Interesting question on human mistakes was posted on the DBA Managers Forum discussions today.

As human beings, we are sometimes make mistakes. How do you make sure that your employees won’t make mistakes and cause downtime/data loss/etc on your critical production systems?

I don’t think we can avoid this technically, probably working procedures is the solution.
I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I typed my thoughts and as I was finishing, I thought that it makes sense to post it on the blog too so here we go…

The keys to prevent mistakes are low stress levels, clear communications and established processes. Not a complete list but I think these are the top things to reduce the number of mistakes we make managing data infrastructure or for that matter working in any critical environment be it IT administration, …

Spring is making its way into everything, and the databases are blooming as the DBAs who manage them are savoring the fragrance of the changing weather and fresh new ideas in the world of blogging. In order to appreciate the springing blogging innovations, this week’s Log Buffer, Log Buffer #215 picks some of the flowers just for you.

Oracle:

Hemant, the Oracle ACE from Singapore writes superbly about OuterJoin with Filter Predicate as usual with a reproducible case.

When …

Hi Everyone,

I would like to personally invite you to a GreenSQL Express Webinar,
I’ll be demonstrating GreenSQL Express, the free and simple way to keep your information private and safe.

On Wednesday, March 16th (just 2 weeks from now),
It’s called “How to Protect Sensitive Information in Minutes: Setting up GreenSQL Express with Basic Security Rules”

If you’re serious about protecting your data, you need to hear and see how it’s done. I’ll talk about:

1. Why you need a Database firewall / security solution
2. Where and How to install GreenSQL Express in your infrastructure
3. How to use GreenSQL Express to protect you database
4. How to create the security polices you need in minutes
5. How to protect your database from SQL injection attacks
6. How to implement a separation of duties in your database access
7. How to maintain business continuity …

Database Servers are humming along, and the people who manage them, interact with them or are just in awe of them are busy in blogging about them. This inspires our next Log Buffer, Log Buffer #214.

Oracle:

Chet Justice, the Oracle Nerd breathes a sigh of relief as he gets to release some much needed space from his hard drive.

Jonathan Lewis reminds about a subtle difference between a predicate and the constraint.

…

Warm welcome to the Log Buffer, a weekly amalgamation of database news across different technologies. Let’s get warmed up with sizzling Log Buffer #213.

Oracle:
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One of the leading performance gurus, Kellyn Pederson is letting us know how she is finding the initial months at Pythian and she rightly praises her fabulous team mates Mark Brinsmead, Paul Logan, and Andy Klock.

The famous Oracle Database Junkie – Arup Nanda, blogs more about Interested Transaction Lists.

Universal Connection Pool, Oracle’s next generation …

While Oracle provides no official information they are planning on improving MySQL and using as a product to compete with Microsoft SQL Server, it is rather obvious from what little information you can glean from public announcements this is a clear business goal.

Microsoft however are publicly seeking a Senior Product Manager, MySQL Compete in the Marketing department. Your goal is nothing technical, it’s all PR to dispel MySQL as a viable product. I quote “you will equip field and partners to win in competitive engagements against MySQL, and you will influence market perception in favor of Microsoft technologies.” Here is the Full job description for those that want an amusing read.

This information came from an Oracle colleague of mine based in Asia.

Slowly getting there… The sign of eth is rising in the air!

Brief pause of that Sudoku series :  I’m working on my object-relational mapping framework code-named Eth.

It’s vaguely similar to Glorp but much simpler and not as intelligent as Glorp.  This time, the resurrection of my framework is more like… a rewrite from scratch.  It all started on VAST, then I ported it to Dolphin then Squeak and now Pharo.  Hopefully, now I will spend more time writing it than porting it! Also, it will exclusively support Pharo.  I also decided to write some SUnit tests to make sure I can properly handle PostgreSQL, MySQL and Interbase for the first version.  But I am also planning on supporting SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Access and Firebird.  Eventually!

Besides, I’m also …

Welcome to Log Buffer, the weekly news update of happenings in the database world.

A big shout out to Pythian team members Andrey, Gwen, Fahd, and Don for their submissions. We have lots of news and recommended reading this week so let’s get going with Log Buffer #209.

Andrey Goryunov’s top picks:

Dion Cho, the Oracle Performance Storyteller, provides an explanation of parallel DML execution plan.

Christian …

I’m back in the blogosphere!

This blog will focus on Smalltalk (mostly Pharo, Squeak, Dolphin, VAST and VW), databases (usually MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, DB2, InterBase and Firebird), algorithms and open source tools.  I’ll throw in some literature, music and mathematics occasionally.

Requirements to enjoy this blog : an interest in problem solving, a database and a Smalltalk environment!