RE: Offshore protests + Idle events (to keep it On-track!)

Dan,

You said that very well (as usual). The problem is that Management doesn't usually see the downside of their downsizing actions until the stuff hits the fan. And Larry's statements about self-tuning databases are not helping as well - they help apply pressure on a dwindling market, whether real or apparent. The ability to communicate complex problems in simple, everyday language will _always_ stand you in good stead - whether to the business, to management or your fellow workers. I recently replied patiently without sarcasm to a question on an internal Java user group about why compiling procedures/packages when users are online is a bad idea - I could have been rude and told the largerly development audience off. The VP of Development was on that list (I didn't know about this) and wrote me a nice complimentary note. I hope to stand well when there is a shake-up later on :)

On Idle events - I had a situation previously when I was remotely diagnosing a performance issue and noticed a large number of PQ related "idle" events. Turns out that the DBA had switched on PQ to make the queries 'run faster' - the two CPU server was just choked to death after this. These 'idle' events from a Statspack report helped me solve the issue (turn off PQ on all tables - it was an OLTP system).

John Kanagaraj
DB Soft Inc
Phone: 408-970-7002 (W)

Listen to great, commercial-free christian music 24x7x365 at http://www.klove.com

• The opinions and facts contained in this message are entirely mine and do not reflect those of my employer or customers **

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Daniel Fink [mailto:Daniel.Fink_at_Sun.COM]
>Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 8:05 AM
>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>Subject: Re: Offshore protests
>
>
>I realize that it may be terrifying, but there is a great deal
>of value in becoming indistinguishable. How many
>accounting/hr/finance jobs are going overseas? None that I
>have heard of. There are a ton of managers I wish we could
>offshore (but only about 1 mile off shore...). Bear with me
>for a moment, as I see the issue of 'self tuning' databases
>and the 'death' of the dba as all of the same larger issue.
>Consider Cary's quote "Work first to reduce the biggest
>response time component of a business' most important user
>action." To optimize we must understand the business and the
>user, not just look at raw statistics from
>Enterprise Manager. This requires constant interaction with
>all levels of business, knowledge of the application
>architecture and awareness of the business goals. None of
>these can be done by a canned application nor isolated geek.
>If you solve problems and make yourself valuable to the
>business, you are in a better position to stay when others are
>let go. I'm not advocating any of the sneaky, unethical,
>self-promoting activities that some of our most despised
>coworkers are good at, but it is important to manage your own
>personal, technical and business reputations in a favorable light.
>
>Before I step down from my soapbox, I'd like to address the
>issue of 'idle' events. In my opinion, there are no 'idle'
>events. Each event can have meaning within the context of the
>system. I have seen SQL*Net messages indicate a chatty java
>program and poor file configuration. I have also seen cases
>where these messages consumed hours of time, but were safe to
>ignore. The only way you can understand when to discount these
>events is to have a solid understanding of the
>application/process. Which is something those canned apps
>can't do. The only way to understand properly is communication.
>
><ducking for cover...>
>Dan
>
>Mladen Gogala wrote:
>
>> No problem with beating people up. Violence is, contrary to
>Chris Lawson's
>> book,
>> an integral part of DBA job. BTW, Chris Lawsons' "Art and
>Science of Tuning
>> Oracle"
>> reads like Dale Carnegie for database administrators.
>Basically, we should
>> give up
>> our cynical attitude, become indistinguishable from the
>HR/finance drones
>> and get
>> rid of our geekish culture. Really terrifying stuff.
>>
>> --
>> Mladen Gogala
>> Oracle DBA
>

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Author: John Kanagaraj
  INET: john.kanagaraj_at_hds.com

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