DBMS_SCHEDULER is a newer, more complex job scheduling engine released in 10g, intended to replace DBMS_JOB going forward. DBMS_JOB, the older job scheduler, as of now is still available for quick and easy DB based job scheduling.

Job scheduling comprises the core of the functionality of DBMS_SCHUDULER, however here are some additional benefits available to DBMS_SCHEDULER:

• Logging of job runs (job history)
• Simple but powerful scheduling syntax (similar to but more powerful than cron syntax)
• Running of jobs outside of the database on the operating system (see below)
• Resource management between different classes of jobs
• Use of job arguments including passing of objects into stored procedures
• Privilege-based security model for jobs
• Naming of jobs and comments in jobs
• Stored, reusable schedules

I like seeing Oracle leverage non-Oracle technology, like Adobe Flex and AIR. I hope that trend continues for Oracle…while Microsoft goes off to build things like Silverlight and Apple simply decides to avoid support for Flash altogether on their iPhone and iPad devices. I haven’t played with these widgets myself yet, but I do like the idea and sure we will be leveraging them.

• Click to Download - Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Desktop Widgets
• Click to Blog - Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Desktop Widgets

Service Level & Monitoring

High-Load Databases

Target Search & Monitoring

Setting up Windows Native Authentication (with Kerberos) Single Sign-On (SSO) within WebLogic can be tricky. One way to accomplish this is to use IIS to front-end the WebLogic cluster. You need to use an IISIdentityAsserter in this scenario. Using an Identity Asserter based on HTTP headers has security implications and it’s important to ensure the communications are locked down between the IIS front-end to the WebLogic cluster. I don’t have much time to type more about this, but was excited about some recent work and wanted to get a quick post up in reference to this.

Recursive queries are something I have used many, many times over the years to build dynamic, n-tiered hierarchies. Oracle’s CONNECT BY PRIOR is awesome.

Does anyone know if this is possible in SQL Server or MySQL?

From what I understand, stored procedures would need to be used in MySQL and SQL Server to accomplish what Oracle does in one SQL statement with CONNECT BY PRIOR. I need to dig into the other databases a bit further to verify, but I am interested in any elegant solutions people have come up with if you would like to share.

SSL with Oracle Application Server WebCache and iPhone

The latest iPhone update appears to have broken some SSL-enabled OracleAS sites. We have been working through finding a solution for an Oracle Portal customer of ours and it has been fairly hairy. On at least one of the environments, we have found a solution. We can likely help if you have been having an issue with your SSL handshakes.

Like many days, I had a need to query data stored in Oracle. But today was different. I needed to return the data in an XML format. I started with a very simple need and generated the XML brute-force while traversing my cursor. However, I realized the data would not be escaped properly and knew/assumed Oracle has created built-in functionality to accomplish what I was trying to do.

I then recreated my logic using DBMS_XMLGEN. This worked well, in that it created the desired result set, but I hate the idea of storing SQL in a string to be passed into a function, which is precisely what DBMS_XMLGEN was having me do. I had a hard time figuring out the precise technique recommended by Oracle, or even the “latest” technique. My client’s environment was 9i, so I knew I wasn’t going to get to play with anything interesting 11g might have to offer.

My brief research showed that SQL/XML (SQLX) appeared to be the best option. A few hours later, it really has been nice. I have been able to create both simple and complex XML results. Once you have the syntax down, you can generate just about any XML structure you desire.

Let me know if you come across anything more interesting/useful than SQLX for querying Oracle RDBMS tables (not XML data stored natively in the DB), and I’ll be interested in checking it out.

When installing 10g OID on OEL5, if you run into the following error, you can run the below commands to address the issue:

Error:

OPMN HTTP process fails to start.  When you look in the log file, it says:
/Apache/Apache/bin/httpd: error while loading shared libraries: libdb.so.2: cannot open shared object file:  No such file or directory

To fix, run the following commands:

# ln -s /usr/lib/libgdbm.so.2.0.0 /usr/lib/libdb.so.2
# chmod 755 /usr/lib/libgdbm.so.2.0.0
# chmod 755 /usr/lib/libdb.so.2

We have recently been working on and completed an entire Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g environment setup for a customer:

• Identity Management
• WebCenter (Framework and Services)
• SOA Suite
• UCM

This article is part of the recent work short blurb series.

I just had a discussion with an M&S SOA Architect about the advantages and disadvantages of BPEL vs ESB, and more importantly, where to use which in practical business scenarios.

This article is part of the recent work short blurb series.

We recently had a customer request help with configuring OBIEE for use on both PCs and mobile devices (specifically, the iPhone). Of course, this is possible, but Oracle does not have a clearly documented approach. You might think that a separate server is required to accomplish this. However, the fact is that you can actually use a single server to deliver OBIEE reports for both PCs and the iPhone.

For those interested, following is a link to the Oracle OBIEE Indicators iPhone Demo:

Please browse our OBIEE Consulting Services

This article is part of the recent work short blurb series.