Weekend Learning: Sequences in a RAC environment

I posted about some general RAC information previously and today I want to share some more advanced information about "RAC and Sequences" from MOS note ID 853652.1 for those that want to understand more about the Oracle DB which may help you diagnose why transaction sequence numbers just might not be 100% foolproof!

ORA-06508 or FRM:40735 errors when opening EBS forms

Tonight, we have a general lesson in upgrades either with the EBS application or the Oracle database as My Oracle Support note "R12: Finally Close or Cancel FRM:40735: WHEN-BUTTON-PRESSED Trigger Raised Unhandled Exception ORA-06508" from document ID 2021590.1 shows us the simple reason why this happens as well as teaches us how to use adadmin also which you may not see if you are strictly Operations or Support.

RAC: Getting information about the application or users

I have been working in a RAC environment for so long that the lesson being taught in "How To Get Information on Application / Users in a RAC Environment?" from MOS document ID 2003350.1 is second nature to me, but I think this is really useful information to have so I have decided to share it tonight!

Finding out more about your OS

Recently I had to go back though our servers to verify OS information, and these sites proved invaluable to that effort so I'll be adding them to the Frequently Used Links:

http://www.unixtutorial.org/2007/08/how-to-find-out-the-release-version-of-your-unix/ http://www.unixtutorial.org/commands/uname/

http://itsiti.com/windows-server-2003-determine-32-bit-or-64-bit-version

Do you love being in Support?

In more of an editorial vein, I read this great article from Pythian about how much the author loved being a DBA and how it should be something aspired to since the industry is not shrinking with demand being so high.  I think the sentiment is exactly on point, and if we look at the list they link to in the top 25 are: Software Architect, DBA, Software Developer, IT Consultant, Systems Administrator, Systems Developer, and Programmer Analyst.  This isn't to say that you need to be in one of these categories over the other because it's higher in the list, but you need to build a career path along the lines of what you are interested in and what suits your skills.

I love being where I am job-wise and company-wise since I get the chance to take parts of several of these "top 25" jobs and put them into my own blender, stay on the cutting edge of technology, and craft my own career path.

What's PROD and not PROD?

A blog entry from a Pythian team member helps us change some of our daily tools so we can easily distinguish a PROD environment connection from a non-PROD environment connection.  I haven't been able to sit down and come up with my own schema with colors for PROD, QA, DEV, PROJ, SANDBOX, etc. but I'm planning on doing it when I get a chance and hopefully before I make a mistake in one of them!

SPAM (and not the meat product either)

With my blog growing, it appears that I've been recognized by external individuals running spamming or some other kinds of websites as random websites are visiting my blog even though I haven't done much promoting or linkage out there.  So in that vein, I go searching by the domain names when I find a new one and as a result I found a great resource which lists a lot of these sites out.  It even looks to be updated regularly, so as fast as these sites can pop up, that's a great asset in a site like this so I thought it may interest my fellow bloggers out there.

Community Manager, or Support Manager?

Recently there were a couple of blog posts from the Oracle Social Spotlight which caught my eye, one of which had a wish list that a recent Community Manager put together and it could absolutely go for any individuals in a Support organization while the other shows the "What, Who, Where, Why" of what Oracle believes a good Community Manager is and this list could also double for what a good Support Manager is too.

Windows 7: Problem Steps Recorder

I've recently been introduced to a new tool, Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder, which I need an opportunity to try out.  Why is that?  Well, typically I am able to remote into computers with our IM tool but if I needed a user to show me what's going on and our IM tool wasn't able to be used I could certainly use this if they are using Windows 7.  Oh, and the next time I need to provide a video to Oracle we'll see how they accept it.

What is Exalogic?

This post took me over to a great document where page 17 gave me a great visual showing just what the difference between Exadata and Exalogic is.  If you ever wanted to know, I strongly suggest you go look at this PDF to find the answer!

Oracle's ETRM

Have you ever wondered how Oracle applications go together sometimes?  Several times I've used their Electronic Technical Reference Manual, also known as ETRM, located here which requires a login (OTN I believe, but correct me if I'm wrong) but also has R12 included too.  I used it with one of my recent issues, just because it was easier to navigate around a few pieces of related code, and I'll be adding it to the links on the side too since this isn't the first time I've used it.

World Time Zones!

Do you have to work with individuals across different time zones?  Maybe are you confused how many hours off you are from somebody giving an Oracle presentation halfway around the world?  If so, this website is the tool for you!  Yes I know this isn't the typical Oracle or technical post you'd expect, but over the past month or two I've had to use this several times and all to good results so I'd like to share with the community.

Oracle is #1

As if there was any doubt about the position of Oracle within the database industry, this post removes any doubts you may have had!  I knew they were the leaders, but interesting to see comparatively how much market share they have over the competition.

Oracle KB offering

Not talking about Oracle's MetaLink/My Oracle Support knowledge base here, which seems like the obvious subject from my title, but an offering from Oracle called Oracle Knowledge Management.  I highlight this because I hadn't heard of this before, and while it seems to be directed at a call center type atmosphere part of me wonders if this would be a good solution for our shop so I'll keep it in mind when we start talking about knowledge management tools.