For the first time ever, I will be speaking at UKOUG Tech Days this coming December 5-8 in Liverpool, UK. I’ve wanted to carve out enough time to visit England during the Christmas holiday season ever since I explored the eastern edge of the UK a few years back, so it’s serendipitous that I’ll be joining a team of some of the best and most knowledgeable speakers on Oracle technology.
I’m also thrilled that two of my favorite topics were chosen for me to present:
Session #51: Everything You Know Is Wrong: DBA Intuition, Meet Hard-Core Metrics explores what goes through a DBA’s head when she’s trying to find the root causes of a particular problem, and how easy it is to let one’s intuition take control when she should be looking at the dashboard instead.
Session #47: Caveat Nuba Emptor: Matching Your Organization’s Needs To the Best OPC Database looks at two of Oracle’s Public Cloud offerings and explores the innards of how Exadata Express might make a great addition to a DBA’s capabilities to help her customers – her application developers! – quickly build new applications without fear of overusing critical resources.
Please do check out the schedule here; it could change, of course! – and don’t forget to registerfor the event. I promise I’ll see you there!
It’s hard to believe that 2018 is half over already. I’ve had an incredibly busy six months traveling to and speaking at Oracle user groups events and conferences across the country, so it’s been another exhilarating six months for me … and that means you all have access to some great collateral and code!
I’ve added all four of my most popular presentations as PowerPoint slide shows for download. They’re chock-full of interesting insights into where our world as Oracle DBAs and applications developers is headed, plus some great code samples to boot.
Don’t forget to check out my overview of #SmartDB because it’s got some great examples of how to leverage Edition-Based Redefinition (EBR) and cross-edition triggers to make it simpler to handle application migrations and upgrades with no application downtime. And because everything I’ve shown you is a mere soupcon of how #SmartDB works, don’t forget to take at the links I’ve included in that presentation to (much!) deeper dives on #SmartDB by my colleagues and mentors Bryn Llewelyn and Toon Koopelars.
And the rest of 2018 will be equally busy: I’m headed off to South America to participate int the 2018 Latin America Oracle User CODE events in August, then heading over to ECOUG in September, and wrapping up my October with presentations and learning at OOW18. I hope to see you soon at an upcoming event!
I am embarrassed to admit that I’ve ignored my dear colleagues just a few thousand kilometres to the south of Chicago for much too long … so it is a great honor to return to South America as part of the 2018 Latin American Oracle User Group (LAOUC) Developer Community Tour conference series this coming August 2018!
For now, here’s the schedule of where I will be presenting … but be sure to check the official LAOUC web site or the links below for the most up-to-date information on registering for these upcoming sessions:
I’ll be talking about several topics that focus on some of the newest tools we can take advantage of for our developers, including how to choose the right Oracle Cloud for your development tasks at hand, with some really neat examples of how easy it is to use APEX in concert with Exadata Express for Oracle 12cR2 as well as DBaaS with Oracle 18c. I’ll also offer my viewpoints and code examples of how best to bring our developers’ application code back inside the Oracle Database in a sensible fashion through the #SmartDB paradigm.
So if you are going to be near any of these venues this August, I hope to see you there! Hasta luego, mis amigos y amigas!
I’ve had the honor to share a page in Fortune Voice with some of my most esteemed and respected colleagues – including Michelle Malcher, Nitin Vengurlekar, Russ Lowenthal, and Dan Vlamis – on the topic of what the Oracle Autonomous Database (or what I like to call AuDB) means for Oracle DBAs as they continue to upgrade their careers from DBA 2.0 to DBA 3.0.
Michelle, Nitin, Russ and Dan all offered different viewpoints on what AuDB offers to the common DBA, and I concur heartily! I can’t wait to see what the OLTP version of AuDB will bring for us DBAs who are often tasked with keeping hundreds of different databases up and running in good health. It will be an interesting voyage!
2017 has been an incredibly busy year! Besides speaking at half a dozen different Regional Oracle User Groups this year, I co-authored two new books, experimented in depth with Oracle Public Cloud, and helped my latest employer, ViON Corporation, build out their Oracle Gold partnership from the ground up, one customer at a time. It’s been an exhilarating experience for me, but for you, it means access to some great collateral and code:
I’ve added all three of my most popular presentations as PowerPoint slide shows for download. Many folks have asked me for the sample code in the two most technical presentations on Oracle 12cR2 Database In-Memory feature explorations and Analytic views. Just in case you missed out on seeing me present at one of my numerous conference engagements this past year, I hope these presentations help you with your experimentation.
I’ve also added a link to all of the code examples for my most recent book, PDB Me to Oracle Cloud Pocket Solutions Guide: A Lazy DBA’s Guide to Mastering Multitenant Features on Oracle Cloud, that I co-authored with good friend and fellow Oracle ACE Director Charles Kim from Viscosity NA. It’s a great little handbook that explores some of the neatest features of Oracle 12cR2 multitenancy, including the ability to move a PDB between different CDBs without ever facing any application downtime. Oh, and by the way – it’s all done in the Oracle Public Cloud!
Check out my most recent article on IOUG SELECT that include my impressions from Oracle OpenWorld 2017. I review what Larry Ellison’s keynotes revealed for the future of Oracle and what those revelations most likely mean for the role of Oracle DBA in the coming months and years.
Finally, Oracle Technology Network just published my latest article that explores the unique advantages of leveraging Oracle Public Cloud’s Exadata Express features for a robust, automatic, and powerful Cloud-based platform, especially for experimenting with Oracle 12cR2 Database In-Memory features at a reasonable cost before investing in it for your on-premises databases.
Enjoy, my colleagues! Here’s to a 2018 that’s full of surprises. Only good ones!
At the request of my colleagues in India – especially the ever-persistent Oracle ACE Director Sai Janakiram – I have at last found a window of time during which I can attend the annual SANGAM17 event in Hyderabad. (It helped that Sai apparently recruited our fellow ACE Director Bjoern Rost to call me out as a wimp for not being willing to travel halfway around the world 24+ hours to India and to provide some much-needed mentoring for our younger colleagues there. Hint: Don’t ever call a guy from Chicago a wimp.)
I’ll be presenting three of my favorite topics, plus a brand-new one tailored specifically for my brother and sister Oracle colleagues in India:
DBA 2.0 Is Dead. Long Live DBA 3.0!
Cloud. DevOps. Agile. Big Data. 12cR2. So much to worry about if you’re an Oracle DBA who hasn’t made the transition from DBA 2.0 to DBA 3.0! Let me help you make the transition with a brief presentation – no code samples, just my viewpoints! – about the the future history of the DBA role in the USA.
Oracle 12cR2 Database In-Memory: Adventures with SwingBench TPC-DS
I’ll discuss and demonstrate what I’ve discovered about several aspects of Oracle Database 12cR2’s newest Database In-Memory features, including In-Memory Expressions, ILM ADO Policies for In-Memory Objects, and improvements to In-Memory Joins and In-Memory Filtering.
Stop Guessing, Start Analyzing: New Analytic View Features in Oracle Database 12cR2
I’ll discuss and demonstrate how to leverage the unique features of Analytic Views in 12cR2 that can save an Oracle DBA and application developers from writing inordinately complex code to solve multi-dimensional analytic queries.
Want to Be Successful In IT? Follow the PRIYA Principle.
As SANGAM17 draws to a close, I’ll be speaking at some length about the essential qualities of a true Information Technology professional. I’m honored to have a chance to present my observations from my 35+ years in IT and explain what I believe you’ll need to do to stay ahead of the curve in the coming years as the demand for professional resources increases.
The first-ever OTN Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Tour is finished at last, and it was one of the most invigorating conferences I’ve ever attended and participated in. Many of my fellow Oracle ACEs and ACE Directors crossed 12 time zones to spend seven days in five cities on two continents to share our knowledge of all things Oracle with young and enthusiastic attendees at every stop.
The Tour
Our first stop on the tour was Bizerte, the oldest city in Tunisia not far from Tunis, the capital of Tunisia and the site of ancient Carthage. Tunisia is the country that ignited the “Arab Spring” in 2010, and the country is still healing its wounds from that conflict.
Our team and hosts reconnoiter the ruins at Dougga, the best-preserved set of Roman ruins in North Africa. Humbling and stunning!
But the enthusiasm of the young IT professionals in Bizrete and the rural city of Beja, “City of Wheat” and the second stop on our tour, was infectious. The magnificent coastlines and spectacular seaside views took everyone’s breath away, and the hospitality of our new Tunisian comrades showed us was humbling and endearing. We even had a chance to walk the best-preserved set of ancient Roman ruins in all of North Africa in Dougga.
The IT workers, students, and teachers we met in Tunisia inspired us because even in what most of us in the West might call a developing country, the reach of IT technology is impressive, as every attendee at both conferences had at least one mobile device. Tunisia’s future certainly seems bright, and we hope our passion for IT left our attendees with the confidence to pursue their dreams for themselves as well as their nascent country and economy.
The IT professionals in Beja were young, questioning everything. Inspiring!
Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and our third stop, gave us a deep look into Saudi culture and its people. The young IT professionals there were hungry for our team’s knowledge. They showed us unbounded hospitality, displayed a proud passion for their Muslim culture, and picked our Oracle ACE brains on everything until almost 0200 the next morning.
Kingdom Tower, 100 stories high, dominates the skyline of Riyadh. We saw the city from the skybridge at the top – magnificent!
Jeddah, our fourth stop on the tour, is a bustling commercial seaport that is also closest to Mecca and thus closest to the hearts of my newfound Muslim brothers and sisters. A young crowd of IT professionals braved a humid weekend morning to hear us speak all too briefly before leaving the KSA.
In a single word: Dubai is magnificent. It was a fitting final venue for our tour because its sudden emergence from a desert in less than 20 years mirrors the growing importance of an IT industry that truly dominates all people and cultures in every corner of the world. Its futuristic skyline was second only to all the young professionals from the ARABOUG user group that took the time to join us for the outstanding final day of the tour; it gave us our best look at the future of IT in the far Middle East.
Our Cast of Characters
We happy few … after closing the tour in Dubai. (From L-R: Bjoern Rost, myself, Joel Perez, Osama Mustafa, Mike Ault)
Mike Ault, our most senior ACE, was discomfited by illness for most of the tour and did most of the speaking anyway. Mike’s deep experience with performance tuning gave attendees a deep look under the covers of Oracle databases. But it was his perseverance that inspired all of us to “keep calm and carry on” even when presentations ran over, travel plans went awry, or taxis were too small.
Bjoern Rost, a veteran of several ACE tours, brought his unique perspective to every venue and gathering. And contrary to world opinion, Germans do have a wicked sense of humor… even when his only response to our best jokes was, “That’s not funny.” Bjorn’s deep dives into Oracle 12c features were simply outstanding, and his emergency emcee-ing in Dubai made our final day of the tour a success.
Edward Roske crystallized exactly what Big Data is, how it’s still evolving, and why our attendees should care about it. His presentations were simply outstanding and I know I speak for our whole team that his verve and focus taught us all how to relate better with our audiences. Edward’s deep business knowledge and customer centricity also blew me away; I learned more in 20 minutes listening to him explain how to see business issues from our customer’s position than I’d learned from any formal class I’ve taken in the last 25 years.
Syed Jaffar Hussein presented on Oracle database security features – extremely important in a world where as much as 80% of data theft happens inside the firewall! – and gave us great hospitality in Riyadh. His enthusiasm for his town and culture added a lot to our enjoyment of Riyadh, especially our visit to the Kingdom Tower.
Imran Ullah Bukhari’s presentation on application and database performance tuning from the design phase forward made a great impression on our audience in Riyadh. His deep understanding of KSA’s culture helped us navigate what could’ve been potential disasters, and he truly embodied the tradition of hospitality in the Arab world.
Joel Perez, the lone South American ACE on the tour, presented on zero-downtime Oracle database migration strategies and captured our audience in Dubai with his energy and knowledge. His enthusiasm was infectious, and his passion for the perfect photo of our team after our final presentations that day tightened the bond between we happy few Oracle ACEs on our tour.
OsamaMustafa brought his ready smile and enthusiasm to Dubai as we wrapped up our tour there. His expertise on high availability principles for Oracle Middleware shone through his presentation, and I hope to learn even more from him during our next tours together.
Finally, I’ve got to acknowledge Tariq Farooq, our fearless leader, without whom this tour would’ve been impossible. Tariq’s knowledge of the region and its people, his ability to speak Arabic and negotiate our path to success even when the odds seemed against us, his deep reverence of Islam and the ways of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and his undaunting sense of humor knitted us into a true “band of brothers.” When we look back at the 2015 MENA tour, its success will have been built upon the seeds that Tariq planted in the deserts, cities, towns, and OUG communities in Tunisia, KSA and Dubai in 2014. Until then, as my new Arab brothers and sisters say in almost every sentence: Insh’Allah.
At last, it is official: It will be my great honor to participate in Oracle Technology Network’s first-ever tour of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) starting this coming Monday, May 25th in Bizerte, Tunisia.
I’ll be speaking on five topics related to Oracle 12c Database – a reprise of the four presentations I did at IOUG COLLABORATE14 #C14LV in Las Vegas this past April 2014, as well as a brand-new presentation on how to leverage Oracle 12c’s two new histograms for even more efficient query execution when there are dramatically skewed data sources to be tackled.
The OTN MENA Tour will cross two continents – Africa and Asia – as we traverse most of North Africa and the near Middle East:
May 25: Bizerte, Tunisia
May 26: Beha, Tunisia
May 29: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
May 31: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
June 1: Dubai, UAE
My travelling mates include several Oracle ACEs and ACE Directors from across the USA, South America, Asia, and of course MENA as well. To see full details of all the speakers and topics we’ll be covering, please be sure to peruse the Tour’s website.
If you have colleagues in the MENA area, be sure to let them know about the OTN Tour, as I’d love to make their personal acquaintance. I’ll report back as often as I can during the tour via Twitter (hashtag: ##OTNMENATOUR14) and LinkedIn.
And until I meet you all in person, my new MENA colleagues: As-salāmu `alaykum.
The OUG Norway 2014 Varseminar concluded this past April 5th as the crowd of 350 motivated Oracle professionals disembarked from the MS Color Magic. The two-day cruise between Oslo, Norway and Kiel, Germany offered me a chance to regain my “sea legs,” reconnect with my European colleagues, and transfer additional knowledge on the state of Oracle 12c “across the pond.”
This was my second time at OUGN in two years, and this year’s speakers were all excellent, including a unique keynote from Kellyn Pot’Vin and Tim Gorman on how IT professionals often make the wrong assumptions as we chase “tinsel monkeys” down rabbit holes when we’re trying to solve performance problems. I thoroughly enjoyed rendering my two presentations on Oracle 12c Database’s ILM features. Eight separate tracks made for more intimate venues for each presentation, but everyone who participated was enthusiastic about finding out how to best leverage these new capabilities.
Between our flights home, my colleague and friend Luis Campos and I also explored Oslo’s residential district and visited Frogner Park, a huge open space that’s home to some of the most unique sculpture gardens in the midst of one of the most beautiful capitals in Europe. The brisk April air barely penetrated my new Oracle ACE Director windbreaker – which needed a good break-in anyway. No wonder Norwegians always seem so happy!
My latest Oracle 12c article on is now available in print as well as the IOUG SELECT Journal website: It’s all about those pesky frequency distributions that the Oracle optimizer can use to make extremely short work of skewed data.
And if you haven’t seen my ongoing 12c Database features series at IOUG SELECT, my able colleagues at IOUG have permitted me to place PDF copies of my articles on my blog site so that you can all ramp up your Oracle 12c skills. You can find these articles from previous IOUG SELECT Journal editions on this blog’s new Articles page.
Please be sure to check out these new articles – they may just provide enough ammunition for explaining exactly why now is a great time for your organization to consider the efiicacy and efficiency of Oracle 12c when compared to your current Oracle database release.
For the first time ever, I will be speaking at UKOUG Tech Days this coming December 5-8 in Liverpool, UK. I’ve wanted to carve out enough time to visit England during the Christmas holiday season ever since I explored the eastern edge of the UK a few years back, so it’s serendipitous that I’ll be joining a team of some of the best and most knowledgeable speakers on Oracle technology.
