Oracle Class – Wissem's Oracle and NOSQL Tips – Tunisia's First Oracle, NOSQL Website

Ben Prusinski is an Oracle Certified Professional with more than 12 years of full-time experience as a database administrator and has written numerous articles and white papers on database management. Ben is the author of two books on Oracle database technology: Migrate to Oracle: Expert Secrets and Oracle Debugging both from Rampant Tech Press. He is also one of the authors of : Oracle 11gR1/R2 RAC Essentials. Ben is also an active member of the San Diego and Orange County Oracle user group community, and he has published various articles for customers and user groups on data management. Ben has been working with databases including Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2 UDB since 1996 and has accumulated over a decade of practical knowledge and experience with the design and architecture of highly available Oracle database systems with Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle Data Guard, Oracle EBS, Oracle Grid Control, Data Warehouse, and Oracle Streams replication. He is also an Oracle expert on database performance tuning, database security, and database upgrades and migrations.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

Before I was a DBA, in my first IT job after college, I worked with databases as a developer and the application
environment was mostly Oracle. This provided me with incentive to learn Oracle.

2- What made you specialize in Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems?

Years ago, when I first began working as an Oracle DBA, I had to work on an Oracle 7 OPS (Oracle Parallel Server) on SunOS UNIX platform. This was the precursor to Oracle RAC and I enjoyed the challenges. I continued working with RAC as the product matured and it became a focus in my database forte. Since I had a solid network and storage background before I was an Oracle DBA, it made sense since a good Oracle RAC DBA must know these things in addition to Oracle. As for Linux, I worked mostly over past decade on UNIX systems with Oracle and with the evolution of Linux, it made sense as Oracle has shifted from developing on Sun Solaris to Linux platform.

3- Do you still remember the first day in your first job?

Yes, in college, to pay for school, I worked for the computer lab on campus. I had to enter thousands of pages of data entry in a mainframe computer! It was horrible but my first paying tech job before graduation so I accepted the drudgery and never complained. My boss was appreciative and let me train on databases as result! I learned SAS, UNIX, and Oracle.

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Kellyn Pot’vin (pronounced Poet-Vaughn) has been a Database Administrator for 11years, specializing in large database performance tuning. In the last year she’s been working with large SSD databases and Exadata, taking advantage of the newest technology and performance tuning features. Kellyn is known for her technical blog, dbakevlar.com and is the director of membership and vendors for Rocky Mountain Oracle User Group, (RMOUG). She’s performed numerous presentations on performance tuning and written articles for various technical newsletters and websites, starting out as an active participant on the Oracle-L list. She is a current contributer to oradbpedia.com and will be attending Oracle Open World 2011 as one of the lucky few who were granted a blogger pass. Kellyn lives with her three children in Broomfield, CO and currently is honing her technical skills at I-behavior, a marketing firm in Louisville, CO.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

I’ve often had the official title of “Multi-Platform DBA”, having just as many years in SQL Server as I do in Oracle and numerous years in other platforms, such as Informix and MySQL. In all honesty, I just don’t have the technical challenges or large databases to work with in other platforms that I have in Oracle. Business’ know that Oracle has the “horse power” to do what other database platforms can not. It has, (in my honest opinion…) the features built in to support robust databases, along with forward thinking solutions like Exadata that other companies are either technically behind or stagnate in. I may come across aspects in MySQL, Informix and SQL Server that I appreciate, but none of them compare to Oracle’s CBO, Recovery Manager, Dataguard, Exadata and others.

2- Is there anybody you have regarded as role model at the beginning of your career?

I can clearly admit that I have my “Oracle Gods”, a role granted to 9 experts, even after 11 years as a DBA. I had the opportunity, as a Junior DBA to work with my first “Oracle God”, Tim Gorman, while he worked on a few contract with the company I was employed with and he quickly became the standard as to what I expected DBA God to be. He was technically brilliant, cool under pressure and easy to learn from. Our roles have changed in the 9 years I have known him, but he will always be my first DBA God and a standard I also hold myself to. There are a ton of brilliant DBA’s out there, but if they spend too much of their time attempting to prove they “are the smartest person in the room” or simply stagnating another’s growth as a DBA, I find less value in them than other’s might. Arrogance and closing another’s mind to knowledge is not an asset- it’s a liability in the database arena. Our best teachers are other DBA’s, so those who monopolize this to make themselves feel superior do not achieve DBA Godhood in my book. I have slowly added others to the DBA God list, (James Koopman, Tanel Poder, Wolfgang Breitling, Alex Gorbachev, Cary Millsap, Kerry Osbourne, Martin Widlake, Kevin Closson and various demi-God’s that I won’t list here…:)) They have all shown to be great teachers, willing to share their knowledge and commonly known for their desire for other’s to succeed as they have.

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Nelson Calero trabaja desde 1994 con tecnología Oracle, inicialmente en desarrollo de aplicaciones para luego especializarse en administración de bases de datos Oracle y MySQL, arquitectura, performance y alta disponibilidad. Ha estado a cargo de proyectos en varios países de América Latina. Actualmente brinda consultoría en diversas empresas y es instructor de Oracle University. Co-fundador y Presidente del Grupo de usuarios Oracle de Uruguay (UYOUG), y Latin America Chair del Oracle Real Application Cluster Special Interest Group (Oracle RACSIG).

1- ¿Por qué eligió especializarse en bases de datos Oracle?

Cuando estaba finalizando la carrera de Ingeniería comencé a trabajar en una empresa que estaba migrando sus sistemas de mainframe a Oracle. Era la versión 8i en el año 1996.
Allí tomé varios cursos oficiales Oracle, y programaba usando PL/SQL, Designer, Forms y Reports. Desde entonces estuve siempre vinculado a proyectos con tecnología Oracle. Los siguientes seis años fueron en distintos roles de desarrollo, y también en menor dedicación con tecnología variada (PalmOS y C). Fue así hasta que entendí que no podía abarcar tanta variedad y necesitaba especializarme, para evitar el stress de cambiar cuatro veces por día de clientes y problemas, y para poder ser realmente experto dominando un área en profundidad.
Los desafíos existentes en el área de bases de datos le ganaron al resto, así que desde hace nueve años me dedico exclusivamente a ellos.

2- ¿Todavía recuerda su primer día de su primer trabajo?

Siendo estudiante en la Universidad, fui becario en una empresa estatal que tenía uno de los centros de cómputo más grandes del país. Ese día fueron muchas caras nuevas y muchos manuales de estándares y metodologías para leer. Nada muy técnico. Desde entonces han habido muchos primeros días, y sigo disfrutando esa sensación que acompaña los nuevos desafíos, además de la oportunidad de compartir y aprender.

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Kai Yu is a senior engineer and solution architect in Dell Oracle Solutions Engineering Lab .He is working with Oracle Technology as an Oracle DBA, Oracle Apps DBA since 1995. Kai specializes in Oracle RAC, Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle VM. He has published 15 technical whitepapers and given more than 30 technical presentations at major oracle technology conferences worldwide including Oracle OpenWorld, OTN Latin America Tour, etc. . Kai is an Oracle ACE Director and was selected for Oracle ACE spotlight in June 2011, and he also was featured in Oracle Magazine Sept/Oct 2010 issue. He has been the former president and the current board member of IOUG Oracle RAC SIG, and the RAC performance and HA Bootcamp manager at IOUG Collaborate conference 2010/2011 and the IOUG Virtualization Committee member. Kai was the winner of the 2011 OAUG Innovator of Year award and is active in sharing his Oracle knowledge on his Oracle blog http://kyuoracleblog.wordpress.com/.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases? 

My interest with database started with my Mater degree thesis research on relational database more than 20 years ago. My Oracle database career started in 1995 shortly after when I took a database engineer position in a software company working on OCI and C++, PL/SQL and DBA. On that job, I really enjoyed learning and working on Oracle database technology on both applications development side aas well as the database administration side. The technology really fascinated me and I decided to pursue my career in Oracle database.

2- What made you specialize in Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems?

My first involvement with the Oracle cluster database was the Oracle Parallel Server (OPS) in 1997 when I worked for the factory automation system in Samsung Austin Semiconductor . In 2001-2002, I started working on Oracle databases running on Linux and around 2003-2004 I started deploying and managing Oracle RAC databases on Linux in Dell IT. We managed more 2000 production Oracle RAC databases on Linux systems, and 2-3 times of development and test RAC databases in our DBA team, including those for Oracle E-Business Suite applications and large data warehouses. In late 2006 I joined in Dell Oracle Solutions Engineering team and worked on engineering solutions for Oracle RAC on Linux and Dell systems. I have been working and living with Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems in last 8 years. Most of my conferences papers and whitepapers were Oracle RAC related ranging RAC best practices, Oracle EBS on RAC, Oracle EM for RAC, to Oracle RAC on Oracle VM.

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  Fahd Mirza is an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) in 11g DBA and 10g DBA He has been working with Oracle products since 2001 including Database Administrator, Application Server Administrator and Oracle RAC Administrator, with proven skills in managing Oracle databases (OLTP and Data warehouse) and Application Servers on Solaris, Linux, HP-UX and Windows Servers. Fahd is an avid blogger and active member on OTN. He is currently working at Pythian.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

I have a passion for data and that is why I pursued this career in IT and especially data management. While evaluating different technologies for the DBMS during my master’s thesis, Oracle stood out exceptionally. From my master’s theses to this day after eleven years, I am managing the Oracle databases and related technologies. Also, the fact that Oracle innovates almost on weekly basis and it never fails to challenge the DBAs is the engine behind my love for Oracle and its technologies. These days I am managing the Oracle Exadata database machines at Pythian for clients.

2- Do you still remember the first day in your first job?

Yep, was so excited, fearful and hopeful. I was thrown right at the database server, and the expectation of the employer was that I would be managing the operating system, database, storage, capacity planning, and hardware procurement and dealing with support. I am glad that he expected that, because that pressure solidified me in my early years.

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  Surachart Opun has many years of experience in Oracle Technology. He is an active writer in his blog about Oracle related issues/experiences. He also contributes in the OTN Forums whenever possible . He develops Oracle User Group in Thailand(OUGTH). Surachart is an Oracle ACE, OCP 10g/11g and an OCE RAC 10gR2.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

Oracle Database makes me feel challenge. When I work on Oracle Database product, I can integrate something what I know about Operating System, Storage, Network, Security and Application. However, I like Oracle Community. First time, I found Oracle Database issue, I asked on OTN Forums and then someone helped me to figure it out.

2- What made you specialize in Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems?

I am not specialized in Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems. I just know about them. If you would like to specialize in Oracle Real Application Clusters and Linux systems. You should learn from Blogs of Experts, spend time to test them and join their available communities. Finally, don’t miss to share.
Oracle Real Application Clusters, I advice to join Oracle Forums and then learn from it. If you have account on My Oracle Support, you can find out more useful information.

When you would like to specialize in something, you should like it. You like it, don’t you?

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Debra Lilley is Oracle Alliance Director for Fujitsu, she has worked with Oracle applications since 1996 (EBS 9.4.1) as Support Manager, Functional Consultant, Discoverer and then BI lead. Her role is now about strategy and education of both Fujitsu people and customers. She is President of UKOUG and Chairman of the Product Development Committee at the IOUC. She was User Group Evangelist of the Year in 2008.

1- What made you specialize in Oracle EBS, fusion technology and applications?

I had been a developer, in both Cobol and Ingres, but moved more to analysis and consulting. When my employer Fujitsu started an Oracle Applications (EBS) practice in 1996, I joined the team to run support as I had both technical and functional skills. I really enjoyed working with the applications, and although have changed my role many times, am still in the practice. I am very interested in the technology and how it gives business benefit, but I am not a technical practitioner
When Oracle announced Fusion Applications, they told the IOUC (Global User Group Community) that they wanted to work with users groups but needed a single channel. I volunteered to lead that channel to ensure UKOUG had a big say. I didn’t expect it to take so long and during the journey I realised it was ALL about the technology and the User Experience it delivers.

2- Do you still remember the first day in your first job?

My first day in computing was a nightmare, I was learning Cobol and forgot the end statement in a print loop, they stopped it when the paper ran out!

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  Eddie was introduced to Oracle in 1994. Since then, he has been developing software applications using Oracle databases and tools. In addition to his blog (http://awads.net/wp/) in which he shares his Oracle related experiences, news, views, tips and tricks, Eddie created the Oracle News Aggregator (http://orana.info/), a site that allows readers to monitor Oracle related blogs and news sources, an Oracle question and answer blog (http://oraqa.com/), and Firefox extensions, plugins and bookmarklets (http://awads.net/wp/oracle-stuff/) that make it easier for developers to search Oracle documentation and resources. Eddie is the the creator of OracleCommunity.net.Eddie is also the 2006 winner of the “Oracle-related blogger of the year” award.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

It just happened to be in the right place and at the right time . It was in 1994. I was a COBOL programmer working for a big steel company in Saudi Arabia. Management decided to replace COBOL with Oracle. So, I had to learn SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle Forms and Reports. We were running Oracle Database version 7 on VAX/VMS. That’s when I entered the vast world of Oracle… the rest is history.

2- Do you still remember the first day in your first job?

After I graduated from college with a shiny new Computer Science degree, I went into teaching for a while. I taught math, English and (COBOL and FORTRAN) programming. Even though I enjoyed teaching, it was not an easy job to do.

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  Kyle Hailey has worked in the IT industry for 15 years and has been with Oracle for over 13 years. At Oracle he has worked in support, porting, benchmarking, and kernel development and has created tools to improve high-end performance monitoring such as direct SGA attach and interactive graphic displays of performance data. He has made major contributions to the redesign of the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g by designing performance pages to be graphically oriented and wait-interface centric. Kyle now works at Embarcadero on their suite of performance tuning and monitoring tools. He is a member of the Oak Table and co-author of Oracle insights: Tales of the Oak Table. He is a regular speaker at Hotsos, NoCOUG, RMOUG, NYOUG, Oracle World, Dbforum and also teaches classes on Oracle performance tuning internationally.

1- Why did you choose to specialize in Oracle databases?

I wanted to live in San Francisco and Oracle was the only company in 1989 recruiting on campus at Cornell from San Francisco.  Living in San Francisco was my goal and Oracle got me there. At the time  I thought databases were boring having majored in physics and mathematics. I had wanted to work on numerical models of  trading systems and arbitrage calculations.

2- What made you specialize in Oracle Performance Tuning?

I like finding patterns in quantitative data whether it’s the stock market or databases. Oracle performance tuning has given me this opportunity.

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