IOUG blogs

One thing that stands out at Oracle Open World 2008 in San Francisco is the changing role of the Oracle DBA. There are a number of reasons for this. Oracle DBAs that want to stay marketable are going to have to make sure their skills are consistent with the demands of the market. Oracle DBAs in demand are going to need to specialize in some of the following areas:

• Oracle High Availability – RAC and Data Guard
• Storage Management – Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
• Oracle Streams
• Oracle Grid Control – Using new tools, advisors and metholdologies for managing the enterprise.
• Oracle Fusion Middleware – Ability to manage multi-tiered architectures.
• Identity Management – Ability to work with Oracle Internet Directory and other LDAP servers.
• Ability to support Enterprise Web 2.0
• Ability to support multiple database platforms like MySQL.

The old days of an Oracle DBA being able to get by on just performance tuning and backup/ recovery skills are not going to be enough to stay marketable in the future. Basic skill sets are easy to find and easy to outsource. To get a better vision of the future you should look at new features in Oracle Database 11g that can greatly simplify database administration. Some of these include:

• Automatic SQL tuning
• New Diagnostics Advisor
• RMAN Advisor
• SQL Tuning Advisor

This list is a very small subset of all the diagnostic and advisor tools available in the Oracle Enterprise Manager for Oracle Database 11g. These large set of tools are going to play a large role in managing Oracle production environments. The old days of writing custom scripts are almost over.  DBAs are going to use more tools like Grid Control automate a lot of the day to day tasks DBAs typically perform.

George Trujillo

trubix.blogspot.com

web.mac.com/george.trujillo

mysql-dba-journey.blogspot.com

I led an Oracle Database 11g New Features panel of experts on Sunday. This panel has been recognized by Oracle as being leaders in the Oracle user community and recognized for their expertise in Oracle Database technology. The panel included:

• Dan Norris
• John King
• Charles Kim
• Plamen Zyumbyulev

The focus was on top features of Oracle Database 11g and how they were powerful enough that they should be included quickly after moving to Oracle Database 11g. I have been involved in the beta testing of Oracle Database 11g since the fall of 2007. I was on the Oracle Database Beta Leadership Council for a number of years until recently. Although I loved working with the beta program I can only be on so many councils and boards, so I’ve had to give up a few.
I along with the panel had a consensus that this is the best first release ever put out by Oracle. You may want to go out and visit the Trubix blog at http://trubix.blogspot.com. I have two blogs on Oracle Database 11g, one summarizing the top features and a second providing a more detailed overview of Oracle Database 11g.
Oracle Open World is strongly emphasizing Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g throughout the conference. You can also expect that Oracle Database 11g will be emphasized at the upcoming Collaborate 2008 Conference in April, 2008 in Denver, CO. I expect you will see a quicker adoption of Oracle Database 11g with its outstanding features as well as its stability. This option will be a stronger consideration for leap frogging Oracle 10g.
George Trujillo

trubix.blogspot.com

web.mac.com/george.trujillo

mysql-dba-journey.blogspot.com

I’ve spent the last few weeks in New York, St. Kitts, San Francisco and Seattle. A lot of people at OOW were asking how to find me on GPS. I’ve found that a moving target is hard to hit.

The new Oracle Connect that is being offered at the conference is making it a lot easier for people to hook up and stay connected at the conference. I expect this type of connectivity to become a standard at future conferences.

George Trujillo

trubix.blogspot.com

web.mac.com/george.trujillo

mysql-dba-journey.blogspot.com

People used to have fun saying Fusion Confusion, etc. Those days are over. Oracle Fusion Applications and Oracle Fusion Middleware are emerging key areas of Oracle applications and technology. Saying “Fusion Confusion” is showing that you are not in touch with what is going on with Oracle technology.

This next generation of Oracle’s strategy will impact those directly involved in Oracle technology as well as those reliant upon it. Current and future Oracle DBAs and developers will need to be able to support Oracle Fusion Application environments. For Oracle DBAs, being able to support Oracle Fusion Middleware environments is going to be a steep learning curve. System administrators are starting to fill the gap of the need for administrators who can support the Oracle middletier. If you want to stay marketable as an Oracle developer, you are going to need to learn at least parts of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, Siebel, Retek and Hyperion applications are all going to need administrators that can manage multiple tiers of Oracle and non-Oracle infrastructures as well architects, developers that understand Oracle Fusion Middleware technology. With the explosion of middleware technologies such as Application Servers, J2EE, Web Services, SOA, BPEL, Business Rules, XML, etc. there will be a strong need for Oracle Fusion Middleware professionals.

George Trujillo Jr. – IOUG Board of Directors

Sunday was a great start to the conference. The International Oracle Users Group (IOUG) had a large number of technically focused presentations that were delivered by IOUG recognized leaders in different areas of technology. There were technical presentations ranging from Oracle Database 11g New Features (my presentation), RAC, ASM, Oracle Application Server, Security, Oracle Fusion Middleware, etc. all focusing on best practices.

The IOUG has always emphasized best practices. It was great to see the IOUG get recognized for leadership in the technology side of Oracle.

The agenda for the week is one of the best I’ve every seen at an Oracle conference. Some things that stand out to me at the conference include:
– Great layout of technical presentations focusing on Oracle Database 11g.
– Large emphasis on Oracle Fusion Middleware.
– Strong focus on Enterprise Web 2.0 technologies.
– Oracle Applications seem to be everywhere.
– Great evening events with Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac.
– New Unconference activities.
– Open World Connect allows networking with other conference attendees. A great way to bring people together. This is a new level of networking at conferences which includes the opportunity to start your own blog.

Attendees had a choice of getting a flash drive with the conference technical presentations or getting a hard copy book. I liked being give that choice. I prefered the flashdrive. I’m slowly making a move off of hard copy materials and moving everything to a wiki or web sites. With Enterprise Web 2.0 growing in momentum we are all going to need to make the move to more electronic materials.

The energy of this conference is going to be the start of a lot of momentum that I believe you will see continued through out the year.

George J. Trujillo, Jr. – IOUG Board of Directors

I was on a flight from San Juan Puerto Rico heading towards San Francisco for Oracle Open World (OOW). Someone sitting next to me seen I was in the Oracle documentation on my laptop. She asked if I was going to OOW and I said yes. She said that she was too. She and a number of members of her team were headed for OOW as well. Before long we were talking about how excited we all were to be heading to OOW.

The excitement of everyone going to OOW seems to be a constant for everyone I talked to in San Francisco. I’ve been to a lot of Oracle Open Worlds and I can’t remember when there was so much enthusiasm for customers, vendors as well as Oracle employees. On Saturday and Sunday all the meetings I had seemed to be full of smiles and a lot of enthusiasm and energy.

It’s a lot of fun to start a conference with so much energy and excitement.

George J. Trujillo, Jr. – IOUG Board of Directors