Oracle + Open Source

two worlds inexorably colliding

Archive for category oracle

Oracle DBAs Guide to MySQL Databases

Nov 7

Posted by Sean Hull in abstract, collaborate, mysql, oracle | 3 Comments

Presentation Abstract
More and more MySQL databases are sneaking their way into the Oracle environment.  If you’re being asked to
managing these new databases, you may not know where to start.

We’ll give and overview of MySQL specifically for Oracle DBAs.  Since you already have the requisite conceptual
framework as an Oracle DBA, a quickstart will help you get up to speed with how things are done in the MySQL
world.

Outline

Introduction
1. Installation
2. User Management, Authentication + Privileges
3. Backup and Recovery
4. Replication Solutions Compared to DataGuard
5. Transactions, Query Optimization + Profiling
6. Views and Partitioning
7. Server Tuning and Optimization
Conclusions

Learning Objective 1
Bring Oracle DBAs up to speed with MySQL

Learning Objective 2
Feature comparison between Oracle + MySQL, what’s there, what’s not etc.

Learning Objective 3
Tuning and Profiling MySQL from an Oracle perspective.

Attendee Prerequisites
Intermediate Oracle DBA experience required.

Can’t Find a Solution? Consider Changing the Problem

Nov 7

Posted by Sean Hull in abstract, casestudy, collaborate, oracle | No Comments

Presentation Abstract
Technology consulting is always one part science, one part thinking on your toes, and one part client relationship.
In a recent engagement at a large educational software services company we were faced with a very challenging
problem.  They were running up against a wall as their user base steadily grew.  They were growing at a steady
rate, but their database systems were becoming a bottleneck to the application performance and thus the service
they offered their customers.

We looked at the technology involved to scale up based on their growth rates, but found it was becoming cost
prohibitive.  They asked us how it could be done cheaper.

Stepping back from the problem, we devised a very unorthodox solution, which upon inspection may seem rather
obvious.  Yet the business had been doing things a certain way for so long, they had not considered this alternate
view.

Outline

Introduction
1. Initial meetings with client, discuss problems
2. Review of database systems
3. Cost estimate based on current growth patterns.
4. Discussions with client, and further review
5. Creative problem solving to do more with less hardware.
Conclusions

Learning Objective 1
Measuring growth of database applications

Learning Objective 2
Discussing business needs, and projecting requisite technology needs and requirements.

Learning Objective 3
Balancing technology costs with business requirements, and using creative problem solving to increase

Attendee Prerequisites
Beginning DBA skills.
Basic understanding of internet platform, client, webserver, and database.

review: Backup & Recovery by W. Curtis Preston

Oct 22

Posted by Sean Hull in mysql, open-source, oracle, review | 1 Comment

Just finished up O’Reilly’s Backup & Recovery by W. Curtis Preston.  The title is wide-reaching, covering backups at the operating system as well as on all the popular database platforms, including Oracle, MySQL, Postgres, Sybase, SQL Server and DB2.  Preston has an amazing grasp of a spectrum of technologies and platforms, and as an Oracle & MySQL DBA myself, I’d use this as my backup reference text any day.

I’ve posted my review of Backup and Recovery over at Amazon.

death of the database… again?

Oct 6

Posted by Sean Hull in google, oracle | 1 Comment

For a while the new features in database automation had some DBAs scared that their jobs would somehow become obsolete in short order.

Paul Boutin’s recent article in Valley Wag discusses Robert Cringley’s declaration of the Death of the Database  that has everyone all excited.  At root is the idea of cloud computing, and the likes of the Google’s of the world storing all of our data, and managing all the dirty messy database storage seemlessly for us.

Yes, I’ll give you that for many applications, and small websites, this will certainly be the future.  Who wants to manage a database for every website.  But for the large clients of Oracle databases, the terrabyte datastores, datawarehouses, Oracle applications, and Financials, the backend datastore will remain a requirement.  This isn’t necessarily because a third party can’t do the job better, or that it wouldn’t make a business sleep better at night leaving the database management to the experts.   Nor is it that security couldn’t be implemented properly, to make the data available only to the business, and invisible to the prying eyes of the DBAs down the line.  No all of those problems are solvable.

The problem is one of handing over the keys to the kingdom.  Take the worldwide GPS system, for example.   Currently Europeans, Russians, and Chinese alike rely on a US built satellite system for GPS service.  Imagine military operations relying on US technology were the US to get into a scuffle with the Russians or the Chinese.  In the end business wants to see their data, if not physically, then confident of where those servers are, and who touches the data, the hardware, the backups etc.

I do agree with Cringley and Boutin that cloud computing will change things, and continue to put pressure on the big database vendors like Oracle, but I don’t think it’ll put them out of business anytime soon.

Sun Shines on MySQL

Jan 16

Posted by Sean Hull in mysql, open-source, oracle | No Comments

As many of you may have already heard, Sun officially announced their purchase of  MySQL today.  After the last few years with Oracle pushing Linux and commodity hardware, Sun has certainly taken the hit.  I guess this is their turn to hit back.

With MySQL 6.0 out, increasingly we find the full compliment of sophisticated database features in MySQL.  But a lot of the devil is in the details.  Where Oracle has had problems with the sheer size of the codebase, and addressing security vulnerabilities, and other bugs in a timely manner, MySQL has the problem of a mature codebase.  Some of these features are newly available, and if my experiences with replication are any indication, often have hidden gotchas and “features” which are not emphasized in the literature.

The next question on my mind is, how does Oracle’s purchase and now ownership of Innobase impact the above purchase.  It means a direct competitor owns a core component which provides transactional support to your database.  A very good question.

Time will tell, so stay tuned.

2007: Best OTN Articles

Dec 19

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | No Comments

Justin Kestelyn has posted an excellent article on his blog listing the Most Popular Technical Articles of 2007.  Among the top ten articles an amazing SIX discuss open-source technologies such as running Oracle on Linux, Linux administration, or PHP programming and integration.   Good stuff!

Webinar: Migrate to MySQL

Dec 11

Posted by Sean Hull in backup, migration, mysql, oracle | No Comments

The folks over at zmanda who specialize in MySQL backup are doing a webinar on December 13th, this Thursday.  They specifically mention it as relevant for Oracle DBAs or anyone moving to MySQL.  Looks to be an interesting event.

Unbreakable Linux Network – Insider’s View

Dec 5

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | No Comments

Wim Coekaerts is the VP of Linux Engineering at Oracle.  He was basically the guy who put Linux on Oracle’s radar back in the day.  I remember his OCFS project, oss.oracle.com and the Oracle RAC on Linux with Firewire project.  Those were interesting days.  I had the opportunity to meet Wim this year at Oracle’s OpenWorld.  He’s a very down to earth, no-nonsense guy, and gives the straight scoop on all the exciting things that are happening on the technical side.

The latest newsflash for those who have been sleeping at the wheel is that Oracle is offering support for RHEL called Unbreakable Linux Network.  ULN is basically an up2date or yum network service which will feed you the latest RPMs.  These RPMs have been rebranded for Oracle, but are not a fork or a new distribution.  What you’ll also find as a ULN subscriber is that a little rpm called oracle-validated-configuration is available.  This little package will include lots of Oracle specific tweaks to make installing on Linux that much easier!

For those who’d like to hear all of this from the horses mouth, please read Wim’s Post on Unbreakable Linux.

Another Take on Unbreakable Linux Support

Nov 30

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | No Comments

A lot of folks are sounding the alarm bells over Unbreakable Linux.  Given that this direction at Oracle speaks squarely to my topic here at Oracle + Open Source, I thought I should at least comment.

Oracle’s decided to provide their own support for Linux.  Are they rolling their own distro?  Well actually, no.  They’re doing what CentOS and a few other folks out there are doing.  They’re rebuilding from RedHat’s distro, effectively repackaging their Enterprise Linux distro and in the process testing rigorously, and reporting bugs and issues back, or fixing those themselves.   What’s the deal?

Due to various license requirements with the GPL, RedHat’s distributing Linux must be done as source, so that means third parties can freely recompile that source, effectively using those same tweaks and packaging it up as their own.  Well gee, that’s not fair is it?

I have to admit I’m on the fence on this one.  Honestly folks, the open-source community, of which I consider myself a part of, has been championing Linux, and pitching it to Wall Street,  and big business for over a decade.  So in that vein, hey we’ve done it, and we’re continuing to do it.  That’s great.

It does seem a little odd though that CentOS and Oracle can redistribute RedHat’s sweat and tears.  Or does it?   The logic at CentOS goes if you want support, you can buy RedHat.  If you don’t, you’re free to go ahead and install CentOS as you like.  So despite CentOS being free, Oracle charging a license fee for the support they’re providing, that seems to make sense too.  The truth is that with open-source, we effectively throw IP (intellectual property) to the wind, and let it land wherever it likes.  So if Oracle wishes to capitalize on this, more power to them.

The truth is that the complaints from some camps miss a really important point.  Despite Oracle’s marketing message about making Linux Unbreakable, and Larry’s various trumpeting, Oracle actually does contribute a *LOT* to the Linux community.  Take for example this huge site of open-source projects all by or directly supported by Oracle.   Or another example, Oracle’s rolling Apache into it’s middle tier Fusion product.  Or take another, it’s building of a better driver for PHP.  All of these are very real, very measurable contributions back to the community.

Obviously it’s in Oracle’s interest for open-source technologies to work, as a lot of their customers want that interoperability.  So do I, frankly.  I’ve been working as an independent consultant for over twelve years providing professional services for Oracle and open-source technologies, and making a healthy income, thank you.

I’ll also admit that some of the folks in the Unbreakable Linux team I know personally, and very much respect professionally.  I’ve also met a few of the folks who head up the initiative at Oracle OpenWorld.  They’re all bright, approachable technologists who are as excited about open-source as they are about the Oracle core database product.

I know this may disappoint some of my open-source colleagues, but hey what’d you expect from Mr. “Oracle + Open Source”, hmm?

Underground PHP/Oracle Manual

Nov 19

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | 5 Comments

 In the spirit of a long line of O’Reilly “missing manuals”, and hacker opuses, take a look at Chris Jones opus: The Underground PHP and Oracle Manual.

It’s a short week, so we’ll catch up with you all next week.  Happy Holidays!!