Shortly after I published the previous post, I received an email from an old client who reminded me of a problem he had had with empty index blocks, the solution we had used (which was a coalesce) and an update on how things had changed in the latest releases of Oracle.
Strangely, I was sure I [...]
This is just a quick blog entry to correct some minor (and some not-so-minor) errors I’ve stumbled upon in blog and Web news media.
Exadata Storage Server Gross Capacity
In his recent Computerworld article, Eric Lai was trying to put some flesh on the bones as it were. It is a good article, but a few bits [...]
Something that we’ve been working on in the background recently, and are now able to announce, are the first of our Oracle BI Training Days running in London from October 22nd to the 24th, 2008. If you’re a developer using Oracle’s latest BI tools and you’re looking to take a step up in terms of [...]
The social network for Oracle people OracleCommunity.net was launched on January 31, 2008. Since then, it has had a tremendous growth. We went from 1 to 2,445+ members in 8 months. Existing features have been enhanced and new features have been added. Features like chat, events and the iPhone version did not even exist when [...]
Hello family and friends…
The flight to perth took a little longer than the planned 7 hours and 45 minutes. The last 2 hours were really tough. The lack of sleep meant I was really irritable. Everything was aggrivating my skin and my legs felt really stiff and bloated. I got into the hotel at about [...]
Now that I’m flying back from OOW08, I’ve a chance to pen a few words about the ADF Methodology Group at the Unconference.
I was very privileged to be a part of the first live ADF Methodology Group meeting. As blogged by Sten and Avrom, we were very lucky to have 40 odd people turn up to help contribute to the first meeting, including day-to-day expert ADF programmers, Oracle ACEs and ACE Directors, and Oracle staff themselves. Thanks to everyone who attended, beginners and experts alike, and those who contributed directly and indirectly.
The success of any such group is always a sum of the great contributions from the parts, and there was enough active discussion to let us know what we’re doing is going to help each other and new people to the group in running successful ADF projects. While the OTN Forums are great for talking about technical facilities, solving bugs and understanding JDev + ADF features, there’s far more to discuss in order for an ADF project to succeed, and this is where the ADF Methodology Group fits in. What’s the best way to test an ADF app, what infrastructure do you need, what should be part of your estimates, and so on.
I encourage anyone who is interested in JDeveloper and ADF to join the Google Group to discuss these sort of high-level discussions beyond the pure technical that all parties need in adopting new technologies, and to put effort into the Oracle Wiki page for the benefit of all.
We’re already talking about holding our next meeting at the ODTUG conference next year, and hopefully we’ll see even more attending the OOW session in 2009, including yourself.
Thanks again to all for your great efforts.
Phew, now I’d better go and do some paying work 
I was talking to Cary Millsap last week about the beneficial effect the Symposium has had on the wider community over the past several years.
I had a chance to take a look at a paper recently that someone had almost completed for presentation at last year’s Symposium and it reminded me how inspirational it had been for me to have a conference dedicated to performance. I think the Symposium has prompted quite a few people to experiment with some aspect of Oracle performance for the education of themselves and others. It gives people something interesting to aim for.
I remember the closing speech from Cary at the last Symposium I attended, during which he emphasised the importance of seeing new people present new ideas from new perspectives rather than just the same old faces. I agree. Even though there are a small number of slots and so it’s tough to get in, you should consider it if you’re into Oracle performance.
Cary blogged about the Call for Papers here. The two years presenting there were some of my better presenting experiences, so I recommend you give it a try if you have a good idea floating around in your head.
I just checked the time in San Francisco and I understand why I’m on the verge of seeing Magic Pixies. It’s about 36 hours since I last slept. I’m about to board a flight that will take 7 hours and 45 minutes and get me to Perth at about 17:00. I really hope I pass [...]
It’s difficult to understand how Tropic Thunder could possible become any more politically incorrect.
Ben Stiller plays a fading action star that tries to kickstart his serious acting career by playing “Simple Jack”, only to fail because he goes “full retard and you should never go full retard!”
Robert Downey Jr. plays an oscar winning method actor [...]
As they say, a blog without photographs is simply boring. Here is a picture of a single-rack HP Oracle Database Machine. It is stuffed with 8 nodes for Real Application Clusters and 14 Oracle Exadata Storage Servers with 168 3.5″ SAS hard drives. My lab work on a SAS-version of one just like this yields [...]