Repeatability

Can’t I Just Create a Script To Do That?

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

The Clarity Action framework is fundamentally a better way to run your existing scripts than what you are likely doing now. Here is why:

You are passing in the exact information your scripts need to do their job. If your script acts on a database the script is run on an active instance of that database, [...]

Automating Lunch

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

From Wikipedia:
Automation (ancient Greek: = self dictated), roboticization[1] or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industrial machinery and processes, replacing human operators.
We are talking about handing off some of the chores that humans used to handle in favor of those same tasks being handled by [...]

Here We Go Again - The First Release Blues

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

Well just in case anyone was rushing out to implement Oracle 11g databases, there is new research which finds flaws in the 11g release, opening up new holes for malicious actors to circumvent the security intentions of database owners. Even the highly touted new releases of Oracle Database Vault and Oracle Audit Vault are [...]

Great Art != Great Databases

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

A great piece of art has many characteristics, including uniqueness. Great works created of ceramic tiles have many different shapes and colors with pieces fitting together perfectly, as per required by the design. Some tiles may be cut into odd shapes while others are positioned on an angle or placed inside other sections. [...]

Back on the Train

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

When you consider land travel there are two basic paradigms: rail travel vs. automotive travel. One can be used to describe a solid database provisioning methodology while the other is suited to long relaxing (and unique) trips.
Rails
A train sitting at the first station on a line has exactly one possible direction - towards the [...]

How Your Job Changes with GridApp Clarity

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

Your job, no matter how you interact with the database, changes with GridApp Clarity. You can absorb Clarity with whatever rapidity makes sense in your organization, and since there is such a breadth of functionality, it makes sense to use it to solve current problems now while thinking future to what issues can be [...]

Constant Progress, No Quagmires

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

I am frequently involved with customers who are struggling incredibly hard with a project they are trying to complete. Once part of the project stalls, there are two options - try harder to move forward or try to find a way around the obstacle. Customers push their vendors to fix the issue at [...]

Use Silent Mode!

Saturday, July 14th, 2007

I simply refuse to do my database provisioning using interactive methods. Just about every Oracle command has an option to have no interactive steps.
These are the only times I think it makes sense to use interactive processes:

When Oracle support tells you to.
When you are learning how to do something.

Excluding those cases, do yourself a [...]