ORACLE INTERNALS

I’ve added two new entries to my DUL utilities list, K2Tor and FlashUnload.

If you happen to know of one not yet mentioned, let me know!

Just to let you all know, while I’ve been extremely busy, I’ve submitted the following five abstracts for Oracle OpenWorld 2008. As they’re currently posted on Oracle Mix, you can vote for them if you’d like to see them at OpenWorld.

• Introducing the Oracle Call Interface (Intermediate Developer)
  Often overlooked, the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) has long-since been a high performance, low-level data access API for Oracle. Unfortunately, many people shy away from using OCI simply because of its perceived complexity. However, this session will illustrate that anyone with a little knowledge of C can harness the power of OCI in their own applications. It will also demonstrate two of the most popular OCI wrapper libraries for those who just want to get their feet wet.
• Exploring Advanced OCI Features (Advanced Developer)
  In addition to the well-known versatility and control provided by the Oracle Call Interface, there are several powerful features contained in OCI which are less-well-known. This session is intended to explain and demonstrate several of the more advanced features of OCI such as custom callbacks, performance tweaks, connection pooling, and object handling. A working knowledge of OCI would be a prerequisite.
• Database Benchmarking: Methodologies, Tools, and Techniques (DBA/Developer)
  While we’re all familiar with the term benchmarketing, how do you tell fact from fiction? Planning and performing a proper, accurate, and scientific database benchmark isn’t always easy. And, while database benchmarks are performed for many different reasons, this session would cover the proper techniques, methodologies, and tools for performing the most common database benchmarking scenarios: hardware configuration comparison, database release comparison, and internal application benchmarking. Tools covered will include the Oracle Linux Test Suite (OLT), Real Application Testing, and Quest Software’s Benchmark Factory.
• Listening In: Passive Capture and Analysis of Oracle Network Traffic (DBA/Developer)
  This session is intended to discuss and demonstrate the methods for passively capturing, analyzing, and reporting the details of Oracle network traffic in real-time for use in end-to-end Oracle tuning and troubleshooting scenarios.In cases where very short response time requirements must be met, or where sporadic spikes in response time occur, the most reliable way to tune and troubleshoot them is by capturing Oracle’s Ethernet traffic, analyzing it, and reporting on various aspects of it. Throughout this session I would demonstrate the passive capture of SQL statements, their frequency, time spent in execution, number of roundtrips, and all relevant response times.Using the data from these reports can not only assist DBAs in diagnosing network-related issues and in tuning Oracle’s network settings, but also ensure that application developers are writing performant, network-friendly database access code.
• Inside the Oracle Database Network Protocol (Oracle Internals)
  Given the number of requests for in-depth information on this topic, I’ve decided to split off the database protocol information from my Passive Capture and Analysis of Oracle Network Traffic presentation. By focusing on the protocol itself, we have more time to discuss the details and components which make up Oracle’s network protocol.