Oracle 18c

Last month (Feb 2018) another version of Oracle to think about. Other than us DBAs, will anybody really care ? The version numbering has been fine for what seems forever. After the 'i's and the 'g's and the 'c's at least the numbers followed on. Now we have jumped from 12c to 18c - what happens to 13,14,15,16 & 17 ? I can only presume 18 as it is 2018 so why not call it that, because in a few years time it will seem very old. At least I know 18c is really 12.2.0.2 and they have not called it Oracle X or some other stupid marketing name. Maybe Oracle should be more imaginative and go down the car road (maybe it already has talking about "self-driving") - Oracle GTD or Oracle GTi perhaps ? Why I don't work in marketing. I suppose this means anybody using 12c will feel like a dinosaur when Oracle 19 and 20 turn up.

I have been reading about it and the 18c version seems like a cloud only database and will be completely autonomous (it will patch itself, fix issues "auto-magically" and autotune). So either way, if it is truly autonomous, there wouldn't be a need for any Oracle DBAs - hmmm. Mind you, Oracle have been pretty crafty as the database will only be autonomous if Oracle have it on their cloud. So if you are an Amazon shop well that is too bad. Sure it will all become clear by the summer.

https://diginomica.com/2018/01/29/reminder-oracle-18c-is-only-autonomous-if-oracle-runs-it-for-you/

It did get confusing talking about R12 (E-Biz) and 12c (the RDBMS) but jumping from 12 to 18 seems a bit strange. Maybe Oracle were worried about having an unlucky version 13 but surely professional staff can't be superstitious - can they ?

Windows tip.

Oracle runs on most Operating Systems, Linux, AIX, Red Hat, Solaris etc but not OS X for some reason, if anybody out there has managed to do so please let me know.

It also runs on Windows but if you mention running Oracle on Windows to a lot of DBAs they just give you a funny look. Well, if I am honest, I was like that too but in reality it is not too bad.

If you need to know the specification of Windows you can open up a command prompt and run systeminfo and then ipconfig /all to find out the network information. One thing I found out today I thought I would share. If you run msinfo not only does it give you all the information you need but if you look under File there is an option to either export all the info for the machine or just the bits you need. So the next time someone asks what the specification of your Windows box is, you can easily provide it. Who would have thought it, a Windows tip from me.






When running on an RDP if you need to change the password use - CTRL / ALT / End


If you use CTRL / ALT / Del you reset the local machine password.

Quick facts..

Sometimes team meetings can be a complete pain, especially when you have a lot of work to do and that daily catch-up meeting just gets in the way. One thing I have noticed in these meetings is that the quiet members of the team often have the most useful things to say, apprentices mainly. To give everyone a chance, one of the projects I was on made everyone give a useful fact, someone might talk about Oracle constraints or give a useful command they have used. It does not even have to be about work, just get staff talking. Takes seconds and a good confidence builder. Did you know the Honda Civic is named after "Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion" or Japan produced the world's biggest battleships - life does not have to be all IT. Put quick facts in your daily meetings, you never know it might be that one thing that gets you through a show stopper or wins you some money on "The Chase".