TruTek TruTalk Newsletter for Oracle Professionals
Robert Freeman's Oracle Database 10g RMAN Backup and Recovery

January, 2009
Greetings!

Welcome to the January issue of TruTalk. We have some terrific classes coming up, taught by some of our favorite experts.
Don't miss out on this terrific lineup of classes with the best trainers in their fields!

Sincerely,
 
Mike Swing
TruTek

IN THIS ISSUE
What We Do
opatch, Release 12 and What Do You Really Know?
Warehouse Builder Class
RDBMS 10g and 11g Classes with Robert Freeman
We Do More Than Just Training!
Oracle R11i/R12 Applications DBA Concepts and Administration Class
David Kurtz, PeopleSoft Expert
Oracle Application Express (APEX)
Confio
Article Writing Contest
TruTek Training Schedule
QUICK LINKS
What We Do
TruTekTruTek is a national leader in technical and functional Oracle training and consulting. We offer Oracle database and E-Business Suite consulting, training and remote services. We have a state of the art training facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you have 5 or more people interested in a class, we can also bring classes to your company if you would like onsite training.
 
Don't Miss Us at RMOUG
RMOUG Training Days

Check out the RMOUG Training Days schedule for February 11-12 - several of the people we love to bring in as instructors will be presenting, including:

Robert Freeman - Advanced RMAN Backup and Recovery, Oracle Database 11g New Features, So You Want to Be An Author...
Dan Hotka - Understanding Explain Plans, TOAD Tips and Techniques, Why is My Oracle10g Database Slower Than My Oracle9i Database?
Mike Swing - Parallel Concurrent Processing Failover and Load Balancing of 11i and R12
Tim Gorman - Scaling to Infinity: Partitioning Data Warehouses on Oracle, Getting the Most Out of AWR
Gaja Krishna Vaidyanatha - The SAN is Guilty... Until Proven Otherwise!!! Part 1, The SAN is Guilty...Until Proven Otherwise!!! Part 2

Can't make it to RMOUG Training Days? Then check out our complete TruTek Training schedule, our Papers and Presentations link, and our Books link for more from these instructors/authors.
opatch, Release 12 and What Do You Really Know? - Guest Author, Lon White
Here's an article by Lon White, CTO at Triora Group, who is now a four time winner of TruTek's article writing contest.

opatch is simple and straight forward. In fact, patching the E-Business suite is fairly straight forward. Right? My last article talked about how to tell when a patch had been applied successfully. So, I thought I would follow that up with a discussion on the opatch utility. But, don't tune out just yet, even if you are an old pro at using opatch, you're going to want to read this, really...

The basics: opatch is used by Oracle to apply patches to the database kernel. opatch requires the database to be shutdown, and an opatch can be rolled back. So, what is new about any of that? Nothing, unless you are new to "opatch-ing". If you are somewhat new, then I suggest you read MetaLink Note 189489.1 for further detail. This note is specifically for 9i database opatch-ing, but it does provide a good explanation of some of the finer points. In fact, this MetaLink note does a really good job of explaining the basics, so let's move on to our new information.

Did you know that using opatch is related to your oraInst.loc file? One of the most common uses of opatch is checking for on-board patches that have already been applied. To do that, run the command opatch lsinventory to list the patches that have been applied, as well as some additional information about the ORACLE_HOME you are working in.

Read More

Warehouse Builder Class
We've had many requests to offer a data warehousing class this quarter, so join us in Salt Lake City for our Oracle Warehouse Builder 10gR2 Development and Deployment class. The class will cover the fundamentals of Oracle Warehouse Builder 10gR2 development, including initial project and database setup, data modeling, data mapping and creation of process flows. The class shows how projects are deployed from development environments to production, and explains how features in the Enterprise ETL and Data Quality Option are used alongside the ETL Core features to build complete data warehouses on the Oracle Database 10g platform.

We are still finalizing the dates, but do let us know if you're interested in taking the class.
Get Certified With the Help of a Master - Robert Freeman
Robert Freeman's Oracle Database 10g RMAN Backup and Recovery
Oracle Database 11g New FeaturesWe're locking up all Robert's free time to teach three classes in the next quarter. First, he'll be teaching Oracle 10g OCA DBA Certification in January, then Oracle Database 11g New Features in March, and finally, Oracle 10g OCP DBA Certification in June.

And OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study GuideRobert has a new book coming out! Check out OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide You can pre-order it on Amazon for a reduced price.

We've just added two papers from Robert to our Papers and Presentations section on our website. If you'd like a peek into Robert's perspective, take a look at his paper Using RMAN for Backup and Recovery.

DATE CHANGE! We've had a lot of interest in Robert's upcoming OCA class, but it looks like we scheduled it too close to the beginning of the year. So get back into the groove at work and then take Robert's class from January 26-30th!
Did You Know? We Do More Than Just Training!
At TruTek, we offer training classes, remote database and applications administration support, and on-site consulting. And in the next month, a few of our top consultants will be rolling off of projects, so check them out:

Mike Swing - Besides teaching many of our E-Business Suite technical classes, including several of our DBA classes, Mike has extensive experience implementing, upgrading and maintaining various Oracle RDBMS versions and the E-Business Suite. Mike teaches our classes on installing and upgrading to Release 12, so if you need someone with plenty of hands on experience, he is one of our best resources. Mike also has experience supporting RAC implementations and has a deep understanding of parallel concurrent processing, load balancing and failover. 

Dennelle - It's always good to have a skilled financials functional expert in your corner. Dennelle specializes in General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Purchasing, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, Order Management, ADI, FSGs and UPK.  Dennelle is also a great trainer, so her hand-offs to clients go especially well.

Susan - Offering strong technical skills combined with excellent project management and team lead capabilities, Susan is an experienced ERP application designer and developer. Susan is a Certified Oracle Application Developer, and can resolve issues quickly due to her wide variety of experience and technical knowledge.

Also, if you're looking for a developer to design custom software or programs for your company, we have a Java team ready to roll!
And if You're Not Quite Ready to Go for Certification...
We've decided to offer Mike Swing's Oracle R11i/R12 Applications DBA Concepts and Admininstration class from January 26th - 30th, which is the same week as Robert Freeman's OCA DBA Certification class. If you're thinking of working as an E-Business Suite Applications DBA, or if you already are one but need some brushing up on the fundamentals, then this is the class for you! Mike will cover how to install Release 11i and Release 12, how to patch, how to clone, how to administer Apache, how to upgrade from Release 11i to Release 12, how to install a multi-node environment, and how to troubleshoot the Applications. These are all skills you'll need if you want to work with the E-Business Suite. Mike's class will be hands-on, with plenty of time to try out what you've learned.
Spotlight on David Kurtz, PeopleSoft Expert
PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA by David KurtzWe've just added three papers by David Kurtz, one of our favorite PeopleSoft experts, to our Papers and Presentations section on our website: Obtaining and Interpreting Execution Plans Using DBMS_XPLAN, An Introduction to (BEA) Tuxedo, and Practical Guidance on the use of PeopleSoft Performance Monitor. David has written an excellent book about PeopleSoft, PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA. Take a look at our new Books section on our website, where we point you to the best books by the best Oracle authors in the business. Also, if you would be interested in us bringing David in to teach one of his PeopleSoft classes, please let us know.

Here's David's take on how to clear the PeopleSoft application server cache without shutting it down:

It is often necessary to clear the physical cache files on the PeopleSoft application server. You would think that after all the length of time that PeopleTools has been around, that development would have sorted out the problems in object version numbering. Sometimes, recently migrated changes do not take effect until the cache is cleared. Global Support will nearly always ask you to clear the cache if you are experiencing any kind of problem in the PIA.

Normally, you would shut down the application server, delete the physical cache directories and restart the application server.

From PeopleTools 8.48, each Application server process can only use one dedicated set of physical cache files that is in a directory whose name includes the name and ID number of the server, (previously the server process could use any unlock set cache directories). This allowed PeopleSoft to add an option to the psadmin utility to trigger each PSAPPSRV process to clear out its own physical cache (my thanks to the anonymous question asked after the original version of this posting that reminded me). This option also causes each server process to recycle. It is the recommended and supported way to clear the physical cache files.

Read More
Scott Spendolini's APEX Training Rocked!
Our December Introduction to Oracle APEX 3.1 and Intermediate Oracle APEX 3.1 went over very well with students:

Pro Oracle Application Express"I really enjoyed the class- I knew nothing about APEX and now feel I could build an application and keep learning more."

"Scott is a great guy, great instructor, great class.  The introduction merged right along nicely into the
intermediate.  Great Class!"

Remember to check our schedule for training classes this quarter, and let us know if there are classes not listed that you would be interested in us scheduling.
Confio Igniter Suite

Confio builds performance management software that improves the effectiveness of IT systems and the people who run them. The Confio Igniter Suite currently includes products that help Oracle DBAs, managers, and developers continuously monitor the performance of databases and the applications that depend on them, isolate specific problems, and identify solutions in production systems.

Confio Ignite

Your Claim to Fame
AmazonYou might argue that our newsletter staff weighs in more on the technical side than the functional side. Yes, we admit it, we're geeks. But that doesn't mean we don't want to include articles about the functional side of the E-Business Suite. Really, we do. So here's your chance to help us keep a balanced perspective in our newsletter. If you've got a good functional topic, please, let us know. Enter our writing contest!  If you'd like to enter, just write an article about Oracle or the Oracle E-Business Suite. Tell us about a technique that you've used that made your life easier at work. Or describe something you've learned from all those books on your bookshelf, and how it applied to your environment. If you're not sure if you've got a good topic, send us a note, and we'll help you figure it out. Go ahead, you know you want to!

Submissions should be sent to [email protected] by January 25th. We'll include the winning article in our next newsletter. And the winning author will win a very cool prize, a $100 Gift Certificate from Amazon
Upcoming TruTek Training Schedule
We're always open to adding new classes, so let us know your interests! We add new classes regularly, so be sure to check the latest version of the schedule on our website.


Date

Class

Location

 

Technical Classes

 

Jan 20-23

Introduction to SQL Using Oracle 10g

SLC, UT

Jan 26-30

Oracle 10g OCA DBA Certification with Robert Freeman

SLC, UT

Jan 26-30

Oracle R11i/R12 Applications DBA Concepts and Administration with Mike Swing

SLC, UT

Feb 2-3

Introduction to Oracle PL/SQL Programming

SLC, UT

Feb 3-6

Oracle E-Business Suite R11i /R12 Technical Upgrade with Mike Swing

SLC, UT

Feb 4-6

Oracle SQL Performance Tuning Tips and Techniques

SLC, UT

Feb 9-13

Introduction to Oracle Business Intelligence EE (OBIEE)

SLC, UT

Feb 11-13

Oracle 11i Workflow Builder, Business Events and Administration

SLC, UT

Mar 2-6

Oracle R11i/R12 Applications DBA Concepts and Administration with Mike Swing

Dallas, TX

Mar  24-26

Oracle Warehouse Builder 10gR2 Development and Deployment

SLC, UT

Mar 30-Apr 3

Oracle 10g OCP DBA Certification with Robert Freeman

SLC, UT

Mar 17-20

Oracle E-Business Suite R11i /R12 Technical Upgrade with Mike Swing

Denver, CO

Apr 21-22

The Best of Oracle PL/SQL Seminar with Steve Feuerstein

SLC, UT

May 19-20

Oracle Performance Management Seminar with Gaja Krishna Vaidyanatha

SLC, UT

Jun 1-5

Oracle Database 11g New Features with Robert Freeman

SLC, UT

 

Functional Classes

 

Jan 12-14

Oracle Release 11i General Ledger for End Users

SLC, UT

Jan 12-15

Oracle Release 11i Procure to Pay

SLC, UT

Jan 12-13

Oracle Release 11i Purchasing

SLC, UT

Jan 14-15

Oracle Release 11i Accounts Payable

SLC, UT

Jan 15-16

Oracle Release 11i Fixed Assets

SLC, UT

Jan 26-30

Oracle Release 11i Advanced Pricing

SLC, UT

Feb 4-5

Oracle Discoverer for End Users

SLC, UT

Feb 15-16

Oracle Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI)

SLC, UT

Feb 16-17

Oracle Release 11i Bills of Material (BOM)/Engineering (ECO)

SLC, UT

Feb 23-24

Oracle Release 11i Advanced Supply Chain Planning (APS)

SLC, UT

 

Conferences and User Group Meetings

 

Feb 11-12

The Rocky Mountain Oracle User Group will be holding RMOUG Training Days at the Colorado Convention Center.

Denver, CO

Mar 12-13

The Utah Oracle Users Group will be holding Training Days 2009 at the SLCC Miller Campus.

Sandy, UT

May 3-7

The Oracle Applications User Group will be holding Collaborate 09

Orlando, FL


Enough Already!
Our newsletter editor's dad, who is 82, likes to spend a little bit of time every day shredding his junk mail and then putting it into the pre-addressed stamped reply envelope and mailing it back in. That's one way to deal with too much information! We know how it is. You're on everybody's mailing list, and maybe you're just not interested in being there. Hey, we don't want to cram your mailbox unless you'd like to hear from us. So here's what you can do:

If you like our newsletter and think someone you know would like it as well, click on this box to forward it:
Forward to a Friend

And, if you're just not the right person for this newsletter, click on Safe Unsubscribe at the bottom of this newsletter and take yourself off the list.

And if you accidentally remove yourself from the list and want to be put back on, click here, enter your email and be sure to click Submit, then click Update Profile in the email that you receive.

And if we're just not hitting the topics that you want to hear about, either submit an article yourself, or click here and fill out our survey. We know people who know stuff - that's our claim to fame - and we'll get them to write about that stuff!