Day 2 of Oracle Open World 2017

Oracle OpenWorld started yesterday and San Francisco is just buzzing with Oracle folks and the excitement generated by the new Oracle Autonomous Database announcements made by Larry Ellison during last night’s keynote!

If you are interested in more information on the Autonomous Database and how it’s changing the roll of the DBA, be sure to check out the “Preview of Oracle Autonomous Database” that Juan Loaiza‘s and I will present on Wednesday at 3:30pm in Moscone West,  room 3014.

But what about session picks for today?

Continue reading “Day 2 of Oracle Open World 2017”

12.2 and Tim Tams

Yesterday saw Oracle complete the release of Oracle database 12c Release 2 when the software became available for download on Oracle.com for both Linux & SPARC.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to grab a coffee and enjoy some Tim Tams (cookies) with Connor McDonald, my fellow askTOM team member, and chat about our favorite new features in 12.2. I thought you might enjoy see what we had to say about the new features and the enhancements that could make your life a lot easier.

Happy viewing!

Oracle Storage Index

If you are on Exadata or taking advantage of Database In-Memory it’s possible your queries will benefit for the automatically created and maintained Storage Indexes.

But what exactly are Storage Indexes and why don’t I always see a benefit from them?

Let me start by describing what Storage Indexes are in relation to Database In-Memory but remember they behavior in exactly the same way on the Exadata storage cell.

A Storage Index keeps track of minimum and maximum values for each column in an In-Memory Compression Unit (IMCU) or 1MB chunk on the Exadata storage cells. When a query specifies a WHERE clause predicate, the In-Memory Storage Index on the referenced column(s) is examined to determine if any entries with the specified value exist.

If you are on Exadata or taking advantage of Database In-Memory it’s possible your queries will benefit for the automatically created and maintained Storage Indexes.

What are Storage Indexes?

Let me start by describing what Storage Indexes are in relation to Database In-Memory but remember they behavior in exactly the same way on the Exadata storage cell.

A Storage Index keeps track of minimum and maximum values for each column in an In-Memory Compression Unit (IMCU) or 1MB chunk on the Exadata storage cells. When a query specifies a WHERE clause predicate, the In-Memory Storage Index on the referenced column(s) is examined to determine if any entries with the specified value exist.

Continue reading “Oracle Storage Index”

Histogram sample size and Online Statistics Gathering

I got a great follow up question to my earlier blog on Online Statistics Gathering; that I thought might be of interest to other and worthy of a short post of its own.

The question related to sample size used to gather histograms on a table that originally had its statistics gathered via a direct path load operation.

Let’s look at any example:

I got a great follow up question to my earlier blog on Online Statistics Gathering; that I thought might be of interest to other and worthy of a short post of its own.

The question related to sample size used to gather histograms on a table that originally had its statistics gathered via a direct path load operation.

Let’s look at any example:

Continue reading “Histogram sample size and Online Statistics Gathering”

Excited to be the newest member of the AskTom Team

A little over a year ago Connor McDonald and Chris Saxon took over answering questions posted on AskTom, which covers many topics related to building applications on top of the Oracle Database. Connor and Chris have done an amazing job of keeping up with the constant influx of questions, with nearly 16,000 answered to date.

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to join Connor and Chris in answering questions submitted AskTom. So, if you have any burning questions regarding the Oracle Database or building applications on top of the Oracle Database, you can submit them at AskTom and Connor, Chris or I will get back to you!

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