I mentioned this when I blogged about my 11gR2 Virtual RAC install on Windows 2008. It came up in a conversation with Niall Litchfield at UKOUG 2011 and I’m reminded of it again today, after doing an 11gR2 install on Windows XP to double-check my answer to a question. Oracle database installs on Windows are so incredibly easy!
Now I’m not saying I would want to run Oracle on Windows out of choice. I’m a Linux fanboy, as you probably know, but even the most staunch Linux fan would have to agree that Oracle installs on Linux require quite a few prerequisite steps, even with the oracle-validated package. There is just nothing to do on Windows except put in the CD (iso image) and go…
Anyway, having spent a minute thinking about the “dark side”, I’m going back to Linux… 
Cheers
Tim…
Just a quick heads-up for anyone who is interested in getting hold of a free copy of
OCA Oracle Database 11g: SQL Fundamentals I: A Real World Certification Guide.
There are two free e-books to be won. The two people that contact Sunil Chakravarthy (sunilc@packtpub.com) giving the best reason why they want a free copy of this book win.
Please don’t contact me about this offer. It’s not my book and it’s not my competition. Good luck.
Cheers
Tim…
I’ve not become all religious. I’m just using this variant on new year to start my new year in earnest. The start of this year has been a little shaky for me. The first couple of days I was a little under the weather and I kinda decided to break all my planned new years resolutions to make myself feel better. Seeing as now we are half way through January, that process lasted a little longer than I expected.
I don’t really take new years resolutions very seriously, so instead I’m going to list a few things I am going to focus on in the coming year. Kinda like a mission statement to try and live up to.
Website:
- Keep trying to write new material, but don’t worry if it comes slow. It’s been a long time since 11gR2 was released and 12c won’t come until the end of the year. This period is always a little stagnant.
- Revise your existing material. Some of the stuff on the site is 11+ years old and it’s well dodgy. (blog post about that on the way)
- Start writing more general stuff about Linux. (See below)
- Write more, but don’t always hit the publish button on everything.
Tech Stuff:
- I fancy doing the RHCSA and RHCE exams. I’ve been using Linux for over 10 years and looking through the syllabus I seem to know most of the content, but it will be a nice exercise to focus on it for a while. I might write articles on my revision notes for the exams, even if I never bother getting round to taking the exams themselves.
Fitness:
- Keep getting to the gym. Not every day has to be a memorable performance. Just don’t get out of the rhythm of going.
- Eat less. Whatever you think you need, halve it and have a little bit less than that. Remember, your stomach is the same size as your fist.
Personal:
- Be more tolerant of others. You expect others to tolerate your peculiar ways, so return the favor.
- Be a bit more sociable. I like meeting people, but it is not a natural state for me. If I’m honest I’m happiest when I’m on my own. Give humans a chance.
- Speak less, listen more. (like that’s going to happen)
- Consume less. This might sound funny to people who know me because apart from computers I own nothing, but there is always something else you can get rid of. Don’t become a martyr to the process though.
- Try to wear something that isn’t an OTN t-shirt. I was told by someone at a conference that they were asked, “Who’s that guy that’s always in Oracle t-shirts?”
- Either grow a beard or shave more often. Take your pick.
- Try not to take criticism personally, especially when it come from the internet.
That’ll do for the moment…
Cheers
Tim…
Several years ago I met Arjen Visser and Bertie Plaatsman from Dbvisit and they told me about their standby database product, which is a replacement for Data Guard. Now I don’t spend much time on non-Oracle products, but this one was interesting to me as it works on Standard Edition, unlike Data Guard which is an Enterprise Edition option. From that point onward I kept seeing Arjen and conferences and telling myself I really should take a look at the product.
Over last year I bumped into Arjen at a few conferences, along with some other members of the company (Eric, Mike and Vit). They are a cool group of people, so my interest in their products was ignited again. Finally, after several years of showing interest I tried out the standby product towards the end of last year, which resulted in the following article.
I held the article back until now because I was waiting for version 6.0.16 to be released so I could check out the revised web interface.
It’s a really nice product. Simple to install. Easy to use. Does exactly what it says it does. Most importantly, it’s backed by a cool group of people. When I tried the previous releases I had a few comments about the documentation and those were taken on board and changes were made. This is why I like dealing with smaller companies. There aren’t endless layers of bureaucracy involved in changing a few sentences in an install document.
I’ve said I’ll give their replication product (kinda like Golden Gate) a go, but based on previous experience it will probably take me about 4 years to get round to that.
Cheers
Tim…
One of my justifications for buying the iPad was I would use the Kindle App on it and save lots of money on buying paper books. That didn’t happen because the iPad is a really crappy reading device for novels. It’s way to big and heavy and has a nasty glossy screen that it totally crap for reading unless the light is perfect…
Using the same price justification again, I finally got round to buying myself an Kindle from Amazon. I bought the lowest spec one, which should be fine for me. My first impressions are it’s really cool. It’s very small and lite and most importantly the screen is great for reading novels.
I’ve just started reading the Repairman Jack series. Comparing the Kindle and paperback prices of the books, that series alone should pay for the cost of the device.
Let’s hope I do better with this than the iPad…
Cheers
Tim…
PS. So now I have to travel with a laptop, iPad and Kindle… 
I somehow managed to miss the release of phpBB 3.0.10 at the start of the year. The changelog is here.
All upgraded now.
Cheers
Tim…
How many times have you heard someone say, “The rows always came back in the correct order, but since the *event* it’s now wrong. The *event* may be an upgrade or some maintenance task on the table etc.
Oracle clearly say,
“Use the ORDER BY clause to order rows returned by the statement. Without an ORDER BY clause, no guarantee exists that the same query executed more than once will retrieve rows in the same order.”
This also applies for the GROUP BY clause, that haunted people during their 10g upgrades.
“The GROUP BY clause groups rows but does not guarantee the order of the result set. To order the groupings, use the ORDER BY clause.”
Both these statements can be found in the docs for the SELECT statements.
So why not make the ORDER BY clause compulsory? The statement could include an explicit NOORDER, like this.
SELECT * FROM emp e ORDER BY e.empname
SELECT * FROM emp e ORDER BY NOORDER
Of course, if that happened I would probably be in the group of people complaining about how ridiculous it is to force us to specify a clause we don’t need, but it would make people think…
Cheers
Tim…
Update: There seems to be a little confusion about what I am saying. I am not suggesting ordering should be mandatory. I am suggesting the ORDER BY clause could be mandatory, making you have to explicitly say if the output from the query is ordered or not. So these two statements would be functionally identical.
SELECT * FROM emp
SELECT * FROM emp ORDER BY NOORDER
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is OK for a Tom Cruise action vehicle. It is more or less the same as all the others in the franchise, which is not a bad thing. It just doesn’t bring anything new to the table. I knew it would be like this which is why it took me some time to work myself up to seeing it.
If you like the others go to see it. If you have not been won over to the franchise yet, I don’t think this one will do it.
Cheers
Tim…
WordPress 3.3.1 has been released. The release notes are here.
Cheers
Tim…
Snuff is book 39 in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. In this one Sam Vimes is forced by his wife to go on holiday to his country estate. Being a copper he’s on the lookout for anything amiss and ends up getting involved in more than he bargained for. It’s typical Vimes, typical Discworld and typical Pratchett.
I love how Terry Pratchett manages to state the obvious in a way that makes it sound novel. It’s not just what he says, but when he says it. For example, in one part of the book a rather nasty incident occurs, then he hits you with the line,
“I tell you commander, it’s true that some of the most terrible things in the world are done by people who think, genuinely think, that they are doing it for best, especially if there is some god involved.”
You’ve heard this sort of line a million times, but it is set up so well in the book it feels like an epiphany.
Please Sir, can I have some more?
Cheers
Tim…
PS. I need some fresh inspiration. I’ve finished all the Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher and Mike Carey stuff and I’ve got some Waterstones vouchers that need spending. Anyone got any ideas what I should try next?