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Thanks, Bert.

Toad:

Discovering the Hidden Treasures of Toad for Oracle Q&A PDF document, 636kb A Q&A session with Toolbox for IT blogger, Oracle Ace and published author, Lewis Cunningham and Bert Scalzo, Oracle Database Expert and co-author of Database Benchmarking for Oracle and SQL Server. The paper demonstrates five features truly worth your investigation. It shows you how each feature can enhance your productivity.

Maximize Database Performance via Toad PDF document, 596kb   Normally, my white papers and PowerPoint presentations about database benchmarking rely upon industry standard tests such as the TPC-C or TPC-H. But that’s not too useful in terms of real-world applicability for many people. So in this paper, I’m going to show how to use Toad to monitor and diagnose your database’s performance for your own applications.

Toad in a Secure Database Environment PDF document, 422kb This paper examines options and makes "Best Practice" recomendations for Toad setup, configuration and administartive management. The prupose is to help DBA's successfully incorporate Toad within their secure database environments - that is making Toad operate within their shop's secruity guidelines and requirements.

Customizing Toad to Taste  PDF document, 623kb This tech brief explains how to customize Toad for Oracle to your own personal tastes.  It covers Toad start-up, menus &toolbars, and the schema browser.

 Benchmarking:

Benchmarking Quick Bites PDF document, 111kb Normally, my white papers and PowerPoint presentations about benchmarking pick a particular area or focus – and drill deep into the performance issues and gains possible. But inevitably, many people email or stop up to ask me a bunch of very simple or generic questions. So I thought this time I’d write something to address those common questions which seem to get asked all the time.

Linux Maximus: Gladiator like Oracle Performance PDF document, 304kb This paper is the first in a series where Benchmark Factory is used to optimize Oracle databases on Linux. This paper covers a simple assortment of tips, tricks, and techniques for maximizing the performance of Oracle on Linux. The idea was to capitalize upon Oracle and Linux low-hanging fruits – relatively simple tuning ideas so obvious as not to require benchmarking in order to be accepted.

Linux Maximus: The RAW Facts on File Systems PDF document, 195kb This paper is the second in a series where Benchmark Factory is used to optimize Oracle databases on Linux. This paper covers basic IO concepts for the Linux world: number and type of disk drives, logical volume managers and file systems. The idea was to establish that certain hardware and software configurations are the only real alternatives for true enterprise scaled implementations.

Tuning an Oracle9i Database Running Linux: Modern Tablespace Paradigms PDF document, 160b This paper is the third in a series where Benchmark Factory is used to optimize Oracle databases on Linux. This paper offers recommendations with Oracle 9i and later for adopting modern tablespace paradigms as yet another simple way to achieve optimal performance. Sometimes simply by embracing the newer tablespace management paradigms of more recent Oracle versions, DBA`s can obtain 10-20% improvements in data loading throughput, index creations and sustainable transactions per second for little or no cost.

Optimizing Oracle 10g on Linux Using Automated Storage Management PDF document, 212kb This paper is the fourth in a series where Benchmark Factory is used to optimize Oracle databases on Linux. This paper examines in great detail the fundamental architectural differences on Linux when using a LVM with cooked files versus Oracle 10g’s ASM (Automated Storage Management). Furthermore, it shows that even though the real benefits are simpler administration - there are nonetheless some performance gains as well.

Optimize Oracle 10g on Linux: Non-RAC ASM vs. LVM PDF document, 283kb This paper is the fifth in a series where Benchmark Factory is used to optimize Oracle databases on Linux. This paper examines in great detail the performance differences on Linux between using native file systems on an LVM versus Oracle 10g’s ASM (Automated Storage Management) for non-RAC databases. Specifically, it compares the new Linux LVM vs. ASM 2.0 on Redhat Advanced Server 4.0’s 2.6 kernel running Oracle 10g Release 2. In other words, it tests all the latest and greatest software technology currently available for non-RAC scenarios.

Data Modeling:

Flawless Logical to Physical Data Model Transformations Microsoft Word document, 991kb This paper reviews the top 10 most common modeling issues faced when transforming data models from logical (i.e. business requirements) to physical (i.e. implementation).

Data Modeling: Its Really All About the Relationships PDF document, 258kb This paper will focus on the trials and tribulations encountered while recently setting up a 10 node Linux Oracle RAC cluster. Some issues discussed include optimial Linux configuration, optimal ASM configuration, optimal instance configuration, and os/database monitoring techniques. The key points being stressed are that sometimes the obvious answwers do not scale well—without some old fashioned elbow grease being applied.

Data Modeling: Reality Requires Super and Sub Types PDF document, 203kb This paper is the third in a series where common data modeling design issues are identified and explained. This paper covers the proper use of entity super and sub-types - also known as generalization hierarchies. Most importantly, this papers explains the different physical impelmentation options availbe - with complete DDL examples and some advice.

 Oracle:

NoCOUG Journal Interview PDF document, 944B Bert is interviewed in the NoCOUG Journal. They put him on the spot with eight cheeky questions; here are two examples. "A company I know has been using Oracle 10g for a long time. Is it time for them to upgrade to Oracle Database 11g? Their database is very stable and performance is rock solid. They don’t have a support contract anymore and don’t seem to need one. The application was written in-house." "In your latest book, Oracle on VMware, you make a case for "solving" performance problems with hardware upgrades. Is Oracle too hard to tune, then?"

 

Oracle VMWare = Success PDF document, 706KB Many people swore that database on virtual machine would not fly – or at best, would be accepted very, very slowly. I was not one of those people – so I wrote a new book on just that subject: Oracle on VMware: Expert tips for Database Virtualization. However I don’t expect people in these tough economic times to just go out and buy every new book, so in this white paper, I’ll share some other papers worth reading on the subject – plus a brief synopsis on Oracle VMware.

Disabling Oracle’s AWR There may be times when a DBA might desire to disable Oracle 10g’s and 11g’s AWR (Automatic Workload Repository). I am neither advising nor condoning such a practice, but merely elaborating on how such a thing could be done. One reason might be to avoid licensing issues, because AWR isn’t part of the standard or even enterprise database – as it requires the optional (extra cost) Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Diagnostic pack. So even though your 10g/11g database automatically collects AWR data every sixty minutes and retains it for a week – you cannot legally use the Oracle supplied PL/SQL packages (i.e. DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY), the OEM screens for AWR, ADMM and ASH, or even the AWR data dictionary views (i.e. DBA_HIST_*) if you’re not licensed.

RAC be Nimble, RAC be Quick Microsoft Word document, 1mb This paper will examine a unique and simplistic approach to tune RAC databases without being an expert, and by simply starting at the top and asking lots of seemingly dumb questions. Because with just a "little manual box winding", almost anyone should be able to easily and successfully "Pop the RAC weasel free".

Lessons Learned During 10 Node Linux RAC Deployment PDF document, 745kb This paper will focus on the trials and tribulations encountered while recently setting up a 10 node Linux Oracle RAC cluster. Some issues discussed include optimial Linux configuration, optimal ASM configuration, optimal instance configuration, and os/database monitoring techniques. The key points being stressed are that sometimes the obvious answwers do not scale well—without some old fashioned elbow grease being applied.

Engineering Better PL/SQL PDF document, 456kb This paper examines the PL/SQL development process and offers suggestions for increasing code quality through three automated techniques: best practices, code reviews, and common software engineering metrics. The prupose being to assist shops in their quest to improve their SEI capability maturity ratings from level-1 (initial) to level-4 (managed).