Tag: 11g

Oracle 11gR2 RAC On Linux Using VMware Server 2

I’ve taken my first tentative steps into 11gR2 RAC and it was a big surprise.

11gR2 RAC feels very different to 11gR1 RAC. I can imagine quite a few people wanting to upgrade from 11gR1 thinking it will be trivial and getting a rude awakening…

The Grid Infrastructure (Clusterware + ASM) seems more complicated. There are more installation options, more prerequisites, more background processes and a bigger memory requirement…

I typically install 11gR1 RAC on VMware using 1G of RAM per VM. If you try that with 11gR2 you will get to the end of the Grid Infrastructure installation and have nothing left. The minimum recommendation for Grid Infrastructure alone is 1.5G, but if you want the RAC DB as well you are talking 2.5G. It actually worked fine with 2G of RAM allocated to each VM, but this is a whopping increase compared to 11gR1.

At this point I feel like I know nothing about 11gR2 RAC, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a patched version of 11gR1. If this had been released as 12g I would have still have been surprised by the level of change.

So over the next few days I’m expecting the dust to settle, my residual fear of all things new to subside and I’ll probably change my opinion completely and think it’s all the same as it was before… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Please don’t try this installation on your 32-bit Windows laptop with 2G of RAM then write to me complaining it doesn’t work and telling me the article is rubbish… 🙂

RELIES ON clause no more…

I’ve been running through my demos before my PL/SQL workshop in Utrecht and I noticed a change in the behaviour of the PL/SQL Function Result Cache. In 11gR1 it was necessary to specify dependencies using the RELIES ON clause, but now Oracle 11gR2 takes care of Detection of Sources for you. Neat. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Fedora 11 and Oracle 11g…

It’s that time again where I check to see if Oracle installs on the latest version of Fedora. The result once again is yes, it does. The main website has the links to the articles. I would add links here only the browser on this internet cafe machine doesn’t support cut & pates. 🙂

When I get on a real computer I’ll put the links in this post as well. 🙂

This release of Fedora is probably quite significant as it is likely to be the base for RHEL6.

Cheers

Tim…

Fedora 10 and Oracle 11gR1…

I like to meddle with Fedora from time to time, just so I can see what’s coming round the corner in RHEL. I read recently that Fedora 11 will be the base for RHEL6, which means we are about 6 months away from seeing what the future of RHEL is going to be…

Much as I expected, there were no real problems getting Oracle 11gR1 running on Fedora 10. Here is an OS and an Oracle installation guide for Fedora 10.

The Fedora 10 network configuration dialog seemed to have a couple of issues/bugs. For a start, it was impossible to set the subnet mask. It was constantly overwritten by the default gateway. I adjusted it in the config file and it was fine, but it was a bit confusing for a while. 🙂

I’ve complained a number of times in the past that Fedora doesn’t seem to have an obvious direction. Is it server or is it desktop? Of course it’s both, but I think some clear intent helps from a marketing point of view. The fact that the Desktop Edition, a live CD, is at the top of the Get Fedora page will save many people form downloading a DVD full of software they will never need. Once installed, you get access to all the software via the “Add/Remove Software” dialog.

A few interesting things about the installation are:

  • The installation package list is fixed. There’s no customization during the installation.
  • The installer assumes you want DHCP for your network.
  • SELinux and the Firewall are on by default.
  • Services like SSHD are not on by default.

I guess if these issues annoy you, don’t pick the desktop edition. 🙂

I think this is definite step in the right direction as far as encouraging Fedora for desktop use.

Cheers

Tim…

PIVOT and UNPIVOT in 11g…

I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing again after my 2 month layoff. It’s a little daunting, but quite fun as well.

There’s a bunch of 11g new features that didn’t make it into the OCP exam, and the PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators fall slap bang into that category.

Pretty neat!

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle 11g RAC On Linux Using VMware Server 2…

I mentioned in a previous post I had taken the plunge and upgraded to VMware Server 2 on my laptop. Now I’ve also upgraded my main machine at home and it seems to be working fine. Probably the most complicated thing I run at home is a virtual RAC, so I wrote a new article to document the installation:

From a user point of view, the only difference between VMware Server 1.x and 2 is the new web-based managment interface. The VM setup itself is almost identical and as you would expect, so is the Oracle installation.

So far so good.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Certified Profesional (OCP) Database 11g…

I passed the Oracle Database 11g: New Features for Administrators (1Z0-050) exam today. It’s a bit of a relief because I feel like I’ve been preparing for this exam for a year. My first OCP revision article was written about 1 year ago, when I was hoping to be ready for the beta exam. Unfortunately, all the presentations and teaching I’ve been doing this year proved to be a bigger distraction than I’d hoped, which meant I missed the deadline for the beta exam, and overshot the start of the production exam by about 6 months. 🙂

Well, now the exam is over it presents me with some new issues.

1) There are some gaps in my revision notes that need filling. I did a lot of reading during the preparation, and pulled out the areas and facts I thought were most important. Based on the events of today, this didn’t necessarily match up with the contents of the exam. It didn’t affect me, as I had done the additional reading, but as it stands I think it’s touch-and-go whether my revision notes alone will get someone through the exam. This means I’m going to have to go through and revise a few of the articles to fill the gaps.

2) There are a couple of OCP revision articles I’ve not published yet. I got a little impatient and sat the exam before I had finished prettying them. They will follow shortly, conferences permitting.

Like all the OCP exams, this is just the first steps towards learning this release…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I suppose it’s a little premature to call myself an OCP 11g. I guess that’s not official until Oracle send through the certificate. 🙂

PPS. Before anyone asks, I used the Oracle manuals to prepare for the exam, so I can’t give certification guide suggestions…