Thursday, October 04, 2012

100,000 + hits for Oracle by Madrid

Recently this professional effort known as "Oracle by Madrid" reached 100,000+ hits, I'm grateful to the Oracle community for making this possible, this blog has created a positive synergy in many ways.

Once I heard someone who said "When you teach you learn twice", and it is very true, helping others through this blog has in the long run helped me too.  This blog has been a valuable reference for me too, while "googling" for a specific issue I'm facing sometimes I find the answer in a post I made in the past that I didn't remember, so I am not doomed to repeat my past.

Another saying I remember, "You receive what you give", very true, by giving away knowledge somehow life has rewarded me without looking for it, as if life would have kept some sort of invisible balance sheet where it records everything, and it pays back when the time is right.

I am grateful and happy this effort has had a positive echo with the Oracle Community and has been a reference to help others around the globe.





A Big Thank You All !!!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

iOS6 removes the YouTube app

I recently received a notice about the availability of the iOS6 upgrade for my iPad.  I thought it was cool to see the upgrade and install it.  After a warning related to the battery level (at least 50% or plugged in to the electric outlet) in my iPad I proceeded to download it and have it installed.

Everything was just fine, in my opinion there's not too many new functionality I could take advantage of at this time, and there were some new apps installed and yes, a very cool world clock similar to that one I used to have in my iPod.  And the maps application, an absolute divorce decree for Apple, they have their own.   The addition of the location services (optional), which sounds to me more like an Android like behavior.  Is Apple secretly overtly trying to emulate the Google's success formula?

What it came to my attention was that the YouTube application had disappeared.  I looked for it all around, and it was gone.  I thought I may have accidentally removed it.  I tried to look for it at the apple store, without any luck and finding more than 200 hits related with youTube like applications. And ... after "googling" it for a while I found that this is "normal".  The YouTube application was removed from it because Apple is planning to design one of their own that will replace the traditional YouTube app.   May be Apple didn't have his own iYouTube ready on time with the release of iOS6, and this could have made the users more anxious than not being able to play their cool playlists.

I've tracked the Apple share in the stock market (NASDAQ:AAPL) for a while, extrapolating the behavior of it correlated to the release of the iPhone5 and the future marketing strategies of Apple, and this made me remember the story of the Tulips in Holland ( http://www.damninteresting.com/the-dutch-tulip-bubble-of-1637 ) where there was a huge euphoria about the Viceroy Tulip bulbs to the point that a trader could make a profit of an equivalent of $60,000 USD today a month, and the price of a Tulip could be worth the price of a house.  And when this temporary madness was replaced by the reasoning the bubble was bursted and the price of the Tulips felt all the way down creating a big depression in the Dutch economy.

After Apple released the iPhone5 its share reached the all time top value of $700.00 USD, as soon as it was announced that even though the sales of it were good but not as good as expected the price retreated to $665.00 per share.  If Apple cannot be innovative and creative once more, people may see the Apple bubble burst.  So what's the next move? why is Apple divorcing from specific apps? Is their marketing strategy focused towards emulating the discrete giant steps of Google? Is the Steve Job's iCar something that is going to surprise the market once more? ( http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/6958816/Steve-Jobs-wanted-to-build-Apple-iCar ), is the new iYouTube app going to be available to watch movies in the built in retina touchscreen in the car? will the aux audio device allow compatibility with pre-iWhatever devices? or you'll have to buy an adapter for it too?

In my personal opinion, Apple has reached a historic top level where it has to reinvent itself once more and after the iPhone5 the next step cannot be an iPhone6, 7 ... 20, cause otherwise the market will be saturated.  So to prevent the investors from looking elsewhere they'll have to open new markets.  May be it's about time to change the way we watch T.V.  In the mean time as long as the common saying reads "I'll buy it if it is shiny and made by Apple" keeps on being a valid success formula, Apple will keep on being a growing giant, no matter if they "forgot" to warn about the YouTube omission.


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Oracle 11.2.0.3.0 PSU 9 Post-Install issues

Platform: Windows 2003 R2 x64
Version : Oracle 11.2.0.3.0 PSU 9

After applying the PSU the DBMS_MEATADA didn't work.


SQL> select DBMS_METADATA.GET_DDL('TABLE','EMP','SCOTT') from DUAL;
ERROR:
ORA-39212: installation error: XSL stylesheets not loaded correctly
ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_METADATA", line 5088
ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_METADATA", line 7589
ORA-06512: at line 1



A side effect of this, when trying to execute DataPump it failed, since this requries DBMS_METADATA to extract the object metadata.

C:\> expdp aUser/aPassword schemas=SCOTT dumpfile=SCOTT logfile=SCOTT job_name=SCOTT

Export: Release 11.2.0.3.0 - Production on Thu Sep 13 11:15:16 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.3.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, Automatic Storage Management, OLAP, Data Mining
and Real Application Testing options
ORA-39006: internal error
ORA-39213: Metadata processing is not available

The reason is because after applying the PSU according to the MOS note: "Data Pump Export Started Failing After Applying CPU Patch [ID 453796.1]" some tables required by Data Pump are not loaded and the XML Style sheets for DBMS_METADATA are not loaded either.

The dictionary tables required by Data Pump are not loaded. 
If you execute this query:

SQL> select count(*) from metanametrans$;

  COUNT(*)
----------
         0


and if there are no rows returned then you'll have to proceed as stated in the MOS note.

The procedure to fix this issue is listed in that MOS Note, so since you found this error after applying a PSU or a CPU, then it means you have access to My Oracle Support, just look for the previously referred MOS Note and you'll see what's the procedure to fix this issue.

Once the procedure has been applied, the above query returns the following result:

SQL> -- Oracle 11g Rel.2 (11.2.0.3.0 PSU9)
SQL> select count(*) from metanametrans$;

  COUNT(*)
----------
      3302



And both, the DBMS_METADATA and Data Pump work like a charm.


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

OPatch 11.2.0.3.0 issues

Recently I have applied the PSU5 and PSU9, in both cases a couple of issues happened when executing the OPatch utility. 

msvcr71.dll
The first one, has to do with a runtime error during the execution of the OPatch utility.  Suddenly a window pops up saying it cannot find the msvcr71.dll library, this is a module containing standard C library functions such as asprintf, memcpy and cos, it is part of the Microsoft C Runtime Library.  The workaround for it was to look for it at one of the previously installed Oracle Homes and copy it to the C:\Windows directory.  

%ORACLE_HOME%\oui\jlib\srvm.jar
 The second issue has to do with a file, srvm.jar, which after the OPatch evaluation, it says this file is in use.  It looks like the 11.2.0.3.0 version of the OPatch utility cannot identify it is the same utility who is using the file.  This is a known issue and is documented in the M.O.S. Note "OPATCH 11.2.0.3.0 LOCKS SRVM.JAR WHEN APPLYING ANY 11.2.0.3 BUNDLE PATCH ON WINDOWS X64 [ID 1446273.1]"  This will be fixed in future OPatch versions, and the workaround is to look for a jar file, %ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch\jlib\oracle.opatch.classpath.jar, rename it and retry.  Once the OPatch utility is done rename back the file to its original name.

You can use the Microsoft utility Process Explorer to see who is using these files. Just make sure that you exit the utility before relaunching OPatch, otherwise it will misinterpret the locks of the Process Explorer on several oracle related dll's and the list of Oracle dynamic linked libraries in use will be longer.


Thursday, August 02, 2012

Justin Kestelyn announces new professional goals.

Justin Kestelyn, a key element for the Oracle community announced he will leave Oracle, I do personally want to publicly thank Justin for his remarkable and inspiring contribution throughout the years to the Oracle community, the Oracle Technology Network, the Oracle ACE program, the Oracle Magazine, the Oracle Open World events, among many other numerous and highly valuable technical and administrative efforts which make a huge difference.

Thank you Justin and Good Luck with your new professional goals.

Friday, June 22, 2012

ORA-16792 configuration property value is inconsistent with database setting

As per the reference this error literally means:

Cause: The values of one or more configuration properties were inconsistent with database in-memory settings or server parameter file settings. This may happen by altering initialization parameters directly instead of altering property values using Data Guard broker.

Actions: Query property the InconsistentProperties on the database or check the Data Guard broker log to find which properties are set inconsistently. Reset these properties to make them consistent with the database settings. Alternatively, enable the database or the entire configuration to allow the configuration property settings to be propagated to to the initialization parameters.

When the dataguard broker was queried about the status, it showed the following results:

DGMGRL> show configuration verbose

Configuration - OMCDG1120

  Protection Mode: MaxPerformance
  Databases:
    OMCPRO - Primary database
    OMCADG - Physical standby database
      Warning: ORA-16792: configurable property value is inconsistent with database setting

  Properties:
    FastStartFailoverThreshold      = '30'
    OperationTimeout                = '30'
    FastStartFailoverLagLimit       = '30'
    CommunicationTimeout            = '180'
    FastStartFailoverAutoReinstate  = 'TRUE'
    FastStartFailoverPmyShutdown    = 'TRUE'
    BystandersFollowRoleChange      = 'ALL'

Fast-Start Failover: DISABLED

Configuration Status:
WARNING



The parameter involved in this particular case was  db_file_name_convert, the paths defined at the spfile were different from those known to the Dataguard Broker. db_file_name_convert is a static parameter which means the standby database had to be restarted so the parameter was effective.  The actual actions that took place to solve this issue were to set the parameter at the database level and modify the value at the dgmgrl prompt.

Step 1. Modify the instance parameter.
alter system set db_file_name_convert='C:\Oracle11g\Oradata\OMCPro', 'J:\Oracle11g\Oradata\OMCDG', 'D:\Oracle\Oradata\OMCPro', 'D:\Oracle\Oradata\OMCDG' scope=spfile;

Step 2. Modify the parameter at the DGMgrl prompt
C:\> dgmgrl

DGMGRL> edit DATABASE "OMCADG" SET PROPERTY DbFileNameConvert = 'C:\Oracle11g\Oradata\OMCPro, J:\Oracle11g\Oradata\OMCDG, D:\Oracle\Oradata\OMCPro, D:\Oracle\Oradata\OMCDG' ;

Property "dbfilenameconvert" updated

Once the parameter is consistent both at the spfile and the Dataguard broker it updates its status to SUCCESS.

DGMGRL> SHOW CONFIGURATION VERBOSE;

Configuration -
OMCDG1120

  Protection Mode: MaxPerformance
  Databases:
    OMCPRO - Primary database
    OMCADG - Physical standby database

  Properties:
    FastStartFailoverThreshold      = '30'
    OperationTimeout                = '30'
    FastStartFailoverLagLimit       = '30'
    CommunicationTimeout            = '180'
    FastStartFailoverAutoReinstate  = 'TRUE'
    FastStartFailoverPmyShutdown    = 'TRUE'
    BystandersFollowRoleChange      = 'ALL'

Fast-Start Failover: DISABLED

Configuration Status:
SUCCESS




Monday, June 18, 2012

Flash Player 11.3 kept crashing with Firefox 13.01

The browser I use the most is Firefox, a personal reason that started back at the time when the way to avoid internet worms from infecting the computer was to either endlessly keep on updating the I.E. or by using low maintenance reliable browser.  Ever since Firefox became my preferred choice.

Recently something weird happened, one of those auto updates that bring down the system and ask for restart of applications, and suddenly  my Firefox stopped displaying the Enterprise Manager performance graphs. I had to temporarily switch to Internet Explorer while I was able to find a solution for it.  The funny thing is that it only replied with a kind of progress bar that read RSL Error 1 of 3 or RSL Error 2 of 3 and a small caps error message at the bottom of the display where the graph was supposed to be shown that read Error #2032.  Nothing else ... so after a long Google search that lasted the whole morning, digging for a clue on what was going on  I finally came up with a diagnostics and a possible solution.

Every time I tried to load a page with flash player contents it crashed, and in the case of YouTube it just mentioned the contents couldn't be played at this time and it asked to retry later (some sort of insanity, it doesn't matter how many times I'd have tried nor how later I'd retried the result would have been always the same). So none of the contents that required the flash player plugin could be played.

The solution was found in this Firefox support article "Flash 11.3 doesn't load video in Firefox"
I had installed the Real Player and the feature to download and save flash contents was making the Flash 11.3 plugin to crash.  The solution, just as it was described in the above article was to start the RealPlayer and from the main menu / Preferences / Download & Recording submenu, I unchecked the "Enable web download & recording for these installed browsers" option.  I restarted Firefox and everything came back to normal.  Since this is my work machine, I'm not too much worried about not being able to download my favorite videos by means of the Realplayer plugin.  I'm much more concerned about being able to display my Performance graphs and accessing the flash version of My Oracle Support.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

ORA-00600 [kgiinb_invalid_obj]

Another ORA-00600 error:

This error was recently reported to me,

ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [kgiinb_invalid_obj], [0x102BE8B38],
[0x12CF3EED8], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []at
Oracle.DataAccess.Client.OracleException.HandleErrorHelper(Int32 errCode,
OracleConnection conn, IntPtr opsErrCtx, OpoSqlValCtx* pOpoSqlValCtx, Object
src, String procedure ....

Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition - Version: 11.1.0.7
This problem can occur on any platform.
Oracle Server Enterprise Edition - Version: 11.1.0.7

After some research I found that basically this is due to a bug (7420394) which can be fixed by applying the patch for it, or upgrading to 11.2.0.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

ORA-00700 [kesqsMakeSql-invstat:cpuTime]

ORA-00700: soft internal error, arguments: [kesqsMakeSql-invstat:cpuTime], [], [], [], [], [], [], [
] ... hmmm ... it looks impressive, overall considering that an ORA-00600 is not one that probably is going to make your DBA day.

Actually it is not as tragic and epic as it could seem to be at first glance, it has to do with a bug. In this particular case it showed up in an Oracle 11g Rel.1 (11.1.0.7.0) version on a x64 windows platform. This error is triggered when the SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK runs, and it may spontaneously show up and keep on showing up for a while. It may happen to be annoying.

The root reason is the Bug 7025700 , and some other related bugs, Bug 7757533, Bug 8224438, Bug 7643188, the arguments of the ORA-00700 may be slightly different: [KESQSMAKESQL-INVSTAT:CPUTIME], or [KESQSMAKESQL-INVSTAT:ELPSTIME], and the solution is to apply the patch 7643188 or apply the PSU patch to upgrade to 11.1.0.7.2.

Applying the patch will fix the problem from occurring in the future, but it won't fix the current corrupted data at the internal statistics tables, but eventually those corrupt rows will be flushed away, so in the mean time you'll have jut to get used to acknowledge it and manually clear the errrors at your E.M. Console.