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  • SQL – Quick Start with Admin Sections of NuoDB – Manage NuoDB Database

    - by Pinal Dave
    In the yesterday’s blog post we have seen that it is extremely easy to install the NuoDB database on your local machine. Now that the application is properly set up, let us explore NuoDB a bit more and get you familiar with the how it works and what the important areas of the NuoDB are that you should learn. As we have already installed NuoDB, now we will quickly start with two of the important areas in NuoDB: 1) Admin and 2) Explorer. In this blog post I will explore how the Admin Section of the NuoDB Console works.  In the next blog post we will learn how the Explorer Section works. Let us go to the NuoDB Console by typing the following URL in your browser: http://localhost:8080/ It will bring you to the following screen: On this screen you can see a big Start QuickStart button. Click on the button and it will bring you to following screen. On this screen you will find very important information about Domain and Database Settings. It is our habit that we do not read what is written on the screen and keep on clicking on continue without reading. While we are familiar with most wizards, we can often miss the very important message on the screen. Please note the information of Domain Settings and Database Settings from the following screen before clicking on Create Database. Domain Settings User: quickstart Password: quickstart Database Settings User: dba Password: goalie Database: test Schema: HOCKEY Once you click on the Create Database button it will immediately start creating sample database. First, it will start a Storage Manager and right after that it will start a Transaction Engine. Once the engine is up, it will Create a Schema and Sample Data. On the success of the creating the sample database it will show the following screen. Now is the time where we can explore the NuoDB Admin or NuoDB Explorer. If you click on Admin, it will first show following login screen. Enter for the username “domain” and for the password “bird”. Alternatively you can enter “quickstart”  twice for username and password.  It works as too. Once you enter into the Admin Section, on the left side you can see information about NuoDB and Admin Console and on the right side you can see the domain overview area. From this Administrative section you can do any of the following tasks: Create a view of the entire domain Add and remove databases Start and stop NuoDB Transaction Engines and Storage Managers Monitor transaction across all the NuoDB databases On the right side of the Admin Section we can see various information about a particular NuoDB domain. You can quickly view various alerts, find out information about the number of host machines that are provisioned for the domain, and see the number of databases and processes that are running in the domain. If you click on the “1 host” link you will be able to see various processes, CPU usage and other information. In the Processes Section you can see that there are two different types of processes. The first process (where you can see the floppy drive icon) represents a running Storage Manager process and the second process a running Transaction Engine process. You can click on the links for the Storage Manager and Transaction Engine to see further statistical details right down to the last byte of the data. There are various charts available for analysis as well. I think the product is quite mature and the user can add different monitor charts to the Admin section. Additionally, the Admin section is the place where you can create and manage new databases. I hope today’s tutorial gives you enough confidence that you can try out NuoDB and checkout various administrative activities with the database. I am personally impressed with their dashboard related to various counters. For more information about how the NuoDB architecture works and what a Storage Manager or Transaction Engine does, check out this short video with NuoDB CTO Seth Proctor:  In the next blog post, we will try out the Explorer section of NuoDB, which allows us to run SQL queries and write SQL code.  Meanwhile, I strongly suggest you download and install NuoDB and get yourself familiar with the product. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: NuoDB

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  • Where’s my MD.050?

    - by Dave Burke
    A question that I’m sometimes asked is “where’s my MD.050 in OUM?” For those not familiar with an MD.050, it serves the purpose of being a Functional Design Document (FDD) in one of Oracle’s legacy Methods. Functional Design Documents have existed for many years with their primary purpose being to describe the functional aspects of one or more components of an IT system, typically, a Custom Extension of some sort. So why don’t we have a direct replacement for the MD.050/FDD in OUM? In simple terms, the disadvantage of the MD.050/FDD approach is that it tends to lead practitioners into “Design mode” too early in the process. Whereas OUM encourages more emphasis on gathering, and describing the functional requirements of a system ahead of the formal Analysis and Design process. So that just means more work up front for the Business Analyst or Functional Consultants right? Well no…..the design of a solution, particularly when it involves a complex custom extension, does not necessarily take longer just because you put more thought into the functional requirements. In fact, one could argue the complete opposite, in that by putting more emphasis on clearly understanding the nuances of functionality requirements early in the process, then the overall time and cost incurred during the Analysis to Design process should be less. In short, as your understanding of requirements matures over time, it is far easier (and more cost effective) to update a document or a diagram, than to change lines of code. So how does that translate into Tasks and Work Products in OUM? Let us assume you have reached a point on a project where a Custom Extension is needed. One of the first things you should consider doing is creating a Use Case, and remember, a Use Case could be as simple as a few lines of text reflecting a “User Story”, or it could be what Cockburn1 describes a “fully dressed Use Case”. It is worth mentioned at this point the highly scalable nature of OUM in the sense that “documents” should not be produced just because that is the way we have always done things. Some projects may well be predicated upon a base of electronic documents, whilst other projects may take a much more Agile approach to describing functional requirements; through “User Stories” perhaps. In any event, it is quite common for a Custom Extension to involve the creation of several “components”, i.e. some new screens, an interface, a report etc. Therefore several Use Cases might be required, which in turn can then be assembled into a Use Case Package. Once you have the Use Cases attributed to an appropriate (fit-for-purpose) level of detail, and assembled into a Package, you can now create an Analysis Model for the Package. An Analysis Model is conceptual in nature, and depending on the solution being developing, would involve the creation of one or more diagrams (i.e. Sequence Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams etc.) which collectively describe the Data, Behavior and Use Interface requirements of the solution. If required, the various elements of the Analysis Model may be indexed via an Analysis Specification. For Custom Extension projects that follow a pure Object Orientated approach, then the Analysis Model will naturally support the development of the Design Model without any further artifacts. However, for projects that are transitioning to this approach, then the various elements of the Analysis Model may be represented within the Analysis Specification. If we now return to the original question of “Where’s my MD.050”. The full answer would be: Capture the functional requirements within a Use Case Group related Use Cases into a Package Create an Analysis Model for each Package Consider creating an Analysis Specification (AN.100) as a index to each Analysis Model artifact An alternative answer for a relatively simple Custom Extension would be: Capture the functional requirements within a Use Case Optionally, group related Use Cases into a Package Create an Analysis Specification (AN.100) for each package 1 Cockburn, A, 2000, Writing Effective Use Case, Addison-Wesley Professional; Edition 1

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  • Beginner Geek: Scan a Document or Picture in Windows 7

    - by Mysticgeek
    There may come a time when you want to digitize your priceless old pictures, or need to scan a receipts and documents for your company. Today we look at how to scan a picture or document in Windows 7. Scanning Your Document In this example we’re using an HP PSC 1500 All-In-One printer connected to a Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit system. Different scanners will vary, however the process is essentially the same. The scanning process has changed a bit since the XP days. To scan a document in Windows 7, place the document or picture in the scanner, click on Start, and go to Devices and Printers.   When the Devices and Printers window opens, find your scanning device and double-click on it to get the manufacturers Printer Actions menu. For our HP PSC 1500 we have a few different options like printing, device setup, and scanner actions. Here we’ll click on the Scan a document or photo hyperlink. The New Scan window opens and from here you can adjust the quality of the scanned image and choose the output file type. Then click the Preview button to get an idea of what the image will look like.   If you’re not happy with the preview, then you can go back and make any adjustments to the quality of the document or photo. Once everything looks good, click on the Scan button. The scanning process will start. The amount of time it takes will depend on your scanner type, and the quality of the settings you choose. The higher the quality…the more time it will take. You will have the option to tag the picture if you want to… Now you can view your scanned document or photo inside Windows Photo Viewer. If you’re happy with the look of the document, you can send it off in an email, put it on an network drive, FTP it… whatever you need to do with it. Another method is to place the document of photo you wish to scan in the scanner, open up Devices and Printers, then right-click on the scanning device and select Start Scan from the context menu. This should bypass the manufacturer screen and go directly into the New Scan window, where you can start the scan process. From the Context Menu you can also choose Scan Properties. This will allow you to test the scanner if you’re having problems with it and change some of its settings. Or you can choose Scan Profiles which allows you to use pre-selected settings, create your own, or set one as the default. Although scanning documents and photos isn’t a common occurrence as it was a few years ago, Windows 7 still includes the feature. When you need to scan a document or photo in Windows 7, this should get you started. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Easily Rotate Pictures In Word 2007Beginner Geek: Delete User Accounts in Windows 7Customize Your Welcome Picture Choices in Windows VistaSecure Computing: Detect and Eliminate Malware Using Windows DefenderMark Your Document As Final in Word 2007 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Creating a Password Reset Disk in Windows Bypass Waiting Time On Customer Service Calls With Lucyphone MELTUP – "The Beginning Of US Currency Crisis And Hyperinflation" Enable or Disable the Task Manager Using TaskMgrED Explorer++ is a Worthy Windows Explorer Alternative Error Goblin Explains Windows Error Codes

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  • Running ODI 11gR1 Standalone Agent as a Windows Service

    - by fx.nicolas
    ODI 11gR1 introduces the capability to use OPMN to start and protect agent processes as services. Setting up the OPMN agent is covered in the following post and extensively in the ODI Installation Guide. Unfortunately, OPMN is not installed along with ODI, and ODI 10g users who are really at ease with the old Java Wrapper are a little bit puzzled by OPMN, and ask: "How can I simply set up the agent as a service?". Well... although the Tanuki Service Wrapper is no longer available for free, and the agentservice.bat script lost, you can switch to another service wrapper for the same result. For example, Yet Another Java Service Wrapper (YAJSW) is a good candidate. To configure a standalone agent with YAJSW: download YAJSW Uncompress the zip to a folder (called %YAJSW% in this example) Configure, start and test your standalone agent. Make sure that this agent is loaded with all the required libraries and drivers, as the service will not load dynamically the drivers added subsequently in the /drivers directory. Retrieve the PID of the agent process: Open Task Manager. Select View Select Columns Select the PID (Process Identifier) column, then click OK In the list of processes, find the java.exe process corresponding to your agent, and note its PID. Open a command line prompt in %YAJSW%/bat and run: genConfig.bat <your_pid> This command generates a wrapper configuration file for the agent. This file is called %YAJSW%/conf/wrapper.conf. Stop your agent. Edit the wrapper.conf file and modify the configuration of your service. For example, modify the display name and description of the service as shown in the example below. Important: Make sure to escape the commas in the ODI encoded passwords with a backslash! In the example below, the ODI_SUPERVISOR_ENCODED_PASS contained a comma character which had to be prefixed with a backslash. # Title to use when running as a console wrapper.console.title=\"AGENT\" #******************************************************************** # Wrapper Windows Service and Posix Daemon Properties #******************************************************************** # Name of the service wrapper.ntservice.name=AGENT_113 # Display name of the service wrapper.ntservice.displayname=ODI Agent # Description of the service wrapper.ntservice.description=Oracle Data Integrator Agent 11gR3 (11.1.1.3.0) ... # Escape the comma in the password with a backslash. wrapper.app.parameter.7 = -ODI_SUPERVISOR_ENCODED_PASS=fJya.vR5kvNcu9TtV\,jVZEt Execute your wrapped agent as console by calling in the command line prompt: runConsole.bat Check that your agent is running, and test it again.This command starts the agent with the configuration but does not install it yet as a service. To Install the agent as service call installService.bat From that point, you can view, start and stop the agent via the windows services. Et voilà ! Two final notes: - To modify the agent configuration, you must uninstall/reinstall the service. For this purpose, run the uninstallService.bat to uninstall it and play again the process above. - To be able to uninstall the agent service, you should keep a backup of the wrapper.conf file. This is particularly important when starting several services with the wrapper.

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  • Oracle Database 11gR2 11.2.0.3 Certified with E-Business Suite on Windows

    - by John Abraham
    As a follow up to our original certification announcement, Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) is now certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 on the following Microsoft Windows operating systems: Release 12.1 (12.1.1 and higher) Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003, 2008) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (20031, 20081, 2008 R22) Release 12.0 (12.0.4 and higher) Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2003, 2008)1 Release 11i (11.5.10.2 + ATG PF.H RUP 6 and higher) Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003, 20081) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2003, 2008, 2008 R2)1 Notes 1: This OS is a 'database tier only' or 'split tier configuration' platform where the application tier must be on a fully certified E-Business Suite platform. 2: This OS is a 'database tier only' platform for Release 11i. For 12.1.1 or higher, it is also supported on the application tier via the migration process outlined in My Oracle Support Document 1188535.1. Pending Certification E-Business Suite 12.0 with 11.2.0.3 Split Tier Certification on Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2008 R2) is in progress and will be announced separately. This announcement for Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 includes: Real Application Clusters (RAC) Oracle Database Vault Transparent Data Encryption (Column Encryption) TDE Tablespace Encryption Advanced Security Option (ASO)/Advanced Networking Option (ANO) Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 Database Instances Transportable Database and Transportable Tablespaces Data Migration Processes for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 References MOS Document 881505.1 - Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0) MOS Document 1058763.1 - Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0) MOS Document 1091086.1 - Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database Vault 11gR2 MOS Document 1091083.1 - Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database Vault 11gR2 MOS Document 216205.1 - Database Initialization Parameters for Oracle E-Business Suite 11i MOS Document 396009.1 - Database Initialization Parameters for Oracle Applications Release 12 MOS Document 823586.1 - Using Oracle 11g Release 2 Real Application Clusters with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 823587.1 - Using Oracle 11g Release 2 Real Application Clusters with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 403294.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 732764.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 828223.1 - Using TDE Tablespace Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 828229.1 - Using TDE Tablespace Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 391248.1 - Encrypting Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Network Traffic using Advanced Security Option and Advanced Networking Option MOS Document 732764.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 557738.1 - Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Database Instances Using Oracle Database 11g Release 1 or 11g Release 2 MOS Document 741818.1 - Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Database Instances Using Oracle Database 11g Release 1 or 11g Release 2 MOS Document 1366265.1 - Using Transportable Tablespaces to Migrate Oracle Applications 11i Using Oracle Database 11g Release 2 MOS Document 1311487.1 - Using Transportable Tablespaces to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Using Oracle Database 11g Release 2 MOS Document 729309.1 - Using Transportable Database to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Using Oracle Database 10g Release 2 or 11g MOS Document 734763.1 - Using Transportable Database to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Using Oracle Database 10g Release 2 or 11g MOS Document 1188535.1 - Migrating Oracle E-Business Suite R12 to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Please also review the platform-specific Oracle Database Installation Guides for operating system and other prerequisites. Related Articles Database 11.2.0.2 Certified with EBS R12 on IBM: Linux on System z EBS R12 Certified with Database 11gR2 on SLES 11 11gR2 11.2.0.3 Database Certified with E-Business Suite

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  • Oracle Database 11.2.0.4 Certified with EBS on Microsoft Windows Server

    - by John Abraham
    As a follow up to to a previous announcement, Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4) is now certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 on the following Microsoft Windows Server operating systems: Release 12.2 (12.2.3 and higher): Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2008 R2) Release 12.1 (12.1.1 and higher): Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003, 2008) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (20031, 20081, 2008 R22) Release 12.0 (12.0.4 and higher): Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2003, 2008, 2008 R2)1 Release 11i (11.5.10.2 + ATG PF.H RUP 6 and higher):: Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003, 20081) Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2003, 2008, 2008 R2)1 Notes: 1: This OS is a 'database tier only' or 'split tier configuration' platform where the application tier must be on a fully certified E-Business Suite platform. 2: This OS is a 'database tier only' platform for Release 11i. For 12.1.1 or higher, it is also supported on the application tier via the migration process outlined in My Oracle Support Document 1188535.1. This announcement for Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 includes: Oracle Database 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 Oracle Database 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 Real Application Clusters (RAC) Oracle Database Vault 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 Transparent Data Encryption (Column Encryption) using Oracle Database 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 TDE Tablespace Encryption using Oracle Database 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 Advanced Security Option (ASO)/Advanced Networking Option (ANO) with Oracle Database 11gR2 version 11.2.0.4 Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 Database Instances Transportable Database and Transportable Tablespaces Data Migration Processes for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and Release 12 Certification data in My Oracle Support (http://support.oracle.com) has been updated with this certification - please review the documents below for all requirements and additional details: Where can I find more information? MOS Document 881505.1 - Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0) MOS Document 1058763.1 - Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0) MOS Dcoument 1623879.1 - Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0) MOS Document 1091086.1 - Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database Vault 11gR2 MOS Document 1091083.1 - Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle Database Vault 11gR2 MOS Document 216205.1 - Database Initialization Parameters for Oracle E-Business Suite 11i MOS Document 396009.1 - Database Initialization Parameters for Oracle Applications Release 12 MOS Document 823586.1 - Using Oracle 11g Release 2 Real Application Clusters with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 823587.1 - Using Oracle 11g Release 2 Real Application Clusters with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 946413.1 - Using Oracle Applications with a Split Configuration Database Tier on Oracle Release 11g Release 2 MOS Document 403294.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 732764.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 828223.1 - Using TDE Tablespace Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i MOS Document 828229.1 - Using TDE Tablespace Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 391248.1 - Encrypting Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Network Traffic using Advanced Security Option and Advanced Networking Option MOS Document 376700.1 - Enabling SSL in Oracle Application Release 12 MOS Document 732764.1 - Using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Column Encryption with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 MOS Document 557738.1 - Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Database Instances Using Oracle Database 11g Release 1 or 11g Release 2 MOS Document 741818.1 - Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Database Instances Using Oracle Database 11g Release 1 or 11g Release 2 MOS Document 1366265.1 - Using Transportable Tablespaces to Migrate Oracle Applications 11i Using Oracle Database 11g Release 2 MOS Document 1311487.1 - Using Transportable Tablespaces to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Using Oracle Database 11g Release 2 MOS Document 729309.1 - Using Transportable Database to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Using Oracle Database 10g Release 2 or 11g MOS Document 734763.1 - Using Transportable Database to Migrate Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Using Oracle Database 10g Release 2 or 11g MOS Document 1188535.1 - Migrating Oracle E-Business Suite R12 to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 MOS Dcoument 1349240.1 - Database Preparation Guidelines for an Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Upgrade MOS Document 1594274.1 - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Consolidated List of Patches and Technology Bug Fixes Please also review the platform-specific Oracle Database Installation Guides for operating system and other prerequisites.

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  • Part 15: Fail a build based on the exit code of a console application

    In the series the following parts have been published Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Add arguments and variables Part 3: Use more complex arguments Part 4: Create your own activity Part 5: Increase AssemblyVersion Part 6: Use custom type for an argument Part 7: How is the custom assembly found Part 8: Send information to the build log Part 9: Impersonate activities (run under other credentials) Part 10: Include Version Number in the Build Number Part 11: Speed up opening my build process template Part 12: How to debug my custom activities Part 13: Get control over the Build Output Part 14: Execute a PowerShell script Part 15: Fail a build based on the exit code of a console application When you have a Console Application or a batch file that has errors, the exitcode is set to another value then 0. You would expect that the build would see this and report an error. This is not true however. First we setup the scenario. Add a ConsoleApplication project to your solution you are building. In the Main function set the ExitCode to 1     class Program    {        static void Main(string[] args)        {            Console.WriteLine("This is an error in the script.");            Environment.ExitCode = 1;        }    } Checkin the code. You can choose to include this Console Application in the build or you can decide to add the exe to source control Now modify the Build Process Template CustomTemplate.xaml Add an argument ErrornousScript Scroll down beneath the TryCatch activity called “Try Compile, Test, and Associate Changesets and Work Items” Add an Sequence activity to the template In the Sequence, add a ConvertWorkspaceItem and an InvokeProcess activity (see Part 14: Execute a PowerShell script  for more detailed steps) In the FileName property of the InvokeProcess use the ErrornousScript so the ConsoleApplication will be called. Modify the build definition and make sure that the ErrornousScript is executing the exe that is setting the ExitCode to 1. You have now setup a build definition that will execute the errornous Console Application. When you run it, you will see that the build succeeds. This is not what you want! To solve this, you can make use of the Result property on the InvokeProcess activity. So lets change our Build Process Template. Add the new variables (scoped to the sequence where you run the Console Application) called ExitCode (type = Int32) and ErrorMessage Click on the InvokeProcess activity and change the Result property to ExitCode In the Handle Standard Output of the InvokeProcess add a Sequence activity In the Sequence activity, add an Assign primitive. Set the following properties: To = ErrorMessage Value = If(Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(ErrorMessage), Environment.NewLine + ErrorMessage, "") + stdOutput And add the default BuildMessage to the sequence that outputs the stdOutput Add beneath the InvokeProcess activity and If activity with the condition ExitCode <> 0 In the Then section add a Throw activity and set the Exception property to New Exception(ErrorMessage) The complete workflow looks now like When you now check in the Build Process Template and run the build, you get the following result And that is exactly what we want.   You can download the full solution at BuildProcess.zip. It will include the sources of every part and will continue to evolve.

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  • i don't receive mail notification...Nagios Core 4

    - by alessio
    I have a problem with automatically mail notification in Nagios Core 4 installed on ubuntu 12 .04 lts server... i have tried to send mail with nagios user and root user with the command: echo "test" | mail -s "test mail" [email protected] and i received mail correctly... but i don't receive any automatically mail notification... i don't know how can i do to resolve this issue! :( these are my configuration files (commands.cfg, contacts.cfg, nagios.log, mail.log): commands.cfg (the path /usr/bin/mail is the right path): # 'notify-host-by-email' command definition define command{ command_name notify-host-by-email command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "***** Nagios *****\n\nNotification Type: $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\nHost: $HOSTNAME$\nState: $HOSTSTATE$\nAddress: $HOSTADDRESS$\nInfo: $HOSTOUTPUT$\n\nDate/Time: $LONGDATETIME$\n" | /usr/bin/mail -s "** $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ Host Alert: $HOSTNAME$ is $HOSTSTATE$ **" $CONTACTEMAIL$ } # 'notify-service-by-email' command definition define command{ command_name notify-service-by-email command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "***** Nagios *****\n\nNotification Type: $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\n\nService: $SERVICEDESC$\nHost: $HOSTALIAS$\nAddress: $HOSTADDRESS$\nState: $SERVICESTATE$\n\nDate/Time: $LONGDATETIME$\n\nAdditional Info:\n\n$SERVICEOUTPUT$\n" | /usr/bin/mail -s "** $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ Service Alert: $HOSTALIAS$/$SERVICEDESC$ is $SERVICESTATE$ **" $CONTACTEMAIL$ } # 'process-host-perfdata' command definition define command{ command_name process-host-perfdata command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "$LASTHOSTCHECK$\t$HOSTNAME$\t$HOSTSTATE$\t$HOSTATTEMPT$\t$HOSTSTATETYPE$\t$HOSTEXECUTIONTIME$\t$HOSTOUTPUT$\t$HOSTPERFDATA$\n" >> /usr/local/nagios/var/host-perfdata.out } # 'process-service-perfdata' command definition define command{ command_name process-service-perfdata command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "$LASTSERVICECHECK$\t$HOSTNAME$\t$SERVICEDESC$\t$SERVICESTATE$\t$SERVICEATTEMPT$\t$SERVICESTATETYPE$\t$SERVICEEXECUTIONTIME$\t$SERVICELATENCY$\t$SERVICEOUTPUT$\t$SERVICEPERFDATA$\n" >> /usr/local/nagios/var/service-perfdata.out } contacts.cfg: define contact{ contact_name supporto alias Supporto Clienti DEA service_notification_period 24x7 host_notification_period 24x7 service_notification_options w,u,c,r host_notification_options d,r service_notification_commands notify-service-by-email host_notification_commands notify-host-by-email email [email protected] } define contactgroup{ contactgroup_name admins alias Nagios Administrators members supporto } nagios.log: [1401871412] SERVICE ALERT: fileserver;Current Users;OK;SOFT;2;USERS OK - 1 users currently logged in [1401871953] SERVICE ALERT: backups;Nagios Status;WARNING;SOFT;1;NAGIOS WARNING: 36 processes, status log updated 541 seconds ago [1401872133] SERVICE ALERT: backups;Nagios Status;OK;SOFT;2;NAGIOS OK: 36 processes, status log updated 180 seconds ago [1401872321] SERVICE ALERT: posta;Swap Usage;CRITICAL;SOFT;1;CRITICAL - Plugin timed out after 10 seconds [1401872322] SERVICE ALERT: fileserver;Current Users;CRITICAL;SOFT;1;CRITICAL - Plugin timed out after 10 seconds [1401872420] SERVICE ALERT: archivio;Disk Space;CRITICAL;SOFT;1;CRITICAL - Plugin timed out after 10 seconds [1401872492] SERVICE ALERT: fileserver;Current Users;OK;SOFT;2;USERS OK - 1 users currently logged in [1401872492] SERVICE ALERT: posta;Swap Usage;OK;SOFT;2;SWAP OK: 100% free (1984 MB out of 1984 MB) [1401872590] SERVICE ALERT: archivio;Disk Space;OK;SOFT;2;DISK OK [1401872931] Auto-save of retention data completed successfully. [1401873333] SERVICE ALERT: backups;Nagios Status;WARNING;SOFT;1;NAGIOS WARNING: 36 processes, status log updated 402 seconds ago [1401873513] SERVICE ALERT: backups;Nagios Status;OK;SOFT;2;NAGIOS OK: 36 processes, status log updated 180 seconds ago mail.log (i think that the problem is here but i don't know how to resolve it): Jun 4 10:00:01 backups sm-msp-queue[6109]: My unqualified host name (backups) unknown; sleeping for retry Jun 4 10:01:01 backups sm-msp-queue[6109]: unable to qualify my own domain name (backups) -- using short name Jun 4 10:20:01 backups sm-msp-queue[7247]: My unqualified host name (backups) unknown; sleeping for retry Jun 4 10:21:01 backups sm-msp-queue[7247]: unable to qualify my own domain name (backups) -- using short name Jun 4 10:40:01 backups sm-msp-queue[8327]: My unqualified host name (backups) unknown; sleeping for retry Jun 4 10:41:01 backups sm-msp-queue[8327]: unable to qualify my own domain name (backups) -- using short name Jun 4 11:00:01 backups sm-msp-queue[9549]: My unqualified host name (backups) unknown; sleeping for retry Jun 4 11:01:01 backups sm-msp-queue[9549]: unable to qualify my own domain name (backups) -- using short name Jun 4 11:20:01 backups sm-msp-queue[10678]: My unqualified host name (backups) unknown; sleeping for retry Jun 4 11:21:01 backups sm-msp-queue[10678]: unable to qualify my own domain name (backups) -- using short name i'm at the last step and i want to finish this Nagios Core! :) Any help be appreciate!:) host definition (this host have the disk almost full and it is in hard state but non notification) : define host{ use generic-host ; Name of host template to use host_name posta alias Server Posta ESA address 10.10.2.102 parents xen1, xen2 icon_image redhat.png statusmap_image redhat.gd2 } service definition: define service{ use generic-service host_name xen1, maestro, xen2, posta, nas002, serv2, esasrvmi02, esaubuntumi service_description Disk Space check_command ssh_all_disks!10%!5% } Notification is allowed for the contact definition you gave, but is it also allowed at the the service level ? sorry but i don't understand this thing! :(

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  • Software Architecture verses Software Design

    Recently, I was asked what the differences between software architecture and software design are. At a very superficial level both architecture and design seem to mean relatively the same thing. However, if we examine both of these terms further we will find that they are in fact very different due to the level of details they encompass. Software Architecture can be defined as the essence of an application because it deals with high level concepts that do not include any details as to how they will be implemented. To me this gives stakeholders a view of a system or application as if someone was viewing the earth from outer space. At this distance only very basic elements of the earth can be detected like land, weather and water. As the viewer comes closer to earth the details in this view start to become more defined. Details about the earth’s surface will start to actually take form as well as mane made structures will be detected. The process of transitioning a view from outer space to inside our earth’s atmosphere is similar to how an architectural concept is transformed to an architectural design. From this vantage point stakeholders can start to see buildings and other structures as if they were looking out of a small plane window. This distance is still high enough to see a large area of the earth’s surface while still being able to see some details about the surface. This viewing point is very similar to the actual design process of an application in that it takes the very high level architectural concept or concepts and applies concrete design details to form a software design that encompasses the actual implementation details in the form of responsibilities and functions. Examples of these details include: interfaces, components, data, and connections. In review, software architecture deals with high level concepts without regard to any implementation details. Software design on the other hand takes high level concepts and applies concrete details so that software can be implemented. As part of the transition between software architecture to the creation of software design an evaluation on the architecture is recommended. There are several benefits to including this step as part of the transition process. It allows for projects to ensure that they are on the correct path as to meeting the stakeholder’s requirement goals, identifies possible cost savings and can be used to find missing or nonspecific requirements that cause ambiguity in a design. In the book “Evaluating Software Architectures: Methods and Case Studies”, they define key benefits to adding an architectural review process to ensure that an architecture is ready to move on to the design phase. Benefits to evaluating software architecture: Gathers all stakeholders to communicate about the project Goals are clearly defined in regards to the creation or validation of specific requirements Goals are prioritized so that when conflicts occur decisions will be made based on goal priority Defines a clear expectation of the architecture so that all stakeholders have a keen understanding of the project Ensures high quality documentation of the architecture Enables discoveries of architectural reuse  Increases the quality of architecture practices. I can remember a few projects that I worked on that could have really used an architectural review prior to being passed on to developers. This project was to create some new advertising space on the company’s website in order to sell space based on the location and some other criteria. I was one of the developer selected to lead this project and I was given a high level design concept and a long list of ever changing requirements due to the fact that sales department had no clear direction as to what exactly the project was going to do or how they were going to bill the clients once they actually agreed to purchase the Ad space. In my personal opinion IT should have pushed back to have the requirements further articulated instead of forcing programmers to code blindly attempting to build such an ambiguous project.  Unfortunately, we had to suffer with this project for about 4 months when it should have only taken 1.5 to complete due to the constantly changing and unclear requirements. References  Clements, P., Kazman, R., & Klein, M. (2002). Evaluating Software Architectures. Westford, Massachusetts: Courier Westford. 

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  • Silverlight Cream for March 10, 2011 -- #1058

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this Issue: Ian T. Lackey, Peter Kuhn, WindowsPhoneGeek(-2-), Jesse Liberty(-2-), Martin Krüger, John Papa, Jeremy Likness, Karl Shifflett, and Colin Eberhardt. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Silverlight TV 65: 3D Graphics" John Papa WP7: "Developing a Windows Phone 7 Jump List Control" Colin Eberhardt Shoutouts: Telerik announced a special sale on their RadControls for WP7... check it out: RadControls for Windows Phone 7 - on Sale from March 16th at a Special Promo Price! From SilverlightCream.com: Prism BootStrapper Load ModuleCatalog Ansyc Ian T. Lackey has a post up about reading the module catalog for Prism from an XML file asynchronously... fun stuff... this is how we kick-started our app... XNA for Silverlight developers: Part 6 - Input (accelerometer) Peter Kuhn has Part 6 of his XNA for Silverlight devs up at SilverlightShow. This post is on the use of the accelerometer... some great diagrams and explanations of it's use along with some code to play with... including a 'problems and pitfalls' section, and some good external links. Getting Started with Unit Testing in Silverlight for WP7 WindowsPhoneGeek has an introduction to Unit Testing in general, and then moves into Unit Testing in Silverlight for WP7, providing 3 options with links to the materials and code demonstrating the concepts. Using DockPanel in WP7 Responding to reader's questions, WindowsPhoneGeek's next post is on the DockPanel from the Silverlight Toolkit, and using it in WP7... defined declaratively and in code. Reactive Extensions–More About Chaining Jesse Liberty has post number 10 on Rx up and is a follow-on to the last one on Chaining. This time he exercises the chaining aspect of SelectMany. Yet Another Podcast #26–Walt Ritscher In his next post, Jesse Liberty has his 26th 'Yet Another Podcast' up and is chatting with my friend Walt Ritscher. If you don't know who Walt is, check out the links Jesse has on the post... I'm sure you've crossed paths. How to: Create A half square from a regular polygon (triangle) Martin Krüger demonstrates the exact placement of a half-square (isosceles right triangle), formed with a regular polygon in Blend... this is much more involved than I've made it sound... check out his post. Silverlight TV 65: 3D Graphics John Papa has Silverlight TV number 65 up and it's all about the 3D graphics stuff we saw at the Firestarter. John is talking with Danny Riddel, the CEO of Archetype, the company that built the awesome 3D demo we all gushed over. Jounce Part 12: Providing History-Based Back Navigation Jeremy Likness has part 12 of his Jounce exploration up... and discussing the stack of navigated pages that Jounce retains and providing a 'go back' functionality... and provides a good example of using it all. Prism 4 Region Navigation with Silverlight Frame Navigation and Unity Karl Shifflett has a post for all us Prism afficianados... Prism, Unity, and the Silverlight Frame Navigation framework. Some great external links for 'required reading' too. Developing a Windows Phone 7 Jump List Control Colin Eberhardt has an awesome tutorial up for creating a JumpList control for WP7... what a bunch of effort... this is a step-by-step description of designing the control he built and blogged about a while back... and it's still cool! Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • Silverlight Cream for January 08, 2011 -- #1023

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this Heavy and yet incomplete Issue: Mike Wolf, Walter Ferrari, Colin Eberhardt, Mathew Charles, Don Burnett, Senthil Kumar, cherylws, Rob Miles, Derik Whittaker, Thomas Martinsen(-2-), Jason Ginchereau, Vishal Nayan, and WindowsPhoneGeek. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Automatically Showing ToolTips on a Trimmed TextBlock (Silverlight)" Colin Eberhardt WP7: "Windows Phone Blue Book Pdf" Rob Miles Sharepoint/Silverlight: "Discover Sharepoint with Silverlight - Part 1" Walter Ferrari Shoutouts: Dave Isbitski has announced a WP7 Firestarter, check for your local MS office: Announcing the “Light up your Silverlight Applications for Windows 7 Firestarter” From SilverlightCream.com: Leveraging Silverlight in the USA TODAY Windows 7-Based Slate App Mike Wolf has a post up about Cynergy's release of the new USA TODAY software for Windows 7 Slate devices, and gives a great rundown of all the resources, and how specific Silverlight features were used... tons of outstanding external links here! Discover Sharepoint with Silverlight - Part 1 Walter Ferrari has tutorial up at SilverlightShow... looks like the first in a series on Silverlight and Sharepoint... lots of low-level info about the internals and using them. Automatically Showing ToolTips on a Trimmed TextBlock (Silverlight) Colin Eberhardt has a really cool AutoTooltip attached behavior that gives a tooltip of the actual text if text is trimmed ... and has an active demo on the post... very cool. RIA Services Output Caching Mathew Charles digs into a RIA feature that hasn't gotten any blog love: output caching, describing all the ins and outs of improving the performance of your app using caching. Emailing your Files to Box.net Cloud Storage with WP7 Don Burnett details out everything you need to do to get Box.Net and your WP7 setup to talk to each other. Shortcuts keys for Developing on Windows Phone 7 Emulator Senthil Kumar has some good WP7 posts up ... this one is a cheatsheet list of Function-key assignements for the WP7 emulator... another sidebar listint Windows Phone 7 Design Guidelines – Cheat Sheet cherylws has a great Guideline list/Cheat Sheet up for reference while building a WP7 app... this is a great reference... I'm adding it to the Right-hand sidebar of WynApse.com Windows Phone Blue Book Pdf Rob Miles has added another book and color to his collection of both -- Windows Phone Programming in C#, also known as the Windows Phone Blue Book... get a copy from the links he gives, and check out his other free books as well. Navigating to an external URL using the HyperlinkButton Derik Whittaker has a post up discussing the woes (and error messages) of trying to navigate to an external URL with the Hyperlink button in WP7, plus his MVVM-friendly solution that you can download. Set Source on Image from code in Silverlight Thomas Martinsen has a couple posts up... first is this quick one on the code required to set an image source. Show UI element based on authentication Thomas Martinsen's latest is one on a BoolToVisibilityConverter allowing a boolean indicator of Authentication to be used to control the visibility of a button (in the sample) WP7 ReorderListBox improvements: rearrange animations and more Jason Ginchereau has updated his ReorderListBox from last week to add some animations (fading/sliding) during the rearrangement. Navigation in Silverlight Without Using Navigation Framework Vishal Nayan has a post that attracted my attention... Navigation by manipulating RootVisual content... I've been knee-deep in similar code in Prism this week (and why my blogging is off) ... Creating a WP7 Custom Control in 7 Steps WindowsPhoneGeek creates a simple custom control for WP7 before your very eyes in his latest post, focusing on the minimum requirements necessary for writing a Custom Control. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1 for Enterprise Manager 12c Now Available

    - by Steven Chan (Oracle Development)
    Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1.0 is now available for use with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c.  Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1 is an integral part of Oracle Enterprise Manager 12 Application Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite. This latest plug-in extends EM 12c Cloud Control with E-Business Suite specific system management capabilities and features enhanced change management support. The Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Application Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite includes: Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 12.1.0.1 combines functionality that was available in the previously-standalone Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite and Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite with Oracle Real User Experience Insight Oracle Configuration & Compliance capabilities  Features that were previously available in the standalone management packs are now packaged in the Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in, which is certified with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control:  Functionality previously available for Application Management Pack (AMP) is now classified as “System Management for Oracle E-Business Suite” within the plug-in. Functionality previously available for Application Change Management Pack (ACMP) is now classified as “Change Management for Oracle E-Business Suite” within the plug-in. The Application Configuration Console and the Configuration Change Console are now native components of Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c. System Management Enhancements General Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Base Platform uptake: All components of the management suite are certified with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control. Security Privilege Delegation: The Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in now extends Enterprise Manager’s privilege delegation through Sudo and PowerBroker to Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in host targets. Privileges and Roles for Managing Oracle E-Business Suite: This release includes new ready-to-use target and resource privileges to monitor, manage, and perform Change Management functionality. Cloning Named Credentials Uptake in Cloning: The Clone module transactions now let users leverage the Named Credential feature introduced in Enterprise Manager 12c, thereby passing all the benefits of Named Credentials features in Enterprise Manager to the Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in users. Smart Clone improvements: In addition to the existing 11i support that was available on previous releases, the new Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in widens the coverage supporting Oracle E-Business Suite releases 12.0.x and 12.1.x. The new and improved Smart Clone UI supports the adding of "pre and post" custom steps to a copy of the ready-to-use cloning deployment procedure. Now a user can pass parameters to the custom steps through the interview screen of the UI as well as pass ready-to-use parameters to the custom steps. Additional configuration enhancements are included for configuring RAC targets databases, such as the ability to customize listener names and the option to configure with Virtual IP or Scan IP. Change Management Enhancements Customization Manager Support for longer file names: Customization Manager now handles file names up to thirty characters in length. Patch Manager Queuing of Patch Manager Runs: This feature allows patch runs to queue up if Patch Manager detects a specific target is in a blackout state. Multi-node system patching: The patch run interview has been enhanced to allow Enterprise Manager Administrator to choose which nodes adpatch will run on. New AD Administration Options: The patch run interview has been extended to include AD Administration Options "Relink Application Programs", "Generate Product Jars Files", "Generate Report Files", and "Generate Form Files". Downloads Fresh install For new customers or existing customers wishing to perform a fresh install Enterprise Manager Store (within Enterprise Manager 12c) Oracle Software Delivery Cloud Upgrades For existing customers wishing to upgrade their AMP 4.0 or AMP 3.1 installations Oracle Technology Network Getting Started with Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-In, Release 12.1.0.1 (Note 1434392.1) Prerequisites Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12cOne or more of the following Oracle E-Business Suite Releases Release 11.5.10 CU2 with 11i.ATG_PF.H.RUP6 or higher Release 12.0.4 with R12.ATG_PF.A.delta.6 Release 12.1 with R12.ATG_PF.B.delta.3 Platforms and OS Release certification information is available from My Oracle Support via the Certification page. Search for "Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite and release 12.1.0.1.0." Related Articles Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in 4.0 Released for OEM 11g (11.1.0.1)

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  • Using Live Data in Database Development Work

    - by Phil Factor
    Guest Editorial for Simple-Talk Newsletter... in which Phil Factor reacts with some exasperation when coming across a report that a majority of companies were still using financial and personal data for both developing and testing database applications. If you routinely test your development work using real production data that contains personal or financial information, you are probably being irresponsible, and at worst, risking a heavy financial penalty for your company. Surprisingly, over 80% of financial companies still do this. Plenty of data breaches and fraud have happened from the use of real data for testing, and a data breach is a nightmare for any organisation that suffers one. The cost of each data breach averages out at around $7.2 million in the US in notification, escalation, credit monitoring, fines, litigation, legal costs, and lost business due to customer churn, £1.9 million in the UK. 70% of data breaches are done from within the organisation. Real data can be exploited in a number of ways for malicious or criminal purposes. It isn't just the obvious use of items such as name and address, date of birth, social security number, and credit card and bank account numbers: Data can be exploited in many subtle ways, so there are excellent reasons to ensure that a high priority is given to the detection and prevention of any data breaches. You'll never successfully guess all the ways that real data can be exploited maliciously, or the ease with which it can be accessed. It would be silly to argue that developers never need access to a copy of the database containing live data. Developers sometimes need to track a bug that can only be replicated on the data from the live database. However, it has to be done in a very restrictive harness. The law makes no distinction between development and production databases when a data breach occurs, so the data has to be held with all appropriate security measures in place. In Europe, the use of personal data for testing requires the explicit consent of the people whose data is being held. There are federal standards such as GLBA, PCI DSS and HIPAA, and most US States have privacy legislation. The task of ensuring compliance and tight security in such circumstances is an expensive and time-consuming overhead. The developer is likely to suffer investigation if a data breach occurs, even if the company manages to stay in business. Ironically, the use of copies of live data isn't usually the most effective way to develop or test your data. Data is usually time-specific and isn't usually current by the time it is used for testing, Existing data doesn't help much for new functionality, and every time the data is refreshed from production, any test data is likely to be overwritten. Also, it is not always going to test all the 'edge' conditions that are likely to flush out bugs. You still have the task of simulating the dynamics of actual usage of the database, and here you have no alternative to creating 'spoofed' data. Because of the complexities of relational data, It used to be that there was no realistic alternative to developing and testing with live data. However, this is no longer the case. Real data can be obfuscated, or it can be created entirely from scratch. The latter process used to be impractical, now that there are plenty of third-party tools to choose from. The process of obfuscation isn't risk free. The process must access the live data, and the success of the obfuscation process has to be carefully monitored. Database data security isn't an exciting topic to you or I, but to a hacker it can be an all-consuming obsession, especially if there is financial or political gain involved. This is not the sort of adversary one would wish for and it is far better to accept, and work with, security restrictions that exist for using live data in database development work, especially when the tools exist to create large realistic database test data that can be better for several aspects of testing.

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  • Industry perspectives on managing content

    - by aahluwalia
    Earlier this week I was noodling over a topic for my first blog post. My intention for this blog is to bring a practitioner's perspective on ECM to the community; to share and collaborate on best practices and approaches that address today's business problems. Reviewing my past 14 years of experience with web technologies, I wondered what topic would serve as a good "conversation starter". During this time, I received a call from a friend who was seeking insights on how content management applies to specific industries. She approached me because she vaguely remembered that I had worked in the Health Insurance industry in the recent past. She wanted me to tell her about the specific business needs of this industry. She was in for quite a surprise as she found out that I had spent the better part of a decade managing content within the Health Insurance industry and I discovered a great topic for my first blog post! I offer some insights from Health Insurance and invite my fellow practitioners to share their insights from other industries. What does content management mean to these industries? What can solution providers be aware of when offering solutions to these industries? The United States health care system relies heavily on private health insurance, which is the primary source of coverage for approximately 58% Americans. In the late 19th century, "accident insurance" began to be available, which operated much like modern disability insurance. In the late 20th century, traditional disability insurance evolved into modern health insurance programs. The first thing a solution provider must be aware of about the Health Insurance industry is that it tends to be transaction intensive. They are the ones who manage and administer our health plans and process our claims when we visit our health care providers. It helps to keep in mind that they are in the business of delivering health insurance and not technology. You may find the mindset conservative in comparison to the IT industry, however, the Health Insurance industry has benefited and will continue to benefit from the efficiency that technology brings to traditionally paper-driven processes. We are all aware of the impact that Healthcare reform bill has had a significant impact on the Health Insurance industry. They are under a great deal of pressure to explore ways to reduce their administrative costs and increase operational efficiency. Overall, administrative costs of health insurance include the insurer's cost to administer the health plan, the costs borne by employers, health-care providers, governments and individual consumers. Inefficiencies plague health insurance, owing largely to the absence of standardized processes across the industry. To achieve this, industry leaders have come together to establish standards and invest in initiatives to help their healthcare provider partners transition to the next generation of healthcare technology. The move to online services and paperless explanation of benefits are some manifestations of technological advancements in health insurance. Several companies have adopted Toyota's LEAN methodology or Six Sigma principles to improve quality, reduce waste and excessive costs, thereby increasing the value of their plan offerings. A growing number of health insurance companies have transformed their business systems in the past decade alone and adopted some form of content management to reduce the costs involved in administering health plans. The key strategy has been to convert paper documents and forms into electronic formats, automate the content development process and securely distribute content to various audiences via diverse marketing channels, including web and mobile. Enterprise content management solutions can enable document capture of claim forms, manage digital assets, integrate with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, build Business Process Management (BPM) processes, define retention and disposition instructions to comply with state and federal regulations and allow eBusiness and Marketing departments to develop and deliver web content to multiple websites, mobile devices and portals. Content can be shared securely within and outside the organization using Information Rights Management.  At the end of the day, solution providers who can translate strategic goals into solutions that maximize process automation, increase ease of use and minimize IT overhead are likely to be successful in today's health insurance environment.

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  • Silverlight Cream for December 07, 2010 -- #1004

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this Issue: András Velvárt, Kunal Chowdhury(-2-), AvraShow, Gill Cleeren, Ian T. Lackey, Richard Waddell, Joe McBride, Michael Crump, Xpert360, keyboardP, and Pete Vickers(-2-). Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Grouping Records in Silverlight DataGrid using PagedCollectionView" Kunal Chowdhury WP7: "Phone 7 Back Button and the ListPicker control" Ian T. Lackey Shoutouts: Colin Eberhardt has some Silverlight 5 Adoption Predictions you may want to check out. Michael Crump has a post up showing lots of the goodness of Silverlight 5 from the Firestarter... screenshots, code snippets, etc: Silverlight 5 – What’s New? (Including Screenshots & Code Snippets) Kunal Chowdhury has a pretty complete Silverlight 5 feature set from the Firestarter and an embedded copy of Scott Guthrie's kenote running on the page: New Features Announced for Silverlight 5 Beta From SilverlightCream.com: Just how productive is WP7 development compared to iOS, Android and mobile Web? András Velvárt blogged about a contest he took part in to build a WP7 app in 1-1/2 hours without any prior knowledge of it's funtion. He and his team-mate were pitted against other teams on Android, IOS, and mobile Web... guess who got (almost) their entire app running? ... just too cool Andras! ... Grouping Records in Silverlight DataGrid using PagedCollectionView Kunal Chowdhury has a couple good posts up, this first one is on using the PagedCollectionView to group the records in a DataGrid... code included. Filtering Records in Silverlight DataGrid using PagedCollectionView Kunal Chowdhury then continues with another post on the PagedCollectionView only this time is showing how to do some filtering. DeepZoom Tips and Techniques AvraShow has a post up discussing using DeepZoom to explore, in his case, a Printed Circuit Board, with information about how he proceeded in doing that, and some tips and techniques along the way. The validation story in Silverlight (Part 2) Gill Cleeren has Part 2 of his Silverlight Validation series up at SilverlightShow. This post gets into IDataErrorInfo and INotifyDataErrorInfo. Lots of code and the example is available for download. Phone 7 Back Button and the ListPicker control Ian T. Lackey has a post up about the WP7 backbutton and what can get a failure from the Marketplace in that area, and how that applies to the ListPicker as well. Very Simple Example of ICommand CanExecute Method and CanExecuteChanged Event Richard Waddell has a nice detailed tutorial on ICommand and dealing with CanExecute... lots of Blend love in this post. Providing an Alternating Background Color for an ItemsControl Joe McBride has a post up discussing putting an alternating background color on an ItemsControl... you know, how you do on a grid... interesting idea, and all the code... Pimp my Silverlight Firestarter Michael Crump has a great Firestarter post up ... where and how to get the videos, the labs... a good Firestarter resource for sure. Adventures with PivotViewer Part 7: Slider control Xpert360 has part 7 of the PivotViewer series they're doing up. This time they're demonstrating taking programmatic control of the Zoom slider. Creating Transparent Lockscreen Wallpapers for WP7 I don't know keyboardP's name, but he's got a cool post up about getting an image up for the WP7 lock screen that has transparent regions on it... pretty cool actually. Windows Phone 7 Linq to XML 'strangeness' Pete Vickers has a post up describing a problem he found with Linq to XML on WP7. He even has a demo app that has the problem, and the fix... and it's all downloadable. Windows Phone 7 multi-line radio buttons Pete Vickers has another quick post up on radio buttons with so much text that it needs wrapping ... this is for WP7, but applies to Silverlight in general. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • Five geeky things you must do with your Android Smartphone

    - by Gopinath
    Android is the Windows of next generation. Its open, free, widely adopted and smart enough to outsmart Apple’s iOS. It’s a stolen product and cheap imitation of iOS, but Steve Job’s once quoted saying good artists copy and great artists steal. Alright, this post is not about Android vs iOS or is it really stolen or not. Android is a great OS for mobile devices and it lets you do amazing through mobiles.  In this post I want to write about the geeky things we can do with an Android Smartphone. Control your computer using mobile Assume that it is a lazy weekend and you are on a couch watching movies on a laptop which is a meter away. Now you want to adjust volume or skip a scene/song. How to control your laptop without moving out of couch? Just install Universal Remote free app on your smartphone and start control your computer using phone. Universal Remove app controls computers over Wifi or Bluetooth networks with dedicated remote controls for various media players and applications like YouTube, VLC & Spotify.  The application is very easy to use and works amazingly well in controlling computers. Few of the remote controls provided in the app are – Mouse, Keyboard, Media Controls, Power, Start, Windows Media Player, VLC Player,  YouTube. There is also paid version of this app with additional remotes, but for most of the users Free version is good enough. Stream YouTube videos playing on you mobile to computer You can stream YouTube videos playing on your mobile to computer/smart tv. This is something similar to Apple’s most popular AirPlay feature, but works only with YouTube videos. To start streaming videos install Google’s YouTube Remote on your smartphone, open youtube.com/leanback on your computer  and pair up mobile with computer. Once the pairing is done, videos played on YouTube Remote app will be streamed on to your computer. Access your mobile using any web browser – send/receive SMS, view photos/call logs, etc. Want to control your mobile phone using a computer? Install AirDroid app on your phone and start controlling your phone using computer browser – send and receive messages, view call logs, play music, upload/download files, edit contacts and many more. At times it’s lot of fun to access mobile using a big screen devices like laptops. Launch a webpage on your mobile browser using your computer With Google Chrome to Phone installed on your computer and mobile, you can send links and other information from Chrome browser to your Android device. With a click on Chrome browser, the current webpage of Chrome browser will be automatically launched on Android device. This is very handy when you want to send links, send driving direction to mobile using Google Maps and launch phone dialer with number selected on webpage. Install Apps on mobile using computer To install apps on your smartphone you really don’t need to touch it. Open any web browser, sing in to Google Play with your Google id that is associated with smartphone and start installing apps on to your phone right from the browser. As you browse apps on Google Play store, you find Install button and all you need to do is to just click Install. Google will automatically installs app on your mobile within few seconds.

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  • New Management Console in Java SE Advanced 8u20

    - by Erik Costlow-Oracle
    Java SE 8 update 20 is a new feature release designed to provide desktop administrators with better control of their managed systems. The release notes for 8u20 are available from the public JDK release notes page. This release is not a Critical Patch Update (CPU). I would like to call attention to two noteworthy features of Oracle Java SE Advanced, the commercially supported version of Java SE for enterprises that require both support and specialized tools. The new Advanced Management Console provides a way to monitor and understand client systems at scale. It allows organizations to track usage and more easily create and manage client configuration like Deployment Rule Sets (DRS). DRS can control execution of tracked applications as well as specify compatibility of which application should use which Java SE installation. The new MSI Installer integrates into various desktop management tools, making it easier to customize and roll out different Java SE versions. Advanced Management Console The Advanced Management Console is part of Java SE Advanced designed for desktop administrators, whose users need to run many different Java applications. It provides usage tracking for those Applet & Web Start applications to help identify them for guided DRS creation. DRS can then be verified against the tracked data, to ensure that end-users can run their application against the appropriate Java version with no prompts. Usage tracking also has a different definition for Java SE than it does for most software applications. Unlike most applications where usage can be determined by a simple run-count, Java is a platform used for launching other applications. This means that usage tracking must answer both "how often is this Java SE version used" and "what applications are launched by it." Usage Tracking One piece of Java SE Advanced is a centralized usage tracker. Simply placing a properties file on the client informs systems to report information to this usage tracker, so that the desktop administrator can better understand usage. Information is sent via UDP to prevent any delay on the client. The usage tracking server resides at a central location on the intranet to collect information from those clients. The information is stored in a normalized database for performance, meaning that a single usage tracker can handle a large number of clients. Guided Deployment Rule Sets Deployment Rule Sets were introduced in Java 7 update 40 (September 2013) in order to help administrators control security prompts and guide compatibility. A previous post, Deployment Rule Sets by Example, explains how to configure a rule set so that most applications run against the most secure version but a specific applet may run against the Java version that was current several years ago. There are a different set of questions that can be asked by a desktop administrator in a large or distributed firm: Where are the Java RIAs that our users need? Which RIA needs which Java version? Which users need which Java versions? How do I verify these answers once I have them? The guided deployment rule set creation uses usage tracker data to identify applications both by certificate hash and location. After creating the rules, a comparison tool exists to verify them against the tracked data: If you intend to run an RIA, is it green? If something specific should be blocked, is it red? This makes user-testing easier. MSI Installer The Windows Installer format (MSI) provides a number of benefits for desktop administrators that customize or manage software at scale. Unlike the basic installer that most users obtain from Java.com or OTN, this installer is built around customization and integration with various desktop management products like SCCM. Desktop administrators using the MSI installer can use every feature provided by the format, such as silent installs/upgrades, low-privileged installations, or self-repair capabilities Customers looking for Java SE Advanced can download the MSI installer through their My Oracle Support (MOS) account. Java SE Advanced The new features in Java SE Advanced make it easier for desktop administrators to identify and control client installations at scale. Administrators at organizations that want either the tools or associated commercial support should consider Java SE Advanced.

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  • ORA-4031 Troubleshooting

    - by [email protected]
      QUICKLINK: Note 396940.1 Troubleshooting and Diagnosing ORA-4031 Error Note 1087773.1 : ORA-4031 Diagnostics Tools [Video]   Have you observed an ORA-04031 error reported in your alert log? An ORA-4031 error is raised when memory is unavailable for use or reuse in the System Global Area (SGA).  The error message will indicate the memory pool getting errors and high level information about what kind of allocation failed and how much memory was unavailable.  The challenge with ORA-4031 analysis is that the error and associated trace is for a "victim" of the problem.   The failing code ran into the memory limitation, but in almost all cases it was not part of the root problem.    Looking for the best way to diagnose? When an ORA-4031 error occurs, a trace file is raised and noted in the alert log if the process experiencing the error is a background process.   User processes may experience errors without reports in the alert log or traces generated.   The V$SHARED_POOL_RESERVED view will show reports of misses for memory over the life of the database. Diagnostics scripts are available in Note 430473.1 to help in analysis of the problem.  There is also a training video on using and interpreting the script data Note 1087773.1. 11g DiagnosabilityStarting with Oracle Database 11g Release 1, the Diagnosability infrastructure was introduced which places traces and core files into a location controlled by the DIAGNOSTIC_DEST initialization parameter when an incident, such as an ORA-4031 occurs. For earlier versions, the trace file will be written to either USER_DUMP_DEST (if the error was caught in a user process) or BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST (if the error was caught in a background process like PMON or SMON). The trace file contains vital information about what led to the error condition.  Note 443529.1 11g Quick Steps to Package and Send Critical Error Diagnostic Information to Support[Video]Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM)Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) works with My Oracle Support to enable proactive support capability that helps you organize, collect and manage your Oracle configurations.Oracle Configuration Manager Quick Start GuideNote 548815.1: My Oracle Support Configuration Management FAQ Note 250434.1: BULLETIN: Learn More About My Oracle Support Configuration Manager    Common Causes/Solutions The ORA-4031 can occur for many different reasons.  Some possible causes are: SGA components too small for workload Auto-tuning issues Fragmentation due to application design Bug/leaks in memory allocationsFor more on the 4031 and how this affects the SGA, see Note 396940.1 Troubleshooting and Diagnosing ORA-4031 Error Because of the multiple potential causes, it is important to gather enough diagnostics so that an appropriate solution can be identified.  However, most commonly the cause is associated with configuration tuning.   Ensuring that MEMORY_TARGET or SGA_TARGET are large enough to accommodate workload can get around many scenarios.  The default trace associated with the error provides very high level information about the memory problem and the "victim" that ran into the issue.   The data in the default trace is not going to point to the root cause of the problem. When migrating from 9i to 10g and higher, it is necessary to increase the size of the Shared Pool due to changes in the basic design of the shared memory area. Note 270935.1 Shared pool sizing in 10gNOTE: Diagnostics on the errors should be investigated as close to the time of the error(s) as possible.  If you must restart a database, it is not feasible to diagnose the problem until the database has matured and/or started seeing the problems again. Note 801787.1 Common Cause for ORA-4031 in 10gR2, Excess "KGH: NO ACCESS" Memory Allocation ***For reference to the content in this blog, refer to Note.1088239.1 Master Note for Diagnosing ORA-4031 

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  • Automated Error Reporting = More Robust Software

    - by Laila
    I would like to tell you how to revolutionize your software development process </marketing hyperbole> On a more serious note, we (Red Gate's .NET Development team) recently rolled a new tool into our development process which has made our lives dramatically easier AND improved the quality of our software, and I (& one of our developers, Alex Davies) just wanted to take a quick moment to share the love. I work with a development team that takes pride in what they ship, so we take software testing rather seriously. For every development project we run, we allocate at least one software tester for every two developers, and we never ship software without first shipping early access releases and betas to get user feedback. And therein lies the challenge -encouraging users to provide consistent, useful feedback is a headache, but without that feedback, improving the software is. tricky. Until fairly recently, we used the standard (if long-winded) approach of receiving bug reports of variable quality via email or through our support forums. If that didn't give us enough information to reproduce the problem - which was most of the time - we had to enter into a time-consuming to-and-fro conversation with the end-user, to get scrape together the data we needed to work out where the problem lay. As I'm sure you're aware, this is painfully slow. To the delight of the team, we recently got to work with SmartAssembly, which lets us embed automated exception and error reporting into our software with very little pain, and we decided to do a little dogfooding. As a result, we've have made a really handy (if perhaps slightly obvious) discovery: As soon as we release a beta, or indeed any release of software, we now get tonnes of customer feedback through automated error reports. Making this process easier for our users has dramatically increased the amount (and quality) of feedback we get. From their point of view, they get an experience similar to Microsoft's error reporting, and process is essentially idiot-proof. From our side of things, we can now react much faster to the information we get, fixing the bugs and shipping a new-and-improved release, which our users rather appreciate. Smiles and hugs all round. Even more so because, as we're use SmartAssembly's Automated Error Reporting, we get to avoid having to spend weeks building an exception reporting mechanism. It takes just a few minutes to add reporting to a project, and we get a bunch of useful information back, like a stack trace and the values of all the local variables, which we can use to fix bugs. Happily, "Automated Error Reporting = More Robust Software" can actually be read two ways: we've found that we not only ship higher quality software, but we also release within a shorter time. We can ship stable software that our users are happy to upgrade to, and we then bask in the glory of lots of positive customer feedback. Once we'd starting working with SmartAssembly, we were curious to know how widespread error reporting was as a practice. Our product manager ran a survey in autumn last year, and found that 40% of software developers never really considered deploying error reporting. Considering how we've now got plenty of experience on the subject, one of our dev guys, Alex Davies, thought we should share what we've learnt, and he's kindly offered to host a webinar on delivering robust software with Automated Error Reporting. Drawing on our own in-house development experiences, he'll cover how to add error reporting to your program, how to actually use the error reports to fix bugs (don't snigger, not everyone's as bright as you), how to customize the error report dialog that your users see, and how to automatically get log files from your users' machine. The webinar will take place on Jan 25th (that's next week). It's free to attend, but you'll still need to register to hear Alex's dulcet tones.

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  • Windows Azure Recipe: Social Web / Big Media

    - by Clint Edmonson
    With the rise of social media there’s been an explosion of special interest media web sites on the web. From athletics to board games to funny animal behaviors, you can bet there’s a group of people somewhere on the web talking about it. Social media sites allow us to interact, share experiences, and bond with like minded enthusiasts around the globe. And through the power of software, we can follow trends in these unique domains in real time. Drivers Reach Scalability Media hosting Global distribution Solution Here’s a sketch of how a social media application might be built out on Windows Azure: Ingredients Traffic Manager (optional) – can be used to provide hosting and load balancing across different instances and/or data centers. Perfect if the solution needs to be delivered to different cultures or regions around the world. Access Control – this service is essential to managing user identity. It’s backed by a full blown implementation of Active Directory and allows the definition and management of users, groups, and roles. A pre-built ASP.NET membership provider is included in the training kit to leverage this capability but it’s also flexible enough to be combined with external Identity providers including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. The provider model has extensibility points to hook into other identity providers as well. Web Role – hosts the core of the web application and presents a central social hub users. Database – used to store core operational, functional, and workflow data for the solution’s web services. Caching (optional) – as a web site traffic grows caching can be leveraged to keep frequently used read-only, user specific, and application resource data in a high-speed distributed in-memory for faster response times and ultimately higher scalability without spinning up more web and worker roles. It includes a token based security model that works alongside the Access Control service. Tables (optional) – for semi-structured data streams that don’t need relational integrity such as conversations, comments, or activity streams, tables provide a faster and more flexible way to store this kind of historical data. Blobs (optional) – users may be creating or uploading large volumes of heterogeneous data such as documents or rich media. Blob storage provides a scalable, resilient way to store terabytes of user data. The storage facilities can also integrate with the Access Control service to ensure users’ data is delivered securely. Content Delivery Network (CDN) (optional) – for sites that service users around the globe, the CDN is an extension to blob storage that, when enabled, will automatically cache frequently accessed blobs and static site content at edge data centers around the world. The data can be delivered statically or streamed in the case of rich media content. Training These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and resources where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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  • ArchBeat Link-o-Rama Top 10 for September 9-15, 2012

    - by Bob Rhubart
    The Top 10 most-viewed items shared on the OTN ArchBeat Facebook page for the week of September 9-15, 2017. 15 Lessons from 15 Years as a Software Architect | Ingo Rammer In this presentation from the GOTO Conference in Copenhagen, Ingo Rammer shares 15 tips regarding people, complexity and technology that he learned doing software architecture for 15 years. Attend OTN Architect Day – by Architects, for Architects – October 25 You won't need 3D glasses to take in these live presentations (8 sessions, two tracks) on Cloud computing, SOA, and engineered systems. And the ticket price is: Zero. Nothing. Absolutely free. Register now for Oracle Technology Network Architect Day in Los Angeles. Thursday October 25, 2012, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sofitel Los Angeles , 8555 Beverly Boulevard , Los Angeles, CA 90048. Cloud API and service designers, stop thinking small | Cloud Computing - InfoWorld "The focus must shift away from fine-grained APIs that provide some type of primitive service, such as pushing data to a block of storage or perhaps making a request to a cloud-rooted database," says InfoWorld's David Linthicum. "To go beyond primitives, you must understand how these services should be used in a much larger architectural context. In other words, you need to understand how businesses will employ these services to form real workplace solutions—inside and outside the enterprise." Adding a runtime picker to a taskflow parameter in WebCenter | Yannick Ongena Oracle ACE Yannick Ongena shows how to create an Oracle WebCenter popup to allow users to "select items or do more complex things." Oracle IAM 11g R2 docs are now available "One of the great things about the new doc set is the inclusion of ePub files," says Fusion Middleware A-Team blogger Chris Johnson. "This means that if you have an iPad you can load up the doc library onto that and read the docs on the couch." Setting up a local Yum Server using the Exalogic ZFS Storage Appliance | Donald A concise technical post from the man named Donald. What's New in Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.2? | The Fat Bloke Sings "One of the trends we've seen is that as the average host platform becomes more powerful, our users are consistently running more and more vm's," says The Fat Bloke. "Some of our users have large libraries of vm's of various vintages, whilst others have groups of vm's that are run together as an assembly of the various tiers in a multi-tiered software solution, for example, a database tier, middleware tier, and front-ends." The new VirtualBox release, a year in the making, addresses the needs of these users, he explains. Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence 11g MDS XML Source Control Management with Git Version Control | Christian Screen Oracle ACE Christian Screen developed this tutorial for those interested in learning how to configure the Oracle Business Intelligence 11g (11.1.1.6) metadata repository for development using the new MDS XML source control management functionality. Identity and Access Management at Oracle Open World 2012 | Brian Eidelman Fusion Middleware A-Team blogger Brian Eideleman highlights three Oracle Openworld sessions that will put Identity and Access Management in the spotlight, and shares a link to the "Focus On: Identity Management" document, a comprehensive listing of Openworld activities also dealing with IM. Starting and stopping WebLogic automatically using Upstart | Chris Johnson "In Ubuntu, RedHat and Oracle Linux there's a new flavor of init called Upstart that all the kids are using," says Oracle Fusion Middleware A-Team member Chris Johnson. "It's the new hotness when it comes to making programs into daemons and wiring them to start and stop at appropriate times." Thought for the Day "The purpose of software engineering is to control complexity, not to create it." — Pamela Zave Source: SoftwareQuotes.com

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  • Controlling server configurations with IPS

    - by barts
    I recently received a customer question regarding how they best could control which packages and which versions were used on their production Solaris 11 servers.  They had considered pointing each server at its own software repository - a common initial approach.  A simpler method leverages one of dependency mechanisms we introduced with Solaris 11, but is not immediately obvious to most people. Typically, most internal IT departments qualify particular versions for production use.  What this customer wanted to do was insure that their operations staff only installed internally qualified versions of Solaris on their servers.  The easiest way of doing this is to leverage the 'incorporate' type of dependency in a small package defined for each server type.  From the reference " Packaging and Delivering Software With the Image Packaging System in Oracle® Solaris 11.1":  The incorporate dependency specifies that if the given package is installed, it must be at the given version, to the given version accuracy. For example, if the dependent FMRI has a version of 1.4.3, then no version less than 1.4.3 or greater than or equal to 1.4.4 satisfies the dependency. Version 1.4.3.7 does satisfy this example dependency. The common way to use incorporate dependencies is to put many of them in the same package to define a surface in the package version space that is compatible. Packages that contain such sets of incorporate dependencies are often called incorporations. Incorporations are typically used to define sets of software packages that are built together and are not separately versioned. The incorporate dependency is heavily used in Oracle Solaris to ensurethat compatible versions of software are installed together. An example incorporate dependency is: depend type=incorporate fmri=pkg:/driver/network/ethernet/[email protected],5.11-0.175.0.0.0.2.1 So, to make sure only qualified versions are installed on a server, create a package that will be installed on the machines to be controlled.  This package will contain an incorporate dependency on the "entire" package, which controls the various components used to be build Solaris.  Every time a new version of Solaris has been qualified for production use, create a new version of this package specifying the new version of "entire" that was qualified.  Once this new control package is available in the repositories configured on the production server, the pkg update command will update that system to the specified version.  Unless a new version of the control package is made available, pkg update will report that no updates are available since no version of the control package can be installed that satisfies the incorporate constraint. Note that if desired, the same package can be used to specify which packages must be present on the system by adding either "require" or "group" dependencies; the latter permits removal of some of the packages, the former does not.  More details on this can be found in either the section 5 pkg man page or the previously mentioned reference document. This technique of using package dependencies to constrain system configuration leverages the SAT solver which is at the heart of IPS, and is basic to how we package Solaris itself.  

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  • Does your analytic solution tell you what questions to ask?

    - by Manan Goel
    Analytic solutions exist to answer business questions. Conventional wisdom holds that if you can answer business questions quickly and accurately, you can take better business decisions and therefore achieve better business results and outperform the competition. Most business questions are well understood (read structured) so they are relatively easy to ask and answer. Questions like what were the revenues, cost of goods sold, margins, which regions and products outperformed/underperformed are relatively well understood and as a result most analytics solutions are well equipped to answer such questions. Things get really interesting when you are looking for answers but you don’t know what questions to ask in the first place? That’s like an explorer looking to make new discoveries by exploration. An example of this scenario is the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in United States trying to find the vaccine for the latest strand of the swine flu virus. The researchers at CDC may try hundreds of options before finally discovering the vaccine. The exploration process is inherently messy and complex. The process is fraught with false starts, one question or a hunch leading to another and the final result may look entirely different from what was envisioned in the beginning. Speed and flexibility is the key; speed so the hundreds of possible options can be explored quickly and flexibility because almost everything about the problem, solutions and the process is unknown.  Come to think of it, most organizations operate in an increasingly unknown or uncertain environment. Business Leaders have to take decisions based on a largely unknown view of the future. And since the value proposition of analytic solutions is to help the business leaders take better business decisions, for best results, consider adding information exploration and discovery capabilities to your analytic solution. Such exploratory analysis capabilities will help the business leaders perform even better by empowering them to refine their hunches, ask better questions and take better decisions. That’s your analytic system not only answering the questions but also suggesting what questions to ask in the first place. Today, most leading analytic software vendors offer exploratory analysis products as part of their analytic solutions offerings. So, what characteristics should be top of mind while evaluating the various solutions? The answer is quite simply the same characteristics that are essential for exploration and analysis – speed & flexibility. Speed is required because the system inherently has to be agile to handle hundreds of different scenarios with large volumes of data across large user populations. Exploration happens at the speed of thought so make sure that you system is capable of operating at speed of thought. Flexibility is required because the exploration process from start to finish is full of unknowns; unknown questions, answers and hunches. So, make sure that the system is capable of managing and exploring all relevant data – structured or unstructured like databases, enterprise applications, tweets, social media updates, documents, texts, emails etc. and provides flexible Google like user interface to quickly explore all relevant data. Getting Started You can help business leaders become “Decision Masters” by augmenting your analytic solution with information discovery capabilities. For best results make sure that the solution you choose is enterprise class and allows advanced, yet intuitive, exploration and analysis of complex and varied data including structured, semi-structured and unstructured data.  You can learn more about Oracle’s exploratory analysis solutions by clicking here.

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  • Indexed view deadlocking

    - by Dave Ballantyne
    Deadlocks can be a really tricky thing to track down the root cause of.  There are lots of articles on the subject of tracking down deadlocks, but seldom do I find that in a production system that the cause is as straightforward.  That being said,  deadlocks are always caused by process A needs a resource that process B has locked and process B has a resource that process A needs.  There may be a longer chain of processes involved, but that is the basic premise. Here is one such (much simplified) scenario that was at first non-obvious to its cause: The system has two tables,  Products and Stock.  The Products table holds the description and prices of a product whilst Stock records the current stock level. USE tempdb GO CREATE TABLE Product ( ProductID INTEGER IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY, ProductName VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, Price MONEY NOT NULL ) GO CREATE TABLE Stock ( ProductId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, StockLevel INTEGER NOT NULL ) GO INSERT INTO Product SELECT TOP(1000) CAST(NEWID() AS VARCHAR(255)), ABS(CAST(CAST(NEWID() AS VARBINARY(255)) AS INTEGER))%100 FROM sys.columns a CROSS JOIN sys.columns b GO INSERT INTO Stock SELECT ProductID,ABS(CAST(CAST(NEWID() AS VARBINARY(255)) AS INTEGER))%100 FROM Product There is a single stored procedure of GetStock: Create Procedure GetStock as SELECT Product.ProductID,Product.ProductName FROM dbo.Product join dbo.Stock on Stock.ProductId = Product.ProductID where Stock.StockLevel <> 0 Analysis of the system showed that this procedure was causing a performance overhead and as reads of this data was many times more than writes,  an indexed view was created to lower the overhead. CREATE VIEW vwActiveStock With schemabinding AS SELECT Product.ProductID,Product.ProductName FROM dbo.Product join dbo.Stock on Stock.ProductId = Product.ProductID where Stock.StockLevel <> 0 go CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX PKvwActiveStock on vwActiveStock(ProductID) This worked perfectly, performance was improved, the team name was cheered to the rafters and beers all round.  Then, after a while, something else happened… The system updating the data changed,  The update pattern of both the Stock update and the Product update used to be: BEGIN TRAN UPDATE... COMMIT BEGIN TRAN UPDATE... COMMIT BEGIN TRAN UPDATE... COMMIT It changed to: BEGIN TRAN UPDATE... UPDATE... UPDATE... COMMIT Nothing that would raise an eyebrow in even the closest of code reviews.  But after this change we saw deadlocks occuring. You can reproduce this by opening two sessions. In session 1 begin transaction Update Product set ProductName ='Test' where ProductID = 998 Then in session 2 begin transaction Update Stock set Stocklevel = 5 where ProductID = 999 Update Stock set Stocklevel = 5 where ProductID = 998 Hop back to session 1 and.. Update Product set ProductName ='Test' where ProductID = 999 Looking at the deadlock graphs we could see the contention was between two processes, one updating stock and the other updating product, but we knew that all the processes do to the tables is update them.  Period.  There are separate processes that handle the update of stock and product and never the twain shall meet, no reason why one should be requiring data from the other.  Then it struck us,  AH the indexed view. Naturally, when you make an update to any table involved in a indexed view, the view has to be updated.  When this happens, the data in all the tables have to be read, so that explains our deadlocks.  The data from stock is read when you update product and vice-versa. The fix, once you understand the problem fully, is pretty simple, the apps did not guarantee the order in which data was updated.  Luckily it was a relatively simple fix to order the updates and deadlocks went away.  Note, that there is still a *slight* risk of a deadlock occurring, if both a stock update and product update occur at *exactly* the same time.

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  • Crime Scene Investigation: SQL Server

    - by Rodney Landrum
    “The packages are running slower in Prod than they are in Dev” My week began with this simple declaration from one of our lead BI developers, quickly followed by an emailed spreadsheet demonstrating that, over 5 executions, an extensive ETL process was running average 630 seconds faster on Dev than on Prod. The situation needed some scientific investigation to determine why the same code, the same data, the same schema would yield consistently slower results on a more powerful server. Prod had yet to be officially christened with a “Go Live” date so I had the time, and having recently been binge watching CSI: New York, I also had the inclination. An inspection of the two systems, Prod and Dev, revealed the first surprise: although Prod was indeed a “bigger” system, with double the amount of RAM of Dev, the latter actually had twice as many processor cores. On neither system did I see much sign of resources being heavily taxed, while the ETL process was running. Without any real supporting evidence, I jumped to a conclusion that my years of performance tuning should have helped me avoid, and that was that the hardware differences explained the better performance on Dev. We spent time setting up a Test system, similarly scoped to Prod except with 4 times the cores, and ported everything across. The results of our careful benchmarks left us truly bemused; the ETL process on the new server was slower than on both other systems. We burned more time tweaking server configurations, monitoring IO and network latency, several times believing we’d uncovered the smoking gun, until the results of subsequent test runs pitched us back into confusion. Finally, I decided, enough was enough. Hadn’t I learned very early in my DBA career that almost all bottlenecks were caused by code and database design, not hardware? It was time to get back to basics. With over 100 SSIS packages and hundreds of queries, each handling specific tasks such as file loads, bulk inserts, transforms, logging, and so on, the task seemed formidable. And yet, after barely an hour spent with Profiler, Extended Events, and wait statistics DMVs, I had a lead in the shape of a query that joined three tables, containing millions of rows, returned 3279 results, but performed 239K logical reads. As soon as I looked at the execution plans for the query in Dev and Test I saw the culprit, an implicit conversion warning on a join predicate field that was numeric in one table and a varchar(50) in another! I turned this information over to the BI developers who quickly resolved the data type mismatches and found and fixed “several” others as well. After the schema changes the same query with the same databases ran in under 1 second on all systems and reduced the logical reads down to fewer than 300. The analysis also revealed that on Dev, the ETL task was pulling data across a LAN, whereas Prod and Test were connected across slower WAN, in large part explaining why the same process ran slower on the latter two systems. Loading the data locally on Prod delivered a further 20% gain in performance. As we progress through our DBA careers we learn valuable lessons. Sometimes, with a project deadline looming and pressure mounting, we choose to forget them. I was close to giving into the temptation to throw more hardware at the problem. I’m pleased at least that I resisted, though I still kick myself for not looking at the code on day one. It can seem a daunting prospect to return to the fundamentals of the code so close to roll out, but with the right tools, and surprisingly little time, you can collect the evidence that reveals the true problem. It is a lesson I trust I will remember for my next 20 years as a DBA, if I’m ever again tempted to bypass the evidence.

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