and he was quite surprised when I provided the correct answer in ten minutes. I did it using the following script:
# Loop through each host name . . . 
for host in `cat ~oracle/.rhosts|\
cut -d"." -f1|awk '{print $1}'|sort -u`
do
    echo " "
    echo "************************"
    echo "$host"
    echo "************************"
    # loop from database to database
    for db in `cat /etc/oratab|egrep ':N|:Y'|\
      grep -v \*|grep ${db}|cut -f1 -d':'"`
    do
        home=`rsh $host "cat /etc/oratab|egrep ':N|:Y'|\
          grep -v \*|grep ${db}|cut -f2 -d':'"`
        echo "************************"
        echo "database is $db"
        echo "************************"
        rsh $host "
        ORACLE_SID=${db}; export ORACLE_SID; 
        ORACLE_HOME=${home}; export ORACLE_HOME;
        ${home}/bin/sqlplus -s /<<!
        set pages 9999;
        set heading off;
        select value from v"\\""$"parameter
        where name='optimizer_mode';
        exit
        !"
    done
done
This script requires the Unix remote shell (rsh) privilege so that it can bounce quickly between servers. You do this by making entries into your .rhosts file. The script will loop though all of the server names defined in the .rhosts file on your system, and will then loop through each database listed in each server's /etc/oratab file.

You can use this script to check any database values or to run any SQL*Plus script. You quickly can get user reports, performance statistics, and a wealth of information on every database in your enterprise. I have also used variations on this script to delete old trace files from the Oracle directories and to check free space in archived redo log filesystems. This script has saved me many hours of repetitive work executing the same command against many databases.

[Jan 26, 2006] CERT Vulnerability Note VU#871756. Oracle TNS protocol fails to properly validate authentication requests

Overview The Oracle TNS protocol authentication mechanism fails to properly sanitize authentication requests, possibly allowing a remote attacker to execute arbitrary SQL statements with elevated privileges.

I. Description Oracle databases authenticate and manage database connections via Oracle Transparent Network Substrate (TNS ) Listeners. According to a report by Imperva, Inc.,

The standard authentication mechanism requires a client to supply a valid pair of user name and password. During the login process an Oracle user with no more than “create session” privileges can execute commands in the context of the special database user SYS. This grants any user the highest administrative privileges possible.

The authentication part of the protocol is comprised of two steps, including two different client requests and two server responses respectively. The first request (message code 0x76) contains only the user name while the second (message code 0x73) contains the user name and an obfuscated password.

This second request also contains a list of name-value pairs describing various attributes of the client. The value named “AUTH_ALTER_SESSION” is intended for setting up session attributes related to the locale and language, in the form of an ALTER SESSION SQL statement.

It turns out that this value can contain any SQL statement. Moreover, this command is executed in the context of the SYS user, which operates outside of the Oracle access control mechanism. Thus, by setting the value of “AUTH_ALTER_SESSION” to an arbitrary SQL statement an attacker can execute any arbitrary command in the database. In particular, the attacker can create a new database account and create DBA privileges to the new account.

Note that valid login credentials are needed to exploit this vulnerability.

Based on research into public information, we believe that this issue is Oracle vuln# DB18 in the Oracle CPU for January 2006. However, there is not sufficient information to authoritatively relate Oracle vulnerability information to information provided by other parties.

A remote attacker, with valid login credentials may be able to execute arbitrary SQL statements with elevated privileges.

Apply patches

This issue is corrected in the Oracle Critical Patch Update for January 2006.

[Jan 25, 2006] The Cuddletech SAs Guide to Oracle ebook by Ben Rockwood

Draft: Feb 10th, 2005
This book is dedicated to the memory of my hero, Bob Larson,
who gave more to the UNIX community than most will ever know.

[PDF] Oracle10g for UNIX : Integrating with a Network Appliance Filer

Configuring Databases Using Soft Links (January 2003) by Carlos Godinez

This article explains the advantages of using symbolic (soft) links when configuring databases and provides techniques and examples for using them. This article presents information that will enable you to manage database configuration efficiently and accurately.

[Jan 6, 2006] Oracle 'Worm' Exploit Gets Ominous Tweak by Ryan Naraine (see also Analysis Oracle Worm Voyager)

Exploit code for a malicious worm capable of wreaking havoc through Oracle databases has been tweaked and published, prompting a new round of warnings that an actual attack is inevitable.

Two months after an anonymous researcher released the first public example of an Oracle database worm, the code has been advanced and republished on the Full Disclosure mailing list, adding additional techniques to attack databases.

"It's still very theoretical right now, but I don't think any DBA should be underestimating the risk," said Alexander Kornbrust, CEO of Red-Database-Security GmbH. "If you're running a large company with hundreds of valuable databases, a worm can be very destructive. It is very possible to use this code to release a worm. I can do this right now if I wanted to."

Kornbrust, renowned for his research work around security in Oracle products, claims he has already created an actual exploit that uses default usernames and passwords to target Oracle databases.

In an interview with eWEEK, Kornbrust said the tweaked exploit takes the attack beyond the use of known default username/password schemes. "This exploit connects to the Oracle listener and renames the log file. By doing this, he can create a new database account and set up a scenario where the next time the user connects to the database, the code executes," he explained.
Click here to read more about the first public example of an Oracle database worm.

"Depending on the payload, if one of these worms gets out, a business under attack can lose every database within 1 or 2 minutes. This is a very serious issue," he added.

Aaron Newman, chief technology officer at Application Security Inc., described the modified code as "more advanced" than the original proof-of-concept that included an apparent taunt aimed at Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison.

"[It is] still lacking the actual implementation to propagate—although it does have the capability. Change one line of code, and this thing would propagate," Newman said in an e-mail note.

According to Red-Database-Security's Kornbrust, database administrators should be fearful of a targeted attack that combines workstation vulnerabilities with a working Oracle exploit. "A successful attack can take aim at the DBA workstation through a Windows vulnerability, gain access to that local machine and use the Oracle worm as a payload to cause damage."
Oracle's security troubles continue to mount. Click here to read more.

For the most part, Oracle is an innocent bystander, since the proof-of-concept is not using an actual product flaw to propagate. Instead, Kornbrust said customers are responsible for using strong password schemes in database products. "In this environment, it is not acceptable to have databases with default defaults."

Kornbrust has published his own analysis of the modified exploit to explain the risks. He also warns that the code can be used to create database links and try to guess passwords for additional databases on a network.

Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's Weblog.

[Nov 17, 2005] Oracle taps Solaris 10 as 'preferred development platform'

dSQL is an SQL query tool for MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, MS- SQL, ODBC drivers, and all supported Perl DBI drivers. It uses Glade and GTK-Perl.

Techworld.com - Oracle jumps on PHP bandwagon

"Oracle is the latest database vendor to put its weight behind the PHP scripting language for business, with a new tool that integrates PHP applications with its databases.

"Oracle and PHP tool developer Zend Technologies have developed a PHP engine called Zend Core for Oracle. The tool, to be released for free in the summer, will integrate Oracle's databases and Zend's PHP environment..."

NewsForge Database vendors are joining the open source party

Oracle: Open source hucksters and challenge

Oracle Vice President of Technology Marketing Robert Shimp, whose company is among the only database providers not trending toward open source in some way, was critical of some open source moves by database makers in an interview with NewsForge. Shimp did not name names, but he noted that while Oracle welcomes the market growth and competition from open source databases, much of the open source database noise is centered on "orphanware."

Shimp cites companies "using open source because they see it as a marketing mechanism -- a tool for creating hype or awareness of older products. This is 'orphanware' -- software they want to abandon that has no real commercial value, so they put it out and see what happens."

Shimp elaborated by dividing open source database strategies into two categories: "serious" open source databases that provide transparency, allowing developers and users to learn and share; and the "hucksters" putting out abandonware.

In terms of competition from open source, Shimp said Oracle views the other databases as an asset in bringing new database users to the market, calling Oracle's biggest competitor the filing cabinet. Quite often, users are introduced to databases through a free or open source database, then move to Oracle as their needs become greater, according to Shimp, who called innovation Oracle's challenge and advantage.

"I'm confident we'll be able to create cool things that will get people to use Oracle," he said. "But I love the challenge the open source guys are providing."

[Nov 8, 2004] Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One

This is a difficult comparision and everything depends on your metric:

From the point of view of the cost of average Oracle DBA those are pretty fair prices (may be even low).
But it you think that Oracle database costs probably ten times or more then Microsoft Windows 2003 server (if we use $4995 "discount" price tag) it is overpriced. Even assuming that Oracle is equal to Windows XP in complexity (it is not - Window 2003 Server is much more complex product), but $750 fro 5 users is closer to reality.
As Mark Woodward, Mohawk Software noted "PostgreSQL handles virtually all the standard SQL constructs. It is easy (relatively speaking) to administer, it is fast, it is efficient, it has a great API, and it supports ODBC, why would you choose something else?"

Pricing:

For organizations supporting between 1- 400 users
Databases up to 500 Gb of Data
Either $149 per Named User (minimum of 5 Users)
Or $4995 per CPU (Maximum of two CPUs) for unlimited use
Fast Installation and Configuration, with Built-in Automated Management
Suitable for all types of Data, and all Applications
Basic replication capabilities for Branch Office environments.
The performance, availability, security and reliability you've come to expect from Oracle
Fully upgradeable to Oracle Database 10g Standard and Enterprise Editions

[Nov 8, 2004] Open-Source Path Not an Option for Oracle, Exec Says - Computerworld

... ... ...

Does Oracle still believe that the typical open-source user is price-sensitive and therefore can't afford Oracle products? We have extremely competitive pricing on our entry-level products, like the Standard Edition One product, that are at a list price of $149 per user (Minimum 5 users so this actually $750 - nnb) This price is highly competitive with open-source databases, which charge a great deal more for their support services.

Yet haven't companies like MySQL been cutting into your market share at the low end with open-source databases? MySQL does not claim the same database market as Oracle. Their product is used typically in the middle tier for storing data such as catalogs or Web sites and things like that. In fact, open-source database products are a good thing for Oracle, because they give a lot of users their first exposure to relational databases and give them an opportunity to learn about the technologies.

Why do you think companies like CA are open-sourcing databases? There are more than two dozen different database companies out there. Some are open-sourcing very old technologies in an effort to rejuvenate their business and grow shrinking market share. I don't see that as very viable.

Now that Red Hat has released Sistina Global File System under the GNU General Public License, do you need to continue updating your cluster file system? We believe that by providing the complete technology infrastructure, including the cluster file system, it is easier to install and maintain our products. The cluster file system is an important component of our clustering technology. In order to make it easier and simpler for our customers to install their products and maintain them, we want to provide a complete technology stack.

... ... ...

Slashdot/How Real Is The Open Source Database Fever

Re:I'm sure Oracle's nice and all, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
by dsplat (73054) on Wednesday December 22, @12:43PM (#11160273)

He was also critical of "orphanware". While there are reasons to be critical of orphanware announced as if it is a live project, it has some benefits. It is certainly possible for a product to reach a point in its lifecycle at which its residual value to its owner is small, or even negative if support is continued. However, at the same time, it may still be valuable to a small group of customers. Releasing it as open source at that point permits customers to make other arrangements for bug fixes and even new features.

Let's not pretend that orphanware is something that it's not. Nonetheless, there are still reasons to be pleased to see it.

Re:I'm sure Oracle's nice and all, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
by tanguyr (468371) on Wednesday December 22, @12:44PM (#11160287)
(http://www.newmediatwins.net/)

I think most "typical" Oracle customers are much less sticker-price sensitive than you'd think, since they realize that the cost of developers and DBAs you need to actually do something with your shiny new DB usually far outweighs the cost of the software. If anything, Oracle wins a lot of business in the DB world just like Microsoft wins a lot of business in the productivity suite world: most corporate customers think "Database" = "Oracle" and never really go out there to investigate the alternatives.

Re:I'm sure Oracle's nice and all, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
by Sycraft-fu (314770) on Wednesday December 22, @12:59PM (#11160445)

There's also the fact that Oracle has a real, proven track record of reliability and scaliblity. There are bunches of companies that run huge Oracle databases on mainframe-supercomptuer hardware that can't ever be down, not even for a minute, and have done so for years.

Can something like MySQL do the same? Well, I honestly don't know. However if you are in a position where there will be extreme losses from an outage, you don't want to be the one to test and maybe find out that no, indeed it can't.

Oracle in a Nutshell A Desktop Quick Reference

By Rick Greenwald, David C. Kreines
December 2002, ISBN 0-596-00336-6
926 pages, $49.95 US. Table of Contents,

Chapter 17: Performance (PDF Format)

No more hunting around through voluminous docs, January 9, 2003

Reviewer: Calvin Goodrich (see more about me) from Redwood Shores, CA USA

Finally, a single place to go for questions like: "What goes in that tnsnames.ora file?", "What does the init.ora parameter BUFFER_POOL_RECYCLE do?", and "What's the format for creating a PL/SQL function?". An excellent quick reference (If you can call a book with 912 pages "quick".)

Recommended Papers

EvDBT.Com - White Papers and Presentations

Sun/Oracle Best Practices (January 2001) by Bob Sneed
In this paper, Best Practice concepts are first defined, then specific high-impact technical issues common with Oracle in the Solaris Operating Environment are discussed.

Configuring Databases Using Soft Links (January 2003) by Carlos Godinez
This article explains the advantages of using symbolic (soft) links when configuring databases and provides techniques and examples for using them. This article presents information that will enable you to manage database configuration efficiently and accurately.

Solaris Operating System and ORACLE Relational Database Management System Performance Tuning (October 2003)
-by Ramesh Radhakrishna
This article focuses on the performance problems at the Resource Tier (database server). The assumption is that the database server is a Sun server running an ORACLE Relational Management System (RDBMS). The article requires a general knowledge of Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS) and Oracle RDBMS system administration. It is written for beginner- and intermediate-level system administrators responsible for Sun systems, and for Sun's customer engineers, and database administrators responsible for tuning Oracle databases.

Avoiding Common Performance Issues When Scaling RDBMS Applications With Oracle9i Release 2 And Sun Fire Servers (March 2003)
-byGlenn Fawcett

There are a handful of common performance issues that arise when trying to scale Oracle database applications on Solaris Operating Enironment. These issues are sometimes difficult to identify and address. This paper incorporates the experiences of Sun's Strategic Application Engineering group in tuning Oracle RDBMS systems on a variety of workloads. There are accompanying document, Avoiding Common Performance Issues When Scaling RDBMS Applications With Oracle9i Release 2 And Sun Fire Servers Appendices, that supplements the information in this article.

Understanding the Benefits of Implementing Oracle RAC on Sun Cluster Software (January 2005)
-by Kristien Hens and Michael Loebmann
In solutions that implement Oracle RAC and Sun Cluster software, the flexibility and power of Sun's cluster solution can add structure and maintainability to various underlying hardware components. This article describes the benefits of an Oracle RAC and Sun Cluster solution.

This article is the complete second chapter of the Sun BluePrints book, "Creating Highly Available Database Solutions: Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Sun Cluster 3.x Software," by Kristien Hens and Michael Loebmann, is now available at our Sun BluePrints publication page, amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble bookstores. This article targets an intermediate audience.

Memory Hierarchy in Cache-Based Systems (November 2002)
-by Ruud Van Der Pas
This article will help the reader understand the architecture of modern microprocessors by introducing and explaining the most common terminology and addressing some of the performance related aspects. Written for programmers and people who have a general interest in microprocessors, this article presents introductory information on caches and is designed to provide understanding on how modern microprocessors work and how a cache design impacts performance.

Despite improvements in technology, microprocessors are still much faster than main memory. Memory access time is increasingly the bottleneck in overall application performance. As a result, an application might spend a considerable amount of time waiting for data. This not only negatively impacts the overall performance, but the application cannot benefit much from a processor clock-speed upgrade either. One method for overcoming this problem is to insert a small high-speed buffer memory between the processor and main memory. Such a buffer is generally referred to as cache memory, or cache for short.

Drill-Down Monitoring of Database Servers - Chapter 21 (June 2002)
-by Allan N. Packer
Database expert, Allan N. Packer, shares database best practices from his recently-released book, "Configuring and Tuning Databases on the Solaris Platform", ISBN# 0-13-083417-2. In this article, Allen presents a process for identifying and resolving problems with the performance of database servers.

Monitoring and Tuning Oracle - Chapter 22, Part II (August 2002)
-by Allan N. Packer
Building on his July 2002 Sun BluePrints OnLine article, Allan continues to provide more best practices for Oracle monitoring using utlbstat/utlestat scripts and to recommend parameter settings for OLTP and DSS environments. Issues ranging from load performance to dynamic reconfiguration and Oracle recovery are also examined. Additional Oracle monitoring and tuning recommendations are available in his recently released book "Configuring and Tuning Databases on the Solaris Platform."

Tutorials

Oracle Tutorial - A Beginners Guide

Oracle Tutorial - A Beginners Guide (Part 2)

Quick start on Oracle8i & Solaris

Teach yourself Oracle in 21 days (online version of BOOK) (alternate site)
Philip Greenspan's Oracle tuning tips (Sigh. now gone. use www.archive.org to get it?)
Official Oracle 8i documentation from oracle's "technet" website. (Free signup required)
"dictionary views" reference A subsection of the oracle FAQ site, and a crucial reference. You might want to print this one out.

Making a user than can actually LOG ON

create user username identified by password_here;
grant connect, resource to username;

Making a table that can be seen by others

create table pubtable (value1 int, value2 char);
create public synonym pubtable for pubtable;

Random SQL hints

Finding primary/nonprimary keys for a table

select * from user_constraints where TABLE_NAME = "yourtable";

Finding column names/types for a table(in sqlplus only)

desc tablename;

Finding oracle session id (SID) from a unix process id

select SPID,SID,ADDR from v$process,v$session where ADDR = PADDR and SPID={UNIX pid} ;

Obscure reference

cdemo82.sql has a very special and interesting line in it, if you have access to the oracle account, but get locked out of the database. PS: system/manager, sys/change_on_install

Downloads

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Last modified: November 16, 2009

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