The next release of our popular enterprise-class Java profiler is about to hit the streets and we thought we'd give you a heads-up now to let you know what's coming!

The primary focus of this release is all about usability – right from installation and licensing to configuration ready for use. We've significantly revamped the whole user experience which should get you up-and-runni ...

I have to giggle whenever I read the title of this entry. No, it’s not because I think I’m the King of Comedy (though, I do look pretty funny). The title came from a quote spoken by a former boss I had in a previous life. We were in a meeting with one of those co-workers who notoriously covers all the details of a topic, but rarely gets to the point. After about an ...

A full preview is in the works, but sometimes a new feature is so compelling you just want to start telling strangers on the street about it right away. Rather than make you wait till tomorrow to hear all about Apple’s new tablet device, here’s some juicy Toad gossip right now!

Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) is a single database that is shared by multiple Oracle instances. It provides opportunities for improved database availability, performance and scalability. Oracle RAC lowers the TCO of a high-end database and IT assets, since a complex Oracle database can be set-up on low-cost, standard, modular parts. Oracle RAC has matured into a true enterprise, scalable solution, but t ...

Using indexes can improve the performance of applications using the database. This is well known to many, many people. However, the application of too many indexes can have the reverse effect. There’s a balance that must be struck and you may find yourself needing to locate indexes that aren’t being used. If you’re already using the Quest SQL Optimizer for DB2 LUW, ...

This blog will give you the necessary steps to migrate your MySQL BMF repository to another database of your choice. The following databases are supported by BMF: Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and Sybase. We will be using the Data Migration Wizard that is provided to us by BMF.

The first step is to decide which database platform you would like to do the migration for. Once th ...

One of the most common TOAD questions or problem areas is with connecting to remote and/or local databases. The process and requirements are actually quite simple – yet this remains a high frequency question that seems to cause remarkable confusion. And not just for new Oracle or new TOAD users, as sometimes even old pros can forget and ask. They just often do a Homer Simpson “

Sometimes you need to reference the value of an IN argument (an input, in Code Tester terminology) in your outcome. For example, under certain circumstances, the string returned by your function should be the same as the input value. Or perhaps the out value should be some part of the input value.

You could har ...

For those of you who haven’t yet upgraded to Toad 10, or were perhaps waiting until the first minor release, here’s a quick synopsis of what really characterizes Toad 10.

 

Toad for Oracle v10 offers new features and many enhancements to existing features, all of it designed to augment your workflow and to enable you to get your job done more productively ...

Did you know that you can call Spotlight on DB2 LUW from Toad for DB2 LUW and vice versa? Well, ok maybe you did. If that’s the case, please move along, there’s nothing to see here. Still with me? Then read on!

Toad for DB2 LUW and Spotlight on DB2 LUW exist as separate executables on your workstation. You might now be thinking “no ...

Toad for Oracle is a world-class enterprise query-develop-tune-administration tool for the Oracle database platform. This document attempts to differentiate Toad from the average Oracle IDE or query tool so that the reader can make an informed decision to invest in the Toad product family.

Following is a list of features and concepts that most commerc ...

Many TOAD users ask “How can I run my SQL script against a collection or even all my databases all at once (i.e. in a single step)?” The problem is they generally ask this question while in the Editor – which by definition works with but a single active database connection at a time. But if you simply save the editor contents to a SQL script file – you can then use the TOAD Script Manager to execute that script ...

Often database professionals need good freeware tools to get their job done. Sometimes it’s because there’s no funding for software. And in some cases a tool is needed to replace the purchased tool that ends up not being able to do the job. Finally in today’s world of open source, some people just hate to pay for tools – even if there is budget and/or the job clearly could benefit from commercial qua ...

If you are not familiar with FORALL, make it a priority to

Quest Software has two of the most powerful tools for PL/SQL development: Toad for Oracle and SQL Navigator for Oracle. Personally, I spend more time working with Toad for Oracle and I truly enjoy the solution. Before I proceed any further, I want to clarify a point. I am not advocating one solution over the other for PL/SQL development. That’s a conversation I refus ...

This blog is the fifth in a series about misconceptions surrounding SQL tuning that are quite common.

 

Around 15 years ago, when I was a DBA both for Oracle and Sybase, a lot of SQL came from my colleagues which I needed to tune.  Initially, I en ...

I recently published the following puzzle in the ToadWorld newsletter:

It’s been a while since I wrote my data warehousing book, so I wanted to read something hip and new on the topic. Lucky for me someone suggested that I examine “

Quick, what’s the number one complaint about Toad for Oracle?

“The User Interface is waaaaaaaaay too complicated!”

Out of the box, Toad’s setup to pretty much have everything enabled. If we hid stuff, there’s a good chance users would assume the functionality just wasn’t there to be taken advantage of.&am ...

Many people these days have to work on both traditional “online transactional processing” (i.e. OLTP) systems as well as data warehouses. But just what is a data warehouse? Generally speaking a data warehouse is nothing more than a specialized business reporting system used by mid to senior level manag ...

Did you know that in Code Tester 1.8.5 you can now perform in-line validation of your customization code? For more complex tests, this will save you lots of time and make it easier to build your regression tests.

 

The ultimate objective of Code Tester is easy to state: allow de ...

Oracle introduced support for XML in the relational database going back at least to about the 8i release. Toad for Oracle introduced formal support for XML in the 8.0 release.

 In one of my previous lives, I worked at a startup company testing software. Our application used Oracle as the back-end and the nature of my role had me working closely with our Oracle DBA. As part of our processes, our DBA had to build documentation describing the schemas our application needed. The reports included things like table names, column names and their data type ...

So with Toad v10 being released, my Tips & Tricks guide became a bit out of date.  You can find an updated copy, as well as our v9 copy, here.  All of your favorite keyboard shortcuts and workflows rem ...

As I write this, I am flying back to Chicago now, 9 PM Oct 21, from Mexico City, after a very nice two day visit.

 

Quest Mexico asked me to come down to help celebrate the release of Toad Version 10

TOAD offers three distinct ways to connect to your database, as shown by the three tabs circled below on the connection screen. In this week’s blog we’ll examine the differences between the first two: TNS and Direct. No matter which of the three methods you choose, TOAD requires the Oracle “SQL*Net” client to be on your PC. TOAD needs to talk over the network to your database, and that requires certain ...

In case you missed my announcement on the Code Tester community forum, we have now posted a beta version of 1.9.

 

Written by Steven Feuerstein
 
Code Tester is a relatively young tool (first released for production use in February 2007), but it has matured quickly (hey, at least I think so!) and is packed full of handy features.

 

As with all other tools, however, it c ...

Version 7.5 of Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle will be released in October. The major effort for this new release was in the optimizer engine and the new UI for the optimization, index generation and execution functions. The following is a screen shot of the new UI. It looks tidy and easier to use compared to the old version. All the statistics names now use the Oracle standard na ...

Sometimes, I’m asked to help a customer work through a particular challenge they’re facing when using one of Quest’s solutions. Many times, the meetings are one-on-one sessions with the customer where we take turns sharing our desktops to better understand the problems being faced and how the solution might be able to address the problems. I actually enjoy the one-on-one sessions, b ...

Last week’s blog was part 2 of a 3 part series about techniques for optimizing a notebook PC for running Oracle database within a virtual machine. In