Database Administration & Monitoring

DB_FLASHBACK_RETENTION_TARGET may hang your database

By Franck Pachot . DB_FLASHBACK_RETENTION_TARGET is set to keep enough flashback logs to be able to flashback database within the specified retention window. But it's supposed to be a target only, meaning that on space pressure some files can be(…)

Which patchset for 12.1.0.2 ?

By Franck Pachot . When you want to download the latest patchset of the latest release, 12.1.0.2, you can find two patchsets referenced: 17694377 and 21419221. The short answer is: download p21419221 and add latest(…)

SYS password on Oracle Cloud Service managed database

By Franck Pachot . When you create a DBaaS on the Oracle Cloud services you have to provide an administration password in the database configuration form. You do not need a password to connect to the VM. You use SSH(…)

Data Guard as a Service

By Franck Pachot . A 'Data Guard' checkbox is available for a long time on the Oracle Public Cloud Database as a Service, but it's only for a few days that it does something: create a service with an database(…)

A near zero downtime, near zero impact major release upgrade using Oracle GoldenGate

In this post I'd like to share what we did for a customer who had the following requirements: Use Oracle GoldenGate Upgrade an Oracle 10.2.0.4 database running on Solaris 10 SPARC to Oracle 12.1.0.2 running on Exadata Keep(…)

SQL Server 2016: new tools management strategy

A lot of customer’s feedbacks are about difficulties to find easily SQL Server tools. Now, it is easier… 😉 A unified web page for SQL Server Tools The first good news is that Microsoft unified and gathered these tools(…)

A look at PostgreSQL 9.6 – psql gexec

This little, but powerful, enhancement that it made it in PostgreSQL 9.6 is probably nothing a application can benefit of. But it can be huge saving for people doing maintenance operations on a PostgreSQL instance. It is(…)

A look at PostgreSQL 9.6 – Killing idle transactions automatically

A common issue with databases: The guy at floor 2 did some work on the database and then rashly left for lunch because the lady on floor 1 is already waiting for him. Unfortunately he did not close his transaction(…)

A look at PostgreSQL 9.6 – progress reporting for VACUUM operations

Vacuum in PostgreSQL is one of the most important points to consider when managing a PostgreSQL instance. Usually vacuum is running in the background and just gets the job done. But, as always, there are situations when(…)

Multitenant dictionary: what is stored only in CDB$ROOT?

By Franck Pachot . Multitenant architecture is about dictionary separation. The idea is that all system metadata is stored only in CDB$ROOT so that space and upgrade time are optimized. Is it entirely true? let's count the rows in the(…)