Most Striking Object at Open World 08

What was the most amazing thing I witnessed for the first time at OOW 08?

Hands down, it is the compostible drinking cup! Yes, compostible, not recyclable. It looks just like any other plastic (not paper) drink cup you see at almost any public water dispensers. The difference? It's made of corn syrup, I was told, not plastic and hence compostible. Wow!

I am not a green fanatic; but I consider myself a responsible adult concerned about the environment doing his share to reduce the landfills, pollutions and paper consumption. I do things that are practical: I don't print something I can read on the monitor; project emails, powerpoints on the screen/projector while conferring with colleagues rather than printing; use back sides of printouts to scribble; use 2-sided printing; donate kids' toys and cloths to charity rather than throw them in trash and so on. But there are some things I just couldn't jettison; at least not yet. One of them was the ubiquitous plastic drinking cup and the bottled water. The convenience of the water bottle was just too much to ignore and my lazy bones reigned over my conscience and I always gravitated, albeit a little guiltly, to the water bottle.

Not any more. I hope these compostible corn syrup based polymer material makes its way to all things plastic - bottles, cups, packaging and so on. The material is called polylactic acid (PLA), which is a polymer made from lactic acid from strachy produce like corn, wheat, patato and beet. However, due to its low melting point, it's not suitable for hot liquids, at least not yet. There is a compostible version - paper cups lines with PLA instea dof petroleum based products. But that's still paper; not 100% PLA.

According to a Smithsonian article, producing this PLA requires 65% less energy and emits 68% fewer greenhouse gases. Wow! That's good enough for me.

But, is it all rosy and smell nice? Well, afraid not. The biggest caveat: the PLA decomposes in a controlled composting facility, not the backyard composting bin. you need something of industrail strength - the sort used by municipalities and large industrial plants. Do they exist? Yes, for commercial use; but almost none for residential use. So, that's the catch. While the material is compostible; the facility to compost is not available.

But I am not going to look at it as glass half full. This is a major first step. Perhaps the ecological and political pressures will force the residential facilities to open up as well. Until then, let the power be with PLA.

OOW'08 Oracle 11g New Features for DBAs

It was my second session at Open World this year. It was full with 332 attendees with a whopping 277 attendees on wait list! the room capacity was 397. Of course, the room did have some fragmentation and not everyone could make it.

Here is the abstract:

There is a world outside the glittering marketing glitz surrounding Oracle 11g. In this session, a DBA and author of the popular 11g New Features series on OTN covers features that stand out in the real world and make your job easier, your actions more efficient and resilient, and so on. Learn the new features with working examples: how to use Database Replay and SQL Performance Analyzer to accurately predict the effect of changes and Recovery Manager (RMAN) Data Recovery Advisor to catch errors and corruption so new stats won't cause issues.

Thank you very much for those who decided to attend. I hope you found it useful. Here is the presentation. You can download it from the Open World site too. Please note, the companion site to see al working examples and a more detailed coverage is still my Oracle 11g New Features Series on Oracle Technology Network.

OOW'08 : Real Life Best Practices for DBAs

Once more, it was a full session with 278 attendees and 251 waitlisted due to lack of space! I wish the organizers simply moved to a bigger room. Oh, well!

For those who attended, I truly wish to express my gratitude. As a speaker, I feel honored when people choose to attend my session over others. I wish you found something useful here.

If you haven't already downloaded it from Open World site, here is the presentation: http://www.proligence.com/OOW08_DBA.pdf.

Here is the abstract:

This session covers best practices for excelling at being a DBA in the field from someone who has been managing Oracle Database instances for 14 years; was named the DBA of the Year in 2003; and has been through it all, from modeling to performance tuning, disaster recovery, security, and beyond. Best practices should be justifiable and situation-aware, not just because someone said they were good. Hear several tips and tricks for surviving and succeeding in the part art/part wizardry of database administration. The session covers Oracle 11g.

I will highly appreciate if you post your comments.

OOW'08 Partitioning - Why, When, What and How

I had a full session (300+ in attendance with 120 wait-listed). There was a gentleman from the organizing team who was trying to let in people flow in to the room as unobtrusively as possible. He was the same one for my other two sessions (which happend to be in the same room - full and and some 100+ wait listed) and he was visibly flustered to conduct the same routine. "You must be quite popular" - he exasperated! I took it as a compliment. For those who attended, thank you for taking the time to spend with me. I truly feel honored. For those who couldn't come in, I assume you have found some other helpful session.

Here is the abstract:

How do you decide which partitioning schemes to use, which column to partition on, or whether or not to use more than one column for partitioning keys? These are questions you must answer to develop a good strategy. Too many architects and DBAs choose a wrong strategy, making partitioning a failure. In this session, you will *not* learn the syntax or types of partitioning but how to decide the best strategy, presented through real-life case studies and examples. This session covers Oracle 11g features in partitioning.

If you haven't already done so from the Oracle Open World site, you can download here: http://www.proligence.com/OOW08_Part_ppt.pdf

By the way, I have also written an article on the same presentation, which you can find here: http://www.proligence.com/OOW08_Part_doc.pdf

Please leave your comments on these two documents. As always, thank you visiting and offering your feedback.

OOW'08 ACE Directors Forum Session

Lewis Cunningham kindly took the reins of organizing a unique session - a panel of ACE Directors. But instead of a panel didcussing some topic, it welomed questions from the audience. sort of stump the chump with the questions. Lewis couldn;t have been a more perfect moderator/host. Most amazing, he came up with the idea to hand out blank index cards for the attendees to fill out with their questions, which forced the questions to be clearer.

On the panel we had Brad Brown (TUSC), Eddie Awad, Tim Hill, Mark Rittman, Hans Forbrich and your truly. Here is a coverage on Mark Rittman's blog (with a picture of the crew) http://www.rittmanmead.com/2008/09/26/oracle-open-world-2008-day-5-exadata-storage-server-and-ask-the-oracle-ace-directors/

I was nervous; and who wouldn't be, with the pressure? Fortunately, we, as a panel, with the expert moderation by Lewis, could ace the volleys. some of the questions I responded to with my answers:

• Q: Will Transparent Tablespace Encryption (TTE) spell the doom for Tranparent data Encryption (TDE)?
• A: Not at all. TDE encrypts a specific column or columns. TTE encrypts everything the tablespace - all tables and all columns. So, the performance definitely impacted. However, the biggest difference is the encryption in the database. Both technologies encrypt data in storage; but TTE decrypts the data in the SGA. So index scans do not suffer in case of TTE. TDE does *not* decrypt the values in SGA; so index scans are rather useless. So, in the case where a data value will most likely be found in SGA, the TTE option works well. The penalty is in the time when data is loaded from the database to the SGA. Since that happens a lot less, this will not cause a serious issue. In case data is frequently aged out of the buffer cache, the TTE option may prove expensive and TDE might become relatively attactive.
• Q: What approach would you recommend for upgrading a 10 GB database to 11g from 10g - Data Pump, Exp/Imp, Transportable Tablespace?
• A: None of the above. I would go for a Direct Path Insert (insert with the APPEND hint) over DB Link. This allows me several benefits - (i) I can do a database capture and replay it on 11g to minimize the risk of something breaking after upgrade. (ii) I can do a database reorg at the time of the move, i.e. partition unpartitioned objects, etc. (iii) have minimal time for migration.
• Q: What is your least favorite new feature in Oracle?
• A: I would rather answer it as most "unnecessary" new feature. It would be bigfile tablespaces - hands down. I always recommend creating smaller datafiles for tablespaces, no more thna 32 GB. This reduces the risk significantly in case of failures. If a block media recovery fails due to whatever reason, you can at least restore the file (or switch over to a copy) quickly. The bigger the file, the more time will be for restore and recovery. A large number of files increase the checkpoint time. so, try to find a balance. But in any case, dump bigfiles.
• Q: How has life changed for you after being an OCP?
• A: Not in the least. I have been an OCP since 8i and I finishd 9i, 10g and now 11g upgrade exams. However, no one ever bothered to ask me if I am an OCP.

From the Trenches at OOW'08

I had two sessions today:

(1) I signed up a Unconference session - "Practical 11g Upgrade". I signed up for this on the spot; so I didn't have any slides or time for preparation. The unconference room had a whiteboard and several markers. So, there I was - explaining our 11g upgrade process using a whiteboard. Was a lot of fun. Someday, I will try to capture the events on paper and publish as a blog.

(2) I had signed for "Meet the ACEs" event at OTN Lounge. Wasn't much of an event. It was shaowed by the much anticipated iPod Touch drawing at OTN lounge. Nope; I didn't win.

My Little World in Open World

Oracle Open World is coming up in just two months ... actually sooner. It will be quite active for me.

First, I am sharing the stage with a panel with some very distinguished folks - Lewis Cunningham, Eddie Awad, Mark Rittman, Tim Hall, Hans Forbich, Rich Niemiec, and Bradley Brown. This is a real session - S300480 "Oracle ACE Director Birds-of-a-Feather Tips and Techniques" but the format is free question and answer session.

On one hand I feel deeply honored and thrilled to be on the same forum that reads like a who's who in the Oracle community. But on the other hand, the abstract says "Attendees are encouraged to submit their hardest questions in a game of Stump the Chump" Huh? Anyway, it's going to be thrilling nonetheless! Come see us at 10:30 AM on Sep 25th Room 301 Moscone South.

Then, I have three sessions, yes three! All three were selected by user voting in Oracle Mix.

1. Tue the 23rd at 5:00 PM: Real World Best Practices for DBAs (S301683) Room 236 Moscone South
2. Wed the 24th at 5:00 PM: 11g New Features for DBAs (S301684) Room 236 Moscone South
3. Thu the 25th at 12:00 noon: Partitioning: When, Which and How (S301710) Room 200 Moscone South

I also have an ACE Directors' Meeting someday, probably on Sunday. Well, I will have my hands full. As always, Exhibition hall will be a place I will spen a lot of time. I get to know about new products and technology, some of which actually debut during Open World. So, it leaves a tough question - which sessions I should attend.