Oracle OpenWorld 2016 - Summary

Oracle OpenWorld 2016 event took place last week (September 18-22) so it's time for a quick summary :)

This was my third time attending the OOW event and the best one I've ever been to. Here is why.

Speaking at the Oracle OpenWorld

Speaking at the Oracle OpenWorld, the largest Oracle conference in the world, was something that I really wanted to do for many years. 

This year my dream came true and I had the opportunity to present during the Sunday User Group sessions on behalf of IOUG. The opportunity was given to my because my IOUG COLLABORATE 16 session on "Database Consolidation using the Oracle Multitenant Architecture" was highly rated and well attended, therefore I was honored by IOUG to present the same topic in the OOW. 

The attendance for the session was impressive; quite a lot of people showed up - around 150 attendees and I really enjoyed it.

Here is a link to my presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/PiniDibask/database-consolidation-using-the-oracle-multitenant-architecture

You can find below a picture from my session :)

Thank You IOUG for this great opportunity!

Presenting at Dell's booth

Most of my time I spent in my company's booth talking with customers and demonstrating our products. As you probably know I work for Dell Software (soon to be Quest Software again) as a Product Manager for Database Solutions. The booth was very busy and fun! Here are some pictures from the booth:

Final Words

I would like to thank everyone who attended my session and/or attended Dell's booth. It was great to meet so many people who are passionate about Oracle Database (and technology in general). Looking forward to seeing you all again next year!

Getting Excited with Oracle OpenWorld 2016 !

Hi everyone,
Oracle OpenWorld 2016 will take place next week (September 18-22).

This year I will be speaking as part of the Sunday (September 18th) user group sessions .
The title of my presentation is "Database Consolidation Using the Oracle Multitenant Architecture" (UGF6588).
In this session we will explore the Oracle Multitenant architecture as well as some tools and best practices that will help you consolidate your databases and ensure a high SLA for each pluggable database. Here is a link to my session.

In addition, I plan to spend most of my time in our (Dell Software's) booth (#621).
Visit us to learn more about the latest features in our solutions:

• Toad
• Foglight
• Shareplex
• Stat

Looking forward to seeing you all next week!

Where Oracle 12c Multitenant can (and should) be improved

Introduction

Since it was introduced in Oracle Database 12c, the new exciting Oracle Multitenant architecture makes the Oracle DBA's life much easier in terms of administration and management. It allows to manage many Oracle Databases as one and by doing so it solves many consolidation challenges.

In this post, I would like to review 3 items where I believe Oracle can (and should) improve its Multitenant capabiliities:

• DBCA Installation
• Flashback Database
• Memory Resource Management
• PDB Cloning

DBCA Installation

During an installation of Oracle 12c with a container database (A.K.A multitenant), DBCA doesn't allow deselecting database options and it basically force you to install all the optional database options. See the following screenshot for example:

I think it would be nice if Oracle will allow deselecting database options because the current design has few disadvantages:

• It makes the installation process much longer
• It consumes more disk space
• Installing unneeded database options may raise the chances to hit potential bugs.

I've raised an idea in the Oracle community to allow deselecting database options during Oracle 12c Multitenant installation. See: https://community.oracle.com/ideas/6778

Flashback Database

The "Flashback Database" feature is supported only at the CDB-level, and it does not allow a "granular flashback" at the PDB-level. In many cases, the requirement is to rewind one specific application (i.e. PDB), and not the entire CDB. RMAN, for example, allows a PDB point-in-time-recovery, so the same granularity should also be available in the FLASHBACK DATABASE feature. 

I've raised an idea in the Oracle community to allow using the Flashback Database feature at the PDB-level. See: https://community.oracle.com/ideas/12367

Memory Resource Management

In Oracle 12c, Oracle Resource Manager has been enhanced to support Multitenant by allowing to limit and prioritize CPU resources among competing PDBs. Currently it is not possible to prioritize memory resources; For example, today we cannot specify which PDBs will have higher priority for SGA areas than other PDBs. The outcome of this is that potentially a low-priority PDB can consume most of the SGA buffers. 

I've raised an idea in the Oracle community to enhance Oracle Resource Manager to be able also to limit and prioritize memory resources among competing PDBs.

See: https://community.oracle.com/ideas/15165

Online PDB Cloning

Cloning a PDB is a great feature which allows fast provisioning by creating a copy of a PDB either from another PDB within the same CDB, or from another PDB in a remote CDB. The problem with this feature is that cloning a PDB requires the source PDB to be in OPEN READ ONLY mode which essentially requires a down time as no DML/DDL operations are allowed on PDB when it's in a READ ONLY mode.

Summary

Generally speaking, Oracle multitenant is a full-featured product with many advantages. I would definitely recommend every Oracle DBA to upgrade to Oracle 12c Multitenant. Yet, I believe that there are some areas where Oracle can and should improve regarding its Multitenant feature and I hope we will see some Multitenant enhancements in the upcoming Oracle release (12cR2). 

My Upcoming Speaker Events

I'm very excited to share with you that I've been accepted to speak at 2 big Oracle events: The Oracle OpenWorld and DOAG.

Oracle OpenWorld  

This year the Oracle OpenWorld event will take place from 18 - 22 September in San Francisco.
The title of my presentation is "Database Consolidation Using the Oracle Multitenant Architecture". In this session we will explore the new Oracle Multitenant architecture as well as some tools and best practices that will help you consolidate your databases and ensure a high SLA for each pluggable database.

DOAG 

This year the DOAG event will take place from 15- 18 November in Nuremberg.
The title of my presentation is "Oracle Database Locking Mechanism Demystified". In this session we will review the locking mechanism of Oracle Database from A to Z. We will start by covering the basic concepts of the different lock types and modes all the way to the most advanced locking scenarios. We will also show tools that can assist DBAs to investigate and solve even the most complex locking scenarios.

Hope to see you there!

My Upcoming Webinar for DBTA (Database Trend and Applications)

I'm happy to update that I will be presenting a webinar on How Oracle 12c Multitenant Architecture Can Simplify Database Consolidation. The webcast is organized by DBTA (Database Trends and Applications).

For registration: http://www.dbta.com/Webinars/929-How-Multitenant-Architecture-Can-Simplify-Database-Consolidation.htm

Hope to see you there!