Oracle Infogram This Week: EBS, Chrome, DB Stories, Scripting, DBA Tasks

EBS

Some valuable links at the E-Business Suite Technology blog:

E-Business Suite TechnologyStack Roadmap (Sept 2010) Now Available

Upgrading From EBS R11i to R12 Using a Staged System

Something you learn early on as a DBA is that there are a lot of IT people who think indexes solve everything, therefore more indexes are automatically good. This simplistic approach sometimes creates monsters, tables bedecked with layer upon layer of optimizer-confusing, I/O-slamming, unneeded indexes. Here is an interesting posting of some basic tests on EBS indexing by someone studying the specific question of custom indexes in EBS.

Search Utilities

Eddie Awad has a good update to his Oracle related search engines in Google Chrome at his blog.

Stories

Oracle Musings brings us a tale of woe and redemption in the world of accessing the DB: Locked Out.

Scripting

Charles Hooper has a very valuable article on setting up an easy method for building Oracle database test case scripts at his Oracle Notes blog.

DBA Tasks

One of the items that sometimes causes DBA angst is covered over at the Oracle related stuff blog: Cleanup of partitioned objects residing in offlined tablespaces.

Over at the Oracle Sponge we have a posting on another topic that often plagues designers and DBAs (often plaguing the designer, who in turn plagues the DBA):

Generating A Gap-free Series Of Numbers — Not Always A Problem

Contributions by Angela Golla, Infogram Contributor

The Oracle Architecture Center on Technet offers a wide array of articles and white papers on how to create an efficient Oracle environment. Check it out at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/architect/resources/articles/index.html

Contributions by Mark Harris, Infogram Contributor


New Oracle iPhone App

The oracle.com team just released an iPhone application called "Oracle Now".

With this app our goal is to promote everything that is currently happening at Oracle.

You will be able to read:

latest news
upcoming events
latest blogs
Press Releases

The Oracle OpenWorld tab does not only tell you the latest around Oracle OpenWorld, but also has a QR Codes reading functionality. If you are going to Oracle OpenWorld this year, use it to read the various QR codes.

In the next version we are going to bring you the "Video" tab, which will display the latest Oracle videos.

Also if you have any feedback or suggestions use this email address oracle_iphone_app_us@oracle.com. We look forward to hear from you!

Oracle Infogram this Week: ADF, Siebel, APEX, OTN, Exadata, PeopleSoft

ADF

Over at ADF Inspired is a useful posting on Undoing changes using Middle Tier Savepoints.

Siebel and BI

The Siebel Essentials blog continues its series of useful tips, for instance #5, Pivot Table Options.

Rittman Mead Consulting has an item on Oracle BI EE 11g – Action Framework – BI Web Services for SOA

APEX

Over at the Apex Blog Aggregator is a good hint for when you want to join a lot of tables in a hurry. The builtin interface function of SQL Developer lets you do the joins without writing the SQL and even aliases the names for you. Read about it here: Fast writing of Queries with Joins in SQL Developer.

OTN

Delicious is a handy gathering place for info. Here's a listing on Oracle Technet material.

One that stands out for me is the whitepaper on Application Failover with Oracle Database 11g.

Exadata

Okay, you're at a cocktail party and you realize that everyone in the room is an Exadata expert except you. How are you going to bluff your way through? Yes! This article on the key terms and concepts of Exadata from Oracle's Kevin Closson.

(And yes, I know the cocktail party thing is fictitious because Exadata experts never leave the server room, but it's a literary device.Another item from Kevin Closson this week, this time on patching: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Patchset 1 (11.2.0.2) Is Now Available, But This Is Not Just An Announcement Blog Entry.)

PeopleSoft

The PeopleSoft DBA Blog has a handy posting on Performance Overhead of Multiple SQL calls in SQR

Oracle Infogram this Week: OOW, Design, Exadata, EBS, Messups

OOW

Several items of interest as the buildup to OOW reaches a

crescendo. First, have you ever wanted to climb into Oracle's

acrobatic plane for a ride? Now you don't have to break into an

airport at night to do it. The Pythian Blog tells us how to

Attend Implementing Exadata @OOW10 & Win a Flight with Team Oracle.

To help you plan, over at Marc Sewtz' blog about Oracle Application Express is a really nice app (in APEX, of course), to help you plan your OOW experience.

Design

Over at the DBA Kevlar blog we have some wisdom on design and the cost of hurry and compromise: Building Right or Build Twice- That is the Question...

On a related topic over at Oracle Musings is a small and painful tale of sequences avoided for all the wrong reasons and how redtape can compromise the integrity of a system: Sequence Smackdown.

SOA

This is pretty spiffy: Download a Pre-built VM for Oracle SOA Suite and BPM Suite 11g.

Exadata

Over at Jonathan Lewis' Oracle Scratchpad you can find a handy post of posts on Exadata. Well worth a look:

Exadata

EBS

Over at the Oracle E-Business Technology blog this week:

Upgrading From EBS R11i to R12 Using a Staged System

Windows 7 64-bit Clients + 32-bit Browsers Certified with EBS 11i & 12

What Are the Minimum Desktop Requirements for EBS?

Historic Mess-ups

Feel like confessing? Or maybe just reading about the monumental mess-ups of others? This is the article for you (add your own):

IT Disasters: What Was Your Biggest Screw-Up?

New ECM Community Page on OTN

We've recently updated our community page on the Oracle Technology Network for Enterprise Content Management.
Find links to upcoming community Webcasts, online user forums and user groups, customer advisory board information,
related blogs, and books available.

Check it out here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/community/index.html

If you know of other blogs, resources, books that you think the community would find helpful, let us know and we'll link to it!

Oracle's ECM Quarterly Customer Update Webcast

From the Oracle ECM Alerts blog:

Join us for the next Oracle Content Management Quarterly Customer Update Webcast scheduled for this coming October 5 & 6, 2010.

Don't miss this chance to get an overview on the latest updates to Oracle Content Management. Attend this session to learn about the 11g release and some of the new Web site features! We'll dive deeper into Site Studio & Site Studio for External Applications in 11g for Universal Content Management, discuss the recent WebLogic Server licensing changes, as well as other noteworthy ECM news and events.

Register Today!

Americas / EMEA time zones: Customer Update
October 5, 2010
9:00am US PDT / 12:00pm US EDT / 17:00 London
Length: 1 hour
*Please use your corporate email address to register.

Asia-Pacific time zones: Customer Update (Repeat Webcast)
October 6, 2010
12:00pm Sydney AEDT, 9:00am Singapore
(Oct. 5, 2010 @ 6:00pm US PDT)
Length: 1 hour
*Please use your corporate email address to register

Missed Previous Customer Quarterly Updates?
Get caught up on Oracle & ECM news. View a recording or the presentation from previous Webcasts held since June 2008 (available from My Oracle Support).

Contributions by Angela Golla, Infogram Contributor

Oracle has added over 30 new system healthchecks. Check out the Health Recommendations Catalog available in Note:868955.1. Healthchecks are available for database, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and many other products.

Oracle Infogram: OpenWorld, ADF, EBS, Recovery, APEX, PeopleSoft, OBIEE 11g

OpenWorld

Have you told your Priority Service SDM who you are sending to OpenWorld? How about figuring out where to go and which lectures are really good technical material and which are, well, not good technical material? Here's a starting point. The Structured Data Blog has a rundown on the Oak Table Net members presenting this year at OOW: Oracle OpenWorld 2010: Sessions By OakTable Members

ADF

Speaking of OOW, Shay Shmeltzer's Weblog has this posting with a link to the official (youbetcha) guide for JDeveloper/ADF users: The Official JDeveloper/ADF Guide to Oracle Develop/Oracle OpenWorld

and from ADF Inspired, this posting which, surprisingly, is technical, but not OOW related: Undoing changes using Middle Tier Savepoints

EBS

This week at the Oracle E-Business Suite Technology blog:

New EBS 11i Patch Wizard Identifies Patches Needed for Extended Support

Oracle Internet Directory 11g (11.1.1.3) Certified with EBS on 15 New Platforms

Updated Platform Migration Procedures Certified for EBS 12

Have You Used 10gR2 Transportable Tablespaces with EBS 11i?

Recovery

If you've lost a production system and cannot recover due, for instance, to a loss of the system tablespace or unfixable undo/redo corruption with missing control files, i.e. really far up the creek without a paddle, there is an Oracle Support service called DUL (the Data UnLoader). It's a paid service, not cheap, but a lot cheaper than sitting down with 10,000,000 3x5 cards and a terminal and reentering the database. Now some enterprising folks have a non-Oracle version that you may want to play with. I would still entrust prod to Oracle Support, but let's say you have a test system that gets hammered and you need some of the data, or you want to take a look at something from the prod system while waiting to get a DUL in place. In short, there are a lot of uses for an item like this. jDUL DUDE - an Oracle DUL like tool - last resort Oracle recovery.

APEX

Over at (YABAOAE) Yet Another Blog About Oracle Application Express there's a handy item on: Automatic Time Zone support in Application Express 4.0.

Essbase

Rittman Mead Consulting is highlighting (that's also known as bragging) that they have an article in Oracle magazine on Using Oracle Essbase Release 11.1.2 Aggregate Storage Option Database

PeopleSoft

Important announcement:

URGENT: Issue with PeopleSoft Menu Items starting January, 2011 What are we announcing? We need to bring to your attention an issue for customers operating PeopleSoft products that will manifest itself on Jan 1, 2011 if not corrected before then. Many Content References (CRefs) delivered with PeopleSoft applications will expire on December 31, 2010. If this is not corrected, the menu items represented by these expired CRefs will no longer be visible. Access to the portion of the application normally available through the menu is unavailable until the issue is corrected. This issue does not cause any data loss in the system. It is critical that you review the solutions that are available in My Oracle Support, and take corrective action prior to Dec 31, 2010. There are 3 solutions, depending on the PeopleTools version(s) you are running for your application(s): Doc ID 1183084.1 (E-CREF: How To Reset CRef Expire Dates From 2010-12-31 For PeopleTools 8.44-8.51) Doc ID 1183075.1 (E-CREF: How To Reset CRef Expire Dates From 2010-12-31 For PeopleTools 8.40-8.43) Doc ID 1183065.1 (E-CREF: How To Reset CRef Expire Dates From 2010-12-31 For PeopleTools 8.11-8.22) Details about how to contact Oracle Global Customer Support for assistance with any concerns you may have with this issue are included in these solutions. Thank you for your quick attention to this matter. Regards, Oracle Global Customer Support

OBIEE 11g

Siebel Essentials brings us some links: 11 OBIEE 11g Tips: #3 Useful Links.

also from Siebel Essentials is this handy guide: Siebel CRM Example Business Processes

Contributions by Angela Golla, Infogram Contributor

Do you have questions concerning adding or maintaining users on My Oracle Support? Check out Note:1098714.1. It contains links to frequently asked questions on this topic.

EBS, Collaborate, Security, BPEL, OWB, Blog of Note, Hyperion, EPM, Burnout, WiFi

EBS

This week at the E-Business Suite Technology blog:

Oracle Internet Directory and Single Sign-On Certified with EBS 12.1.2 on IBM Linux on System z

New Forms and Reports 10.1.2.3 Bundle Patch Certified with EBS 12

Securing E-Business Suite Web Services with Integrated SOA Gateway

A Primer on Hardware Sizing for Oracle E-Business Suite

Collaborate 11

The call for papers has come out for the Collaborate 11 conference.

Esoteric Security

Great, now even if you invest a fortune in extremely esoteric quantum crypto equipment to guard your data transmissions....you're still vulnerable. So far the system used by the ancients--training a trustworthy courier to keep secrets and sending him to the place the data is needed--seems to still be the best technique available: Hardware hackers defeat quantum crypto • The Register

BPEL

Over at the Online Apps DBA blog there is a handy posting on Troubleshooting BPEL worklist integration with Oracle Single Sign-on.

OWB

The Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) Weblog has a recommendation for those upgrading to OWB 11.2.0.1: Recommended OWB Patch before Repository Upgrade or Migration: 9802120

Blog of Note: Rittman Mead Consulting

You'll find a lot of postings here linked from the Rittman Mead Consulting blog. It's one of the best out there, with consistently high quality technical content. A couple of samples over the last week or two:

Oracle BI EE 11g – Authentication & Authorization – Weblogic Security

and

Oracle BI EE 11g – New BI Server Functions

Hyperion

Speaking of great blogs, In 2 Hyperion has a posting on Long Live The Essbase Add-In!

EPM

New EPM Documentation Portal Available on Oracle.com

The EPM Documentation Portal provides a single entry point to locate documentation, training and other useful information that assists with the implementation process and enhances a customer’s experience with our products.

The tool is available on oracle.com from this link: http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/ent-performance-bi/index.html.

· On the right hand side of the page, click on Technical Information

· then Enterprise Performance Management Documentation Portal

which takes you to this page: http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/ent-performance-bi/technical-information-147174.html

Burnout

Over at Lifehacker, always one of my favorite general technology and office life blogs, is an article on the addictive nature of technology and how to keep it from consuming your life:

Why Technology Is So Addictive, and How You Can Avoid Tech Burnout

WiFi

Wifi has become an increasingly important part of day to day life. Windows' wifi builtin is crude at best. Several of these programs look interesting, but I haven't tried them yet, so I can't give you a review. I plan to get the one that measures signal strength of Wi-Fi servers in your home area, though, since it would be nice to know that you are on a channel not getting interference from a neighbor:

6 useful Wi-Fi tools for Windows - Computerworld

Contributions by Angela Golla, Infogram Contributor

PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50 Has Arrived!

Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50 is now generally available. This new version of PeopleTools is the foundation to the PeopleSoft Enterprise 9.1 applications; however, it is also available to customers running any of the recent PeopleSoft Enterprise applications (8.8, 8.9 and 9.0). Start planning your upgrade now! More information is available at: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/peoplesoft-enterprise/tools-tech/index.html

A listing of Oracle Education classes can be found HERE.