Oracle Linux 8 (OL8) : Updates – UEK6, Podman, Database 19c Certification

Last week I had a quick email exchange with Simon Coter from Oracle about a few things related to Oracle Linux 8. I’ve been a little out of the loop over the last few weeks because of some important world event or another, so I had a bit of catching up to do.

UEK6 Went GA

UEK6 had been in preview for a while. In March it went GA, and I managed to miss that until recently. Even if you don’t care directly about the Linux kernel, this was a big thing because it was the first UEK release on Oracle Linux 8, and most of us outside Oracle were thinking this would mark the start of certification of Oracle products on OL8 (see below).

Downloads

About a month ago Oracle announced you can download the Oracle Linux ISO images from yum.oracle.com. See here.

This is much cleaner than using eDelivery, but form experience eDelivery is a lot quicker for downloads!

Podman

In Oracle Linux 8 the Oracle supplied Docker engine has been replaced by Podman. I was blindly expecting Docker CE support, like we had with OL7, once UEK6 was released. When I asked about this I got educated about Podman. About a day later someone else mentioned it on Twitter.

I’ve got a separate blog post coming about Podman.

Oracle Linux 8.2

A few days ago Oracle Linux 8.2 was born (here).

Oracle Database 19c Certified on Oracle Linux 8

In my email exchange Simon told me WebLogic was already certified on OL8, but there had been no official announcement about the database certification yet.

Today I noticed Mike Dietrich had a blog post about this. The database is now certified on OL8. 🙂

This is the certification of 19c (19.7) database on OL8 with UEK6. I don’t know what will happen with previous database versions, but I kind-of hope they don’t certify them. I want to forget older releases exist.

Once I heard this I went on to the OL8 Yum repository and noticed the “oracle-database-preinstall-19c” package is now in the repo. Happy days.

I’ve got a separate post coming about this.

Conclusion

There’s been a lot happening while I was looking in the other direction. 🙂 The moral of this story is don’t blink, and keep looking at the Oracle Linux Blog.

Cheers

Tim…

PS. There is a lot more stuff on the Oracle Linux blog. I’ve just mentioned the things that directly affect me…

Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud 2019 Specialist : My Thoughts

You’ve probably heard that Oracle have made some training and certifications free in recent times (here). We are approaching the end of that period now. Only about 15 more days to go.

Initially I thought I might try and do all the certifications, but other factors got in the way, so I just decided to do one. You can probably guess which one by the title of this post. 🙂

I had seen a few people speaking about their experiences of the training videos, so I thought I would give my opinions. Remember, this is my opinion of the training materials and exam, not my opinion of the cloud services themselves. I am also aware that this was free, so my judgement is going to be different than if I had to pay for it.

The Voices in the Videos

A number of people have been critical about the voices on the training videos. I really didn’t see a problem with them.

When you record videos and do presentations you have to decide who your target audience is. A large number of people that use Oracle have English as a second language. Having spent years presenting around the world I’ve learned you have to slow down a bit, or you lose some of the audience. I do this on my YouTube videos, and it can make them sound a bit monotone at times. When I’ve recorded my videos at my normal talking speed, people have responded to say they were brutally fast. You can’t please everyone. You have to make a choice, and for some professional training materials that probably means speaking slower.

I listened to most of these training videos at 1.5 speed and it was fine. The fact I wanted to listen to it this way is not a criticism of the training. I’ve listened to a number of Pluralsite courses at 1.7 speed, and I tend to listen to non-fiction Audible books on a higher speed. You just have to find what works for you.

It’s just my opinion, but I thought the voice was fine.

Content Inconsistencies

There are inconsistencies between the training materials and the documentation. I originally listed some, but I don’t think it’s really helpful. As with any training material, I think it’s worth going through the training material and documentation at the same time and cross referencing them, as well as trying stuff out if you can. It helps you to learn and it makes sure you really know what you are talking about.

Why are there inconsistencies? I suspect it’s because the cloud services have changed since the training materials were recorded. Remember, there is a quarterly push to the cloud, so every three months things might look or act a little different.

What should you do? I would suggest you learn both the training material, and the reality where the two diverge, but assume the training material is correct for the purpose of the exam, even if you know it to be wrong in reality. This is what I’ve done for all previous certifications, so this is nothing new to me.

How did I prepare?

As mentioned above, I watched the videos at 1.5 speed. For any points that were new to me, or I had suspicions about the accuracy, I checked the docs and my own articles on the subject. I also logged into the ADW and ATP services I’m running on the Free Tier to check some things out.

I did the whole of this preparation on Sunday, but remember I’ve been using ADW and ATP on and off since they were released. If these are new to you, you may want to take a little longer. I attempted to book the exam for Monday morning, but the first date I could get was late Wednesday.

Content

The training content is OK, but it contains things that are not specific to Autonomous Database. Sure, they are features that can be used inside, or alongside ADB, but I would suggest they are not really relevant to this training.

Why? I think it’s padding. Cloud services should be easy to use and intuitive, so in many cases I don’t think they should need training and certification. They should lead you down the right path and warn of impending doom. If the docs are clear and accurate, you can always dig a little deeper there.

This certification is not about being a DBA or developer. It’s about using the ADB services. I don’t think there is that much to know about most cloud services, and what really matters goes far beyond the scope of online training and certifications IMHO. 🙂

Free

The training and certifications are free until the middle of May 2020, which is when the new 2020 syllabus and certifications for some of the content comes out. By passing this free certification you are passing the 2019 certification, and they will stay valid for 18 months, then you will have to re-certify or stop using the title. I guess it’s up to you whether you feel a pressing need to re-certify or not.

Update: Some of the other training and exams are already based on the 2020 syllabus. Thanks for Adrian Png for pointing this out. 🙂

I’m sure this would not be popular at Oracle, but I would suggest they keep the cloud training and certifications free forever. Let’s be honest. Oracle are a bit-player in the cloud market. They need all the help they can get to win hearts and minds. Making the cloud training and certification free forever may help to draw people in. I don’t see this type of material as a revenue stream, but I’m sure some folks at Oracle do.

From what I’ve seen, the training materials are entry level, and something I would encourage people to watch before using the services, so why not make them free? That’s rhetorical. I know the answer. 🙂

Would I pay for it?

No. I watched the material to get a feel for what they included. I’m not saying I already knew everything, because I didn’t, but I knew most of what I wanted to know before using this stuff. Of course, if I had come in clean, this would have been pretty helpful I guess, but I think it would have been just as easy for me to use some of the online docs, blog posts and tutorials to get to grips with things. That’s just my opinion though. Other people may feel differently.

Would I have sat the exam if I had to pay for it? No. I don’t think there is anything here that I wouldn’t expect someone to pick up during their first few hours of working with the service. It’s nice that it’s free, but I’m not sure it makes sense to pay for it.

What about the exam?

The exam just proves you have watched the videos and have paid attention. If someone came into my office and said, “Don’t worry, I’m an Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud 2019 Specialist. Everything is going to be OK!”, I would probably lead them to the door…

I don’t think the exam was so much hard, as confusing at times. There were some questions I think need revision, but maybe I’m wrong. 🙂

What about doing the exam online?

This freaked me out a bit. You have to take photos of yourself at your desk, and photos of the room. Somewhere at Pearson Vue they have photos of my washing hanging up. 🙂 You are told not to touch your face, so as soon as I heard that my whole head started to itch. I started to read the first question out loud, and was told I had to sit in silence. I understand all the precautions, and they are fine. It just felt a bit odd. 🙂

So there you have it. Having promised myself I would never certify again, it turns out I’m a liar… 🙂 If you get a chance, give one of the training courses and exams a go. You’ve got nothing to lose. You can read more here.

Cheers

Tim…

Learning New Things : What About Exams/Certification?

I’ve covered the subject of exams and certifications a number of time over the years. Where Oracle certifications are concerned you can read my thoughts on the subject in this certification FAQ, or watch me talking about it whilst driving, back in the days when I had a car. 🙂

I feel an exam should only be important if it is part of your process.

  • If an exam is a goal that gets you off your ass to start learning something that’s great.
  • If an exam syllabus is something you use to help organise your learning process that is also good.
  • If you need the piece of paper for your job, then I guess you better do it, even if it is not part of your process.
  • If you just enjoy doing exams them because you “gotta catch-em all” like Alex Zaballa, that’s fine. Although you do have a problem Alex! 🙂

The important thing is you are learning and progressing as an individual. If you are cramming to pass an exam then forget everything, I think you’re wasting your time and making the certification look shitty. It’s just my opinion, but that is not personal development.

Another thing that concerns me is blind adherence to the exam syllabus. This is very much a starting point, not the end goal. In the past I used to stick rigidly to the OCP syllabus until I had passed the exam, then start looking at other areas. Now I find myself going off on tangents all the time. There is often far more interesting stuff that is not on the syllabus. I think that’s reflected in the fact I often had a complete set of OCP upgrade exam notes within a few months of the GA release. For the 12cR1 exam it took me years because I was spending more time writing about stuff that wasn’t on the syllabus. 🙂

I’m not saying my opinion on all this is correct. I just think the piece of paper is worthless. It’s the journey that counts!

Check out the rest of this series here.

Cheers

Tim…

Certification : OCP 12c and OCP 12cR2 Updates

Just a couple of certification related updates.

Upgrade to oracle Database 12c (1Z0-060)

About a week ago I finally got round to doing the 12c certification. As followers of the blog/website know I’ve been writing articles about Oracle Database 12c since it was released nearly 4 years ago and for pretty much all of that time I’ve been trying to convince myself to sit the 12c OCP DBA upgrade exam. It’s not that I care about the piece of paper itself (see my certification FAQ), but I’ve had so many people write and thank me for my 12c revision notes, that it felt a little bit odd I hadn’t actually sat the exam myself.

The biggest factor in delaying taking this exam was it was not a conventional 12cR1 new features exam. Instead it was an upgrade from OCP 9i, 10g, 11g to 12cR1. That meant it potentially covered anything introduced from 9iR2 onward.  That means in addition to learning the new features well enough to pass the exam, you also have to cover the old ground, which is quite a burden. Oracle used to provide catch-up exams like this as well as a straight new features exam and I think that was a better option.

Now I’m sure some of you will think, “But you should know that stuff anyway!”, and you are right, but knowing enough to do the job and knowing the type of things you are tested on in an exam are not the same thing. The thought of revising everything from 9iR2 onward was quite daunting and it put me off doing this exam. This seemed to be a common reaction amongst many people I spoke to.

I realise maintaining a catch-up exam and a regular new features exam is extra work for the certification folks, but if you want to keep people on the OCP treadmill, I think you’ve got to do this. I came very close to ditching the whole OCP thing as a result of this 12c upgrade exam, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Upgrade Oracle DBA 11g/12c to 12cR2 (1Z1-074)

I mentioned in a recent post there is an exam called “Upgrade Oracle DBA 11g/12c to 12cR2 (1Z1-074)” in beta at the moment. I’ve been writing about Oracle Database 12cR2 since its release on the Oracle Public Cloud, so there are quite a few articles on my website already.

Normally the release 2 articles get lumped together, since they don’t form part of an exam syllabus, but now they do, so I’ve split them up into two sections.

I’ll continue to add new articles to both sections, and at some point I will have a complete set of revision notes for the new exam. 🙂

Once again the new exam is a catch-up exam, but at least it only covers 12cR1 and 12cR2 this time. As before, I think this is a mistake, but that’s just my opinion. 🙂

Part of me wants to cram for this new exam and get it done on the cheap while it is in beta. Part of me thinks I may never take this new exam. Time will tell I guess. You’ll probably see an update post in 4 years when I’ve finally got round to it. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Recertification Requirement

I saw this post about the policy change this morning.

There is also a comment about it here.

You can be cynical about this and assume it’s a money thing, but I’m actually in favour of it. Red Hat have a recertification policy also. If you get your RHCE, you need to do another certification, even if it is just a one-off specialism, within 3 years or you lose your status.

In Oracle’s case, the recertification is based around retired exams, so it can be quite an extended time. If you take the 11g DBA certification, that’s been around for about 5 years and has still not been retired, so it will probably be around a 7 year recertification cycle for that exam. I don’t feel that is particularly excessive. Oracle’s release cycles seem to be slowing, so I don’t see this recertification being too much of an issue…

What this does mean is that people who did the 7, 8, 8i, 9i, 10g OCP and have never bothered to upgrade it should take OCP off their CV, but I doubt that is going to happen… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) Database 12c…

I just noticed the Database 12c OCP beta exams have started to appear (see here).

Not surprisingly, the multitenant option seems to be a big factor in the content of the both the Advanced Administration and Upgrade exam.

There are a few things that seem a little odd (to me) though:

  • Use Oracle Restart to manage components. Isn’t this a deprecated feature in 12c?
  • Configure and use Oracle Secure Backup. Do they mean Oracle Secure Backup Express?
  • Use Flash Cache.
  • Key DBA Skills (Upgrade Exam only). This whole section looks out of place to me for an upgrade exam.

Ignoring the “Key DBA Skills”, the upgrade exam contains about 49 bullet points, which means the production exam will on average have about 1.5 questions per bullet. The “Key DBA Skills” adds another 34 bullets, so now we are talking less than 1 question per bullet in the production exam…

There is enough new stuff to keep me writing articles for quite a while before I get in a position to sit this exam. I don’t think I’m going to be anywhere near ready before the end of the beta period, which is a pity. I think the only people who are likely to make the beta exam are those people who were on the database beta program, or people who are trying to wing it. Since I fit into neither of those categories, it looks like I’m waiting for the production exam…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I wrote an Oracle Certification Frequently Asked Questions article a little while back.

RHCE Certification Articles (continued)…

I mentioned in my previous post on this subject that I had 5 more objectives yet to cover. The articles for those objectives have now been added to the website.

That completes the set!

The articles for both exams are available here. I also have a page listing the objectives for both exams, with links to each of my articles that cover them.

Now I just have to find the time to prepare for and sit the exams… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

RHCE Certification Articles…

Just before I started my current job I was planning on doing the RHCSA and RHCE exams for a bit of fun. In preparation for that I started to write the revision notes for each of the exam objectives. I got to the end of the RHCSA exam objectives, then my plan kind-of stalled, what with starting the new job etc.

Over the Christmas holiday I got some time to start the notes for the RHCE exam. If anything, the syllabus for this exam is a little simpler as many of the sections follow the same basic format. This full list of RHCE exam objectives includes the links to all the articles I’ve written to cover the objectives. There are still 5 to complete, but hopefully I’ll get those done soon.

The new articles I wrote include:

Some of the existing articles on the site got some changes to reflect other objectives, including:

Remember, these articles are targeted specifically at the exam objectives, rather than trying to provide everything you need to know about the subject. In my opinion, some of the exam objectives are rather too simple, missing out the more interesting and useful features of the software. In some cases I’ve added some extra information beyond the objectives, marking it as not part of the exam, or linked or other articles that give some ideas of other uses.

Once I finish the next batch of articles, I guess I should consider sitting the exams. I’m pretty confident I could get through them now if I had access to my notes, but in the exam you just have “man”  and “info” pages, so I would have to commit some of the stuff to memory to get through them. Although I’ve been using Linux for over a decade, the fact I don’t do system administration on a daily basis means some of the more obscure tasks aren’t committed to memory.

It would be nice to get the articles finished and exams done before Oracle 12c is released, or I will be distracted for a while learning all that stuff. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Database Certified on OL6/RHEL6 (at last)…

I can hardly believe it. It’s finally happened!!!

Check out the story here.

The certification matrix on MOS is not updated yet, and those on RHEL kernel will have to wait a few more days (90), but at last we have some firm commitment. 🙂

From now on, the Oracle Linux errata are available free from http://public-yum.oracle.com. In the past only the updates (5.6, 5.7 etc.) were available. This makes OL even more useful than before.

Thank you!

Cheers

Tim…

Update: Remember, if you apply the errata to OL6.2, you will have the same scsi_id issue I saw with 5.8.

A History of (my) Certifications…

I was chatting with the lady doing OCP Lounge registrations at OOW11. During this chat I mentioned I hadn’t received a certificate for the SQL Expert certification. It never crossed my mind to re-request it, since my certifications are visible on certview.oracle.com anyway. Yesterday, a DHL man delivered the missing certificate, which prompted me to look though my certifications and scan this image.

First, check out the card on the bottom right. I was unaware the “Expert” certifications had a different colour card.

Second, notice anything funny about the 9i DBA OCP certification?

It’s hard to believe it’s over 12 years since I first completed one of these certifications… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…