Apr 30: OUG Scotland DBA SIG
An enjoyable day, but it flew by. Having not had much sleep last night through worrying about the first time I was giving this particular presentation, I'm glad I was able to present in the second slot of the day because I knew I'd be flagging later on.
The most enjoyable aspect of Scottish events is that I'm bound to see a few friendly faces from previous sites that I haven't seen for a while and today was no exception. Unfortunately I had even less time to say hello than normal so it was nice to get a quick chat and a coffee before proceedings started with Thomas Presslie's introduction and the usual Support Update from Oracle. That contained a few issues that are quite relevant at my current site and I could see one of my colleagues taking the occasional note. We're at the start of a project to implement Grid Control and Audit Vault, so I was hoping we might find when some 10.2.0.4 database and GC components might be out for AIX, but still no word. On a related note, it was very useful to be able to talk to those from other sites who'd been through successful GC implementations - just what a User Group event is for - sharing ideas and experiences. I'd already heard that GC 10.2.0.4 is a significant improvement on 10.2.0.3, but hearing someone else who had lived through some pain until they upgraded to 10.2.0.4 was a very useful conversation indeed.
I was in the next slot and I was surprised I was worried about the presentation before-hand. I know I'm often worried, but I've spent so much time with these tools lately. I suppose it was because I planned to spend most of the time on demonstrations, which are always likely to go wrong
I was aware that I was trying to cram a lot in, too, even though it was a longer-than-usual one hour slot. I wasn't very happy with it in the sense that there were things that I planned to cover but didn't, so it could definitely use more work, but I definitely felt in a presenting mood, enjoy the subject and so I think my enthusiasm carried the presentation. I certainly heard some very encouraging comments from a few trusted reviewers afterwards and had a couple of fascinating questions and later conversations, which is generally a good sign. I suppose it was a relief it went well, but I can see definite scope for improvement. I've subsequently heard from a couple of people that they feel inspired to download some software and play around with some of the tools for themselves, which is probably my favourite reaction.
After what seemed like a very short coffee break, we were into the first of Joel Goodman's two presentations of the day, on Database Vault. This is likely to be part of our overall implementation but we've yet to decide the for certain. Even in the unlikely event that we don't use DV, Audit Vault uses DV itself, so we need to know about it in any case. I've seen quite a few of Joel's presentations in the past and because he teaches so many courses, he's always got a deep knowledge of the subject and this was no exception, but you can only really touch on things in an hour. Useful, though.
Then it was a shot lunch break of two cigarettes and a chat with a colleague and suddenly it was time for Joel's next presentation, on Audit Vault. That was one of my main reasons for attending, but I'd agreed I'd get some time with Peter Robson to talk a few things over, so I asked my colleague to check it out for me and settled down for a long interesting chat with Peter and Thomas P and someone else who likes the OEM Performance Pages too.
That was it, though, because I had to get away by 2:30. A short, tiring but fun day and a few slides to look through this evening. Back to normal work tomorrow.
The most enjoyable aspect of Scottish events is that I'm bound to see a few friendly faces from previous sites that I haven't seen for a while and today was no exception. Unfortunately I had even less time to say hello than normal so it was nice to get a quick chat and a coffee before proceedings started with Thomas Presslie's introduction and the usual Support Update from Oracle. That contained a few issues that are quite relevant at my current site and I could see one of my colleagues taking the occasional note. We're at the start of a project to implement Grid Control and Audit Vault, so I was hoping we might find when some 10.2.0.4 database and GC components might be out for AIX, but still no word. On a related note, it was very useful to be able to talk to those from other sites who'd been through successful GC implementations - just what a User Group event is for - sharing ideas and experiences. I'd already heard that GC 10.2.0.4 is a significant improvement on 10.2.0.3, but hearing someone else who had lived through some pain until they upgraded to 10.2.0.4 was a very useful conversation indeed.
I was in the next slot and I was surprised I was worried about the presentation before-hand. I know I'm often worried, but I've spent so much time with these tools lately. I suppose it was because I planned to spend most of the time on demonstrations, which are always likely to go wrong
I was aware that I was trying to cram a lot in, too, even though it was a longer-than-usual one hour slot. I wasn't very happy with it in the sense that there were things that I planned to cover but didn't, so it could definitely use more work, but I definitely felt in a presenting mood, enjoy the subject and so I think my enthusiasm carried the presentation. I certainly heard some very encouraging comments from a few trusted reviewers afterwards and had a couple of fascinating questions and later conversations, which is generally a good sign. I suppose it was a relief it went well, but I can see definite scope for improvement. I've subsequently heard from a couple of people that they feel inspired to download some software and play around with some of the tools for themselves, which is probably my favourite reaction.After what seemed like a very short coffee break, we were into the first of Joel Goodman's two presentations of the day, on Database Vault. This is likely to be part of our overall implementation but we've yet to decide the for certain. Even in the unlikely event that we don't use DV, Audit Vault uses DV itself, so we need to know about it in any case. I've seen quite a few of Joel's presentations in the past and because he teaches so many courses, he's always got a deep knowledge of the subject and this was no exception, but you can only really touch on things in an hour. Useful, though.
Then it was a shot lunch break of two cigarettes and a chat with a colleague and suddenly it was time for Joel's next presentation, on Audit Vault. That was one of my main reasons for attending, but I'd agreed I'd get some time with Peter Robson to talk a few things over, so I asked my colleague to check it out for me and settled down for a long interesting chat with Peter and Thomas P and someone else who likes the OEM Performance Pages too.
That was it, though, because I had to get away by 2:30. A short, tiring but fun day and a few slides to look through this evening. Back to normal work tomorrow.
Apr 27: Upcoming Events
I'll be presenting at a few events in the next couple of months.
30th April - OUG Scotland DBA SIG Meeting.
This one is the easiest for me to travel to, being just on the out-skirts of Edinburgh, and is always a well-organised event with a decent agenda, thanks to the local committee.
20th-22nd May - Swedish and Finnish User Groups joint anniversary conference.
This looks like being a very exciting event to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the user groups, taking place on a cruise ship which should add a unique atmosphere to what already looks like a very strong agenda.
19th June - UKOUG Northern Server Technology Day.
Lisa Dobson, amongst others, has constantly tried to improve the UKOUG's profile of events in Northern England (we do ok in Scotland already) so I always try to make this event when it runs. It'll be just a short train journey away, too
At all three events I'll be presenting "How I Learned to Love Pictures' which is my attempt to try to capture my growing love for the OEM Performance Pages in OEM Database Control/Grid Control. I've always had a soft spot for them but spending a few months messing around with them for the Oracle seminar and for implementation at my current site has reinforced my initial impressions. Although there will be some vaguely technical content, there are going to be very few slides. What I want to do is show how pretty and useful the tools are by using some of the demos from the seminar. I'm convinced that people can only fully appreciate the tools by seeing them in action. Fortunately all three presentations have a one hour slot which will give me enough time for a few demos and hopefully some questions too.
On the boat trip, I'll also be presenting the OFA-related presentation from last year's UKOUG conference in Birmingham, although I'm thinking of improving the technical content.
So, quite a bit for me to look forward to.
30th April - OUG Scotland DBA SIG Meeting.
This one is the easiest for me to travel to, being just on the out-skirts of Edinburgh, and is always a well-organised event with a decent agenda, thanks to the local committee.
20th-22nd May - Swedish and Finnish User Groups joint anniversary conference.
This looks like being a very exciting event to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the user groups, taking place on a cruise ship which should add a unique atmosphere to what already looks like a very strong agenda.
19th June - UKOUG Northern Server Technology Day.
Lisa Dobson, amongst others, has constantly tried to improve the UKOUG's profile of events in Northern England (we do ok in Scotland already
) so I always try to make this event when it runs. It'll be just a short train journey away, too At all three events I'll be presenting "How I Learned to Love Pictures' which is my attempt to try to capture my growing love for the OEM Performance Pages in OEM Database Control/Grid Control. I've always had a soft spot for them but spending a few months messing around with them for the Oracle seminar and for implementation at my current site has reinforced my initial impressions. Although there will be some vaguely technical content, there are going to be very few slides. What I want to do is show how pretty and useful the tools are by using some of the demos from the seminar. I'm convinced that people can only fully appreciate the tools by seeing them in action. Fortunately all three presentations have a one hour slot which will give me enough time for a few demos and hopefully some questions too.
On the boat trip, I'll also be presenting the OFA-related presentation from last year's UKOUG conference in Birmingham, although I'm thinking of improving the technical content.
So, quite a bit for me to look forward to.
Apr 19: Swingbench
A short post in praise of Swingbench. (There's much more information at that link.)
Without this utility, demonstrating performance problems during the course would have been much more difficult so I owe Dominic Giles. It's simple to set up using one small configuration file to set up environment variables, a JVM and an Oracle client installation. It's supplied with 4 usable benchmark applications which are useful to demonstrate different aspects of Instance behaviour.
It's easy to change the number of sessions, think time, load of different parts of the application and as it's a framework, you can use it to test your own PL/SQL-based apps.
The only problem I've run into is getting the Overview screen to work properly on all benchmarks but I suspect that the problem lurks in one of the XML files describing the benchmarks or my JVM. Still working on that one.
As I said, I owe Dominic, so take a look as it's very easy to try and if it serves you as well as it has me, there's a Paypal donation link on Dominic's site Anyone who comes to any of my presentations this year is likely to get a chance to see Swingbench in action.
Without this utility, demonstrating performance problems during the course would have been much more difficult so I owe Dominic Giles. It's simple to set up using one small configuration file to set up environment variables, a JVM and an Oracle client installation. It's supplied with 4 usable benchmark applications which are useful to demonstrate different aspects of Instance behaviour.
SH - Sales History application based on the Oracle-supplied SH schema. A read-only benchmark.
CC and SOE - OLTP-type applications
Stress Test - basic INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE/SELECT test.
It's easy to change the number of sessions, think time, load of different parts of the application and as it's a framework, you can use it to test your own PL/SQL-based apps.
The only problem I've run into is getting the Overview screen to work properly on all benchmarks but I suspect that the problem lurks in one of the XML files describing the benchmarks or my JVM. Still working on that one.
As I said, I owe Dominic, so take a look as it's very easy to try and if it serves you as well as it has me, there's a Paypal donation link on Dominic's site
Anyone who comes to any of my presentations this year is likely to get a chance to see Swingbench in action.
Comments
Mon, 12.05.2008 12:44
dtrace for linux exists - since i am busy porting it. licensing issues dont come [...]
Tue, 06.05.2008 20:25
Faisal, It's now quite a while since I worked on this system, but I recall [...]
Mon, 05.05.2008 22:53
I was wondering if you could help me as I was trying to configure. As you [...]