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Just a quick note that my latest IOUG SELECT Journal article on 12c R1 features – an essential read, especially if you’re contemplating experiments with In-Memory Column Store features –  is available on IOUG’s web site. In honor of Oracle OpenWorld 2015, IOUG has made the entire 2015 Q3 SELECT Journal available publicly, so grab a taste of their delicious new online format and prepare for you adventures in IMCS! Happy Computing, my colleagues.

If you’d like to learn more about what I believe are some of the most important features and capabilities of Oracle Database 12c, please be sure to check out new Oracle Database 12c video training series that’s now available from Pearson LiveLessons.

And my colleagues at InformIT have also just announced a special offer: You can save 20% off the normal retail price of $299 and get the entire series – six individual lessons, over four hours of training, complete with detailed code examples of how these new features actually work – for only $239.

So if you’re heading down an implementation path for Oracle 12c in the immediate future, don’t miss out on this deal! Just click on the LiveLessons icon above begin your 12c journey.

I’ll be presenting at the upcoming July 2015 meeting of the Chicago Oracle Users Group (COUG). We’ll be meeting on July 23rd from 6PM – 8PM at a brand-new venue – the Seasons 52 restaurant in Schaumburg, IL. As usual, space is limited, so be sure to register soon to guarantee a seat.

My esteemed colleague Biju Thomas will be kicking off our meeting with a discussion of Oracle Database features entitled The Rest of the Database 12c Features for an 11g DBA. Then I’ll be presenting Just SQL Often Needed: Leveraging JSON Features in Oracle Database 12.1.0.2. This brand-new topic is a first foray into some of the unique ways to leverage data stored as JavaScript Object Notation – an increasingly popular data interchange format used by NoSQL databases as well as all sorts of devices that participate in the Internet of Things (IoT) – within Oracle 12cR1.

I’ll also be bringing some copies of my new Oracle Press book for our usual post-presentation raffle. Since I’ll be sticking around for some after-meeting comraderie, I’ll be happy to sign your prize. So don’t miss this meeting! I hope to see you there.

If you have colleagues in Japan who are within easy travel distance of Tokyo’s Akihabara district, please let them know that I will be there during the week of June 8, 2015 to speak at the 2015 DB Tech Showcase.

I’ll be presenting on June 10th on the new In-Memory features of Oracle Database 12.1.0.2, and then on June 11th I’ll be explaining how Oracle Database 12c’s new histograms can make a difference in better query performance.

This is my first-ever trip to Japan, so  I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to present to my Oracle colleagues half a world away. I am looking forward to a cultural immersion experience like none other. I hope to see you there to wish you konnichi-wa at my sessions!

If you are in the midst of migrating, transforming, or upgrading your existing database from Oracle 10g or 11g to Oracle 12c and you’re searching for exactly the right techniques to leverage during your project, please do check out our new book – it’s designed to help you think creatively about the method(s) you can leverage most effectively for your project.

I just received a few copies of our book – my very first Oracle Press publication  – and I must admit that there is nothing more humbling than seeing one’s name in print for the very first time. I want to thank my co-author Ed Whalen for his patience while I learned the ropes of publishing, and my hat is off to my colleagues – especially Hans Forbich, our valiant technical editor, and our Oracle Press editors Wendy Rinaldi and Janet Walden – for all their assistance over the past year. It has been a most interesting endeavor!

NOTE: Our book officially launches on June 5, 2015 but I wanted to give you all advance notice of its publication. You can decide to pre-order it here if you’d like to get an advance copy. It will be available in e-Book format as well.

If you’ve wanted to upgrade your knowledge on Oracle Database 12c to include some of the neatest new features of release 12.1.0.2, you’ve probably priced out the cost of the Oracle University five-day Database 12c New Features course and suffered extreme sticker shock … especially if it’s been a while since you took an OU class.

But if you’re just trying to get your head around some of the most beneficial features of 12c Database – especially the new In-Memory Column Store features! – I’m happy to announce an excellent introduction into these features and many others, including Attribute Clustering and Zone Mapping, advanced partitioning operations, partial partitioned indexes, automatic SQL tuning, and many more. Pearson is offering a sneak peak at my new six-part video series, Oracle 12c New Features Part 1 LiveLessons, via Safari Books Online.

And if you are already a Safari Books Online subscriber, you can get a free preview of the full course right now! Just use this link to dive into the introduction to the online course. (If you’re not already a Safari subscriber, you’ll only be able to view the first 30 seconds or so of each lesson.)

Please let me (and, of course, the folks at Pearson) know what you think! I’d be thrilled to hear your feedback.

Full disclosure: I have also taught Oracle University classes to over 2000 DBAs since 2005. The 12c New Features course is excellent, especially when you have had the benefit of me as your instructor (at least based on the grades you’ve given me over the years). If you are planning to take the 12c OCP Upgrade test, I highly recommend it, especially in concert with one of Oracle’s approved certification exam simulators.

I’ve posted a copy of my latest article that was posted just earlier this week in IOUG SELECT Journal to my Articles page. This article – the second in a series on the new In-Memory Column Store (IMCS) features of Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 – completes my investigations into some of the incredible power and flexibility of this new feature set. Consume freely, my colleagues!

Just a quick note to everyone at Hotsos Symposium 2015: My latest IOUG SELECT Journal article is now available on the Articles page of this blog. It contains most of the code samples that I used for my presentation earlier today at Hotsos. My most sincere thanks for all of you that came to see my presentation on Oracle Database 12.1.0.2’s new In-Memory features!

My latest article on Oracle Database 12c features has just been published in the 2015Q1 edition of IOUG SELECT Journal. Entitled A Go-Faster Button: In-Memory Column Store in Oracle 12.1.0.2, it dives relatively deeply into the features of Oracle 12.1.0.2’s In-Memory Column Store, including a discussion on the concepts behind those features and extensive source code for demonstrating its efficiency.

If you’re an IOUG member, you can view it immediately; I will be posting a PDF version of the article early next week on my blog’s Articles page. And while you are at it, check out IOUG SELECT Journal’s brand-new, all-electronic format! It makes it super-easy to read articles, look up listings, and browse other content on just about any mobile device, laptop, or e-device.

If you’re an Oracle DBA who’s just been tasked with upgrading your 9i, 10g, or 11g database to 12c, then you are in luck: Our new book, Oracle Database Upgrade, Migration & Transformation Tips & Techniques, is due out from Oracle Press in June 2015.

My co-author Ed Whalen and I have spent most of 2014 compiling best practices, techniques and tips about how to best migrate and transform data as well as upgrade Oracle databases. Our new book is packed with practical advice on planning your upgrade/migration/transformation project, and we’ve included dozens of examples and checklists on how to tackle your project with the best-in-breed Oracle utilities and techniques. We also discuss in depth the best techniques for migrating your databases to Exadata and how to leverage the latest tools in Oracle Database 12c – including multitenancy – to quickly clone and upgrade pluggable databases.

You can also pre-order our book at amazon.com. Just like all Oracle Press books, it will be available in e-book format as well.