LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Well, I have made the leap to SQL Developer. No more TOAD. In the past, I was using SQL Developer quite a bit but I would still fall back to TOAD for certain things. No more.
I am using v1.5 and have not had any weird crashes, no performance problems. There's nothing that I need to do that I can't. In a few instances, I have had to search arou
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Well, I have made the leap to SQL Developer. No more TOAD. In the past, I was using SQL Developer quite a bit but I would still fall back to TOAD for certain things. No more.
I am using v1.5 and have not had any weird crashes, no performance problems. There's nothing that I need to do that I can't. In a few instances, I have had to search arou
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I think I have once again run into one of the most misunderstood issues facing Oracle shops. We run RAC in an SE environment and were thinking about setting up a new development (with RAC) configuration. Do we need to purchase a license to develop and test in this environment? The short answer is that in most cases, yes, we must purchase a license.</p
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I think I have once again run into one of the most misunderstood issues facing Oracle shops. We run RAC in an SE environment and were thinking about setting up a new development (with RAC) configuration. Do we need to purchase a license to develop and test in this environment? The short answer is that in most cases, yes, we must purchase a license.</p
Oracle scored a 10 for security last week.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those “best-you-can-get” 10s. It was a 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scale, a system for rating and assessing the impact of system vulnerabilities - - and Oracle had a big one.
This vulnerability, which has been described as “severe” and “dangerous,” was found on Oracle’s new WebLogic server (formally known as BEA WebLogic).
In his Security Alert, Oracle’s Eric Maurice says that one can exploit this vulnerability without authentication (such as a username and password), but “it can result in compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the targeted system.”
Whoever made the vulnerability public did not contact Oracle beforehand, Maurice said.
It’s been a year since we last discussed your database security bloopers, but it’s probably safe to say that this is one of the biggest ones since then. The WebLogic vulnerability marks the first time since January 2005 that Oracle has issued an out-of-cycle patch or security alert for one of its products.
However, whether this affects you or not, you’ve probably had your own share of security nightmares since last July - - which is why it’s time for “Oracle security bloopers III.” Take a look back at Oracle security bloopers II and More security horror stories, where readers wrote in about everything from SYS password misunderstandings to fraud-committing DBAs.
Especially with all the Oracle acquisitions, integrations and new products in the last year, security issues are inevitable. What Oracle security horror stories do you have? Send your stories (these can be anonymous) to me at sgarlick@techtarget.com or leave them in the comment fields below and share them with the Eye on Oracle Community!
Validation? Some may not be aware, but your Microsoft software may occasionally need to be validated - meaning you will have to download the validation feature of your software so Microsoft can be sure that you have activated and licensed your copy properly. Ouch! Yet another reason why licensing and activation are an important part of implementing any software application.
During the process, the product keys are checked along with the IP address of the device it’s being used on. No getting around this one!
So what happens if something isn’t right? Basically, you won’t be able to use your software properly and Microsoft will hound you until you have properly activated and installed the software.
There is nothing more annoying than when you are trying to use a program and it won’t let you do anything that you need to except maybe type!
It’s been a great award season for us here at Miro. We have been honored once again - this time by CRN Magazine as a part of their CRN Fast Growth 100 rankings.
You can find the complete ranking here.
It’s been a great ride - Miro continues to see growth and we hope to be included on these lists for years to come!
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
In the first part of this series, I talked about Vertica the company and how Vertica is licensed. This entry will discuss the architecture of the database and how it handles various issu
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
In the first part of this series, I talked about Vertica the company and how Vertica is licensed. This entry will discuss the architecture of the database and how it handles various issu
Oracle has released a new version of Oracle Audit Vault which now allows you to collect audit data from Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005 in addition to Oracle databases. Both the Oracle and Microsoft database audit data can be consolidated into a centralized repository and unauthorized activities can be detected.
In addition to the Microsoft capabilities, the reporting in the new version if much more customizable, allowing you to address specific compliance guidelines such as SOX or regulations specific to the industry your business serves.
While these new features are nice and are certainly a step forward in automating licensing compliance and software asset management (SAM) no software program is going to do the job 100%. We always recommend having at the very least, one dedicated person to be the licensing expert on your staff and monitor for changes. The rules are so complex and change so frequently, they would need to be sending out updates to the Vault software weekly or even daily, which is not the case.
Another point to make is that not every instance of a license use is the same and what may be acceptable in one scenario, may not be in another. The Vault software cannot detect these subtle changes in environment that will put your licensing out of compliance.
The Oracle Audit Vault is definitely a partial solution, but can’t be relied on as your only means of SAM.
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Chapter 1: MySQL Architecture
Chapter 1 is an overview of the MySQL architecture. The chapter doesn't get very deep into MySQL internals (thats not the books focus) but this chapter provides an excellent fast track understanding of how MySQL works at a fairly detailed level. This chapt
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
Chapter 1: MySQL Architecture
Chapter 1 is an overview of the MySQL architecture. The chapter doesn't get very deep into MySQL internals (thats not the books focus) but this chapter provides an excellent fast track understanding of how MySQL works at a fairly detailed level. This chapt
Microsoft is now offering a software asset management (SAM) optimization framework that will help its customers align their software licensing with business requirements.
By evaluating your software assets and past spending habits, the system will then assign you a rating - from basic to dynamic - and then teaches you how to match up the appropriate license with the right software assets- at the right time. The program will also point you in the direction of more appropriate licensing packages such as Select Plus for larger organizations.
While this sounds like a great idea in theory, it may just be a chance for Microsoft resellers - who would offer fee-based workshops as part of the program - to up sell additional licensing packages.
My thoughts are - if they really wanted to help customers, they would first of all - make the licensing easier to understand and minimize the changes made to the rules and regulations - and secondly, slow down the audit program.
Seems pretty simple to me!
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I'm often asked if I can recommend a book for people. I do the occasional review but I think people are more interested in "getting started" types books. I was asked this question in a post earlier today and gave a few examples. So, here is what I am reading, have recently read, or have recently re-read.
<a href="http://www.apress.com/book/view
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I'm often asked if I can recommend a book for people. I do the occasional review but I think people are more interested in "getting started" types books. I was asked this question in a post earlier today and gave a few examples. So, here is what I am reading, have recently read, or have recently re-read.
<a href="http://www.apress.com/book/vie
Microsoft announced last week that it was joining the Apache Software Foundation, a foundation that focuses on open source Web projects. Additionally, they have added to their open source team at Microsoft to include 112 people today. About a year ago they only had 15.
Microsoft currently has two open source licenses - the Microsoft Public License and the Microsoft Reciprocal License. It has been reported that Microsoft products - Exchange, SQL Server and others - will eventually become open source. The changes could even happen as early as 2009.
If Microsoft were to enter the open source game, we think there would be a way for them to charge for licensing or perhaps only offer products that are compatible with other open source applications. It’s very unlikely that Microsoft, or any other large software vendor, would move to a free model unless forced to.
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
OracleNerd posted an entry yesterday about virtual columns. A virtual column is basically a column that is based on an expression, i.e.
CREATE TABLE test_name ( first_name VARCHAR2(25), last_name VARCHAR2(5
Conspiracy; espionage; “Project Blue;” massive illegal downloading; corporate theft on a grand scale.
These are just a few of the many words Oracle has used to describe SAP’s alleged illegal activity with its third-party support subsidiary, TomorrowNow.
What are Oracle’s latest accusations, and how has SAP responded?
In a court filing amended for a second time Monday, Oracle is now claiming that SAP was aware of and covered up TomorrowNow’s illegal activity — an operation, which Oracle says SAP called “Project Blue.” According to Oracle, SAP “unlawfully accessed, copied and wrongfully used Oracle’s enterprise software applications and [specifically] Software and Support Materials.”
This comes right after SAP closed the books on its troublesome TomorrowNow chapter last week by cutting ties with the company and sending TomorrowNow customers back to Oracle or cheaper third-party supports.
Although SAP denied that the lawsuit was connected with its decision to close TomorrowNow, in this article attorney Hillard M. Sterling says differently:
“This is SAP’s way to rid itself of a troubled subsidiary, as well as a problematic lawsuit… Clearly there was impropriety. SAP’s only hope is to settle the lawsuit quickly and avoid becoming connected with the allegations.”
Now it seems to be too late. In this second-amended complaint, Oracle takes the TomorrowNow suit right to SAP’s door. The 70-page document(pdf) alleges that over three years ago, SAP executive board members received a “business case” presentation for the purchase of TomorrowNow, in which it was “made clear that TomorrowNow did not operate legally.” The SAP executives allegedly ignored these warnings.
Here are some other accusations and points made by Oracle against SAP in the latest court filing:
- “For years, SAP AG profited from SAP TN’s illegal business model, without breathing a word about it to Oracle, SAP AG’s existing and prospective customers, or the investing public.”
-”… SAP has spent years systematically taking unauthorized support materials from Oracle’s systems, most recently using a dedicated bank of twenty servers in a “download center” and a customized software tool called “Titan.”
- “In many instances, including the ones described above, SAP TN employees used the log-in IDs of multiple customers, combined with phony user log-in information, to gain access to Oracle’s system under false pretexts.”
-”SAP appears to have downloaded virtually every file, in every library that it could find.”
-”The downloads are just a piece of a larger scheme. For years, dating atleast to 2003, SAP TN created thousands of copies of Oracle’s actual software applications.”
These are clearly some heavy allegations, but SAP has remained fairly quiet the second time around. After the first-amended complaint by Oracle last July, SAP released this statement, in which they acknowledged inappropriate downloads at TomorrowNow but denied that they had access to these materials.
SAP issued the following response Monday: “This amended complaint [by Oracle] repeats many of the themes and allegations in Oracle’s amended complaint filed in 2007. SAP will respond to this amended complaint in Court [on September 11, 2008].”
Are you surprised by these allegations? Do you think SAP’s closure of TomorrowNow was a hint in their alleged involvement? Do you have any predictions as to how this will be resolved?
Client Access Licenses (CALs) are needed when you would like your clients to access your server (s). You will see on many business websites a client log-in section which is a great tool for many types of businesses and are often used for customer service and even client communication. Of course, this incident has its own licensing requirements. Each device or user that plans to access the server requires its own license, whether it’s direct or indirect use of the server. (Note - a hardware partition or blade is considered a separate device to Microsoft so these must be counted as well).
There are two types of CALs - one for devices and one for users. Each device CAL permits one device, used by any user to access the server software. The user CAL permits one user, using any device - a combination of the two can be used, based on your needs.
Microsoft provides detailed information on which software applications require each CAL, which can be found here.
Tis a tricky game - this licensing!
There is a lot of talk about server licenses and how exactly it works. For each software license you acquire, you must assign that license to one of your servers. You can assign as many software licenses as you would like to one server but if you were to assign the software to more than one server you would be out of compliance.
One thing to keep in mind here also - a hardware partition or blade is considered a separate server, so would need its own licensing. Also, for each software license you assign, you can only run one instance of the software at any one time - this doesn’t include one physical and one virtual environment - its one or the other (which is why it is very important to be sure you have virtual employees logging into any server application).
If you need to reassign a software license you must wait at least 90 days before doing so. The only exception would be if you are having problems with the server and plan not to use it again.
No one said this stuff was simple!
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I wrote a few days ago, Thank You Larry Ellison, that Larry is a visionary because he foresaw the cloud computing stuff that is getting big right now. I wrote that after reading an article from 12 years ago:
New York -- Oracle Corp. CEO and Chairma
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I wrote a few days ago, Thank You Larry Ellison, that Larry is a visionary because he foresaw the cloud computing stuff that is getting big right now. I wrote that after reading an article from 12 years ago:
New York -- Oracle Corp. CEO and Chair
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
SquareSpace today announced the release of it's SquareSpace v5. SquareSpace is a blog and web site hosting platform. I see their ads all the time but I really don't hear much about anyone hosting on them. I heard about the release <a href="http://mashable.com/2
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
SquareSpace today announced the release of it's SquareSpace v5. SquareSpace is a blog and web site hosting platform. I see their ads all the time but I really don't hear much about anyone hosting on them. I heard about the release <a href="http://mashable.com/2
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I wrote the other day about how recruiter's and it folk can work together. Tonight I was contacted by a recruiter looking for Java programmers. Besides me already taking another job, I'm not a java guy. I'm a database guy who does some java. So, I wrote hi
LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology
I wrote the other day about how recruiter's and it folk can work together. Tonight I was contacted by a recruiter looking for Java programmers. Besides me already taking another job, I'm not a java guy. I'm a database guy who does some java. So, I wrote hi