SAP Unicode Conversion

In August, I finally completed my year+ long Unicode conversion project. Below are a few teaser details.

The project was to have a combined Upgrade and Unicode conversion. Although it was considered "combined", there was a team of us that would do different tasks on the project. I was lead on the Unicode conversion and will mainly discuss those details.

Our ERP system was 6.40 going to 7.0. The database is Oracle 10.2.0.2. The size before the conversion was 2.8 Terabytes.

We had talked with SAP and they gave us an estimated downtime of 70+ hours, which was completely unacceptable. We only had a weekend(48 hours) to complete the production upgrade/conversion including analyst checkout.

I will give more details in upcoming posts, but I will tell you this, we came in way under 48 hours.

Oracle Open World 09 from a newbie part 4

The Wrap Up

My flight back to Tennessee left early Friday morning, however, I didn't arrive back home until 11pm. This gave me some well needed time to process what had gone on this past week.

In my previous posts, I mentioned everything about the event, but for this post I would like to mention what Open World has done for me.

1. It has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and hopefully stay in touch with them through twitter and other social networks.

2. It has made me want to get more involved in the Oracle community. I had spent a lot of time reading articles and books, but to see some of these experts and to hear them discuss what they know, has given me the drive to want to be like them. Along with this, I have set my first post Open World goal, which is to hopefully become an ACE.

3. One great by product of attending Open World is that it has given me something to write about. Which to my surprise has given me more attention as Oracle Open World Blog has graciously mentioned my posts several times. Thanks :)

Looking forward:

I am crossing my fingers that I will have my sophomore trip to Oracle Open World 201o, Sept. 19-23.

With any luck I might have the chance to go to Collaborate 2010, April 18-22, would be my first time attending. I have already started the list tweeters attending Collaborate 2010 to be added to list, tweet username to #gvwoods

In the meantime, check me out on twitter

Hope to see you there!!!

ORA-00604 error with no secondary error

To give you a little history, we have been having a problem for quite some time with a couple of our jobs running. They would not die every time, but when they did, they would have an ORA-00604 error. When you search online for the reasoning behind this error, just about everyone says to be able to determine the true error, look at the second ORA error. Unfortunately, there was no secondary error to be found in any log. So one of my colleagues spoke with Oracle and they told him to set the trace with the sql below and rerun the job to see the secondary error.

alter system set events '604 trace name errorstack level 3';

Finally we have the secondary error and are closer to figuring out the problem!

Explanation:
ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows
Cause: The number specified in exact fetch is less than the rows returned.
Action: Rewrite the query or change number of rows requested

Oracle Open World 09 from a newbie part 3

Beyond the sessions. What else do you need to do.

1. This is more of a have, then do, but you need a really good smartphone. Unfortunately, I didn't get my iPhone until a week after the conference, but I can say the iPhone was definitely the phone of choice. With the android coming out that may change, but either way you need the best phone you can. This year, I used my sprint phone to tweet about sessions, monitor blogs such as OracleOpenWorld, check my Oracle Mix schedule, keep up with what others were saying and doing and I even won an excellent prize package, consisting of a t-shirt and the PL/SQL book, which I got autographed. There were special giveaways for people who responded to different tweets during the conference.

2. OTN Lounge, this is a definite must do. I can say I spent quite a bit of time in there. I don't really know what to say about the experience except that this is where the action happens. There's free morning snacks, energy drinks during the day, beer in the afternoon, and great swag. There was also a great lineup of interviews that took place on most days. This is also where the who's who hang out. I can't even count the amount of Ace's that were just lounging on the comfy couches. The OTN lounge is also a great place to catch the keynotes if you don't want to fight the crowds.

3. Since I mentioned comfy couches, you really need to plan some downtime into your schedule. By the third day you will have taken in so much info and traveled so many miles that your feet and brain will both thank you for the downtime to relax.

4. While you visit the OTN or are getting in that downtime, take the time to get to know some people. Yes you must network. I would recommend getting to know as many people as you can. I was lucky enough to meet some great people and hang out with most of them for the entire conference. One of my best experiences was to get to know people who I wouldn't normally get to meet. Living here in the south, I rarely run into people from other countries, but at Open World, I would say the majority of the people I hung out with were from other countries and this made for some really good conversations and some very memorable laughs. Thanks to you all and hope to see you next year.

5. As I mentioned above about how good the OTN lounge was, you also need to attend all of the parties. Free food, free wine, free beer, great music(Aerosmith and Roger Daltrey(The Who)) and giveaways, what else can I say.

6. Unfortunately, I didn't get an invite and I found out about it too late, but if you have the chance check out "Oracle Closed World". I sure hope to get invited next year.

stay tuned for my next posting... The Wrap Up!

Oracle Open World 09 from a newbie part 2

Now for the conference.

Keys to getting the most out of your experience.

1. Research the speakers. This is one of the most important tasks that you need to do. I learned the hard way that numerous presentations are closer to sales pitches than technical details. If you look at the presenter closer than the title of the session you will be much more satisfied.

2. Do not sign up for every session. I had signed up for 5 or 6 sessions every day and left no time for "down time". Everyone needs to relax and take in what is happening around you.

3. Take the time to visit the exhibitor booths. You may not be interested in everything they want to sell you, but if you find one or two interesting items it is well worth it. Don't forget you can get all kinds of free stuff as well. Remember, if you take a flight to Open World make sure you leave room in your luggage for the swag. I barely fit everything that I got.

4. While you are visiting the exhibit booths, check out the demo grounds. You can get real hands on experience and have questions answered by those who know it.

5. The Unconference. My favorite part of the Open World experience. These sessions are amazing. Not only are the sessions presented by the best of the best, they are also attended by the best. What also makes these sessions stand out is the format, it is a much closer group of people and more personal. Questions are welcomed and sometimes the preferred format.

Up next.. what else you need to do at Oracle Open World

Oracle Open World 09 from a newbie part 1

Well now that its over, I wanted to pass on some hints for anybody who may decide to attend next year for the first time. One obvious thing is that if you have the ability to, book early. I am not sure if you will get any better hotel deals, but you will definitely save on the registration fee. You also need to get involved in the social media outlets as they all have a wealth of knowledge to help you, especially twitter, Oracle Mix, all of the Oracle blogs, not really sure how many there are, one of the main ones for the event is http://blogs.oracle.com/oracleopenworld/. You can start following these now.

Hints when packing for the conference. The number one essential is a good pair of shoes, it is not all about fashion. My number two suggestion is two pairs of socks for each day. As weird as it sounds, I found out that if you put on a fresh pair of socks half way through the day, your feet will appreciate it. Some other good items to pack are a light jacket, umbrella(unless you want to take your chances and then buy(probably $12) one if it rains), and a backpack to put all of the free swag that you are going to get. Just in case Oracle doesn't give them away again(see below).

This year and I am assuming next year as well you could research and pre-register for the sessions you want to attend. Do take time to not only look at the subject matter, but also see who is giving the presentation. This is very important and I will discuss this later.

I have heard a lot of people say that they are staying an extra day or two, which can be quite good as it gets you back into a normal routine, however if you want to go sightseeing, I suggest you come a day or two early. I know from my experience, that I am pretty worn out and would not feel like doing much sightseeing.

Once you have arrived, depending on when, you can go and check and get your goodies from Oracle, this year we got really nice backpacks. The alumni got nice windbreakers, maybe I will get one next year :) This years event started on Sunday(IOUG presentations) and I had arrived Saturday morning.

Up next the conference...

Exhibitors booth info at Oracle Open World

*****************Update***********

I have added this list to the tweeters list to make a one stop place.
http://gvwoods.blogspot.com/2009/10/tweeters-info-at-oracle-open-world.html

I'll build list of exhibitors tweets at OOW ex. EXTOL guess who did it at booth ... --exhibitors send info with tag #gvwoods

@EXTOL_B2Bi: Guess whodunnit at #oow09 in Booth 4041 for prizes. Watch the murder take place at http://www.extol.com/mystery

@IBMatOOW: Monday will be Information Management Day at IBM booth 733 at #OOW. Visit our booth to see the schedule of solution spotlights re Info Mgmnt

@Cathy4003 Stop by the EMC booth #1801 at #OOW, mention u heard about us on Twitter & get 2 chances to win cash & collect a special prize

@Quest_Toad Quest is showcasing the upcoming release of Toad for Oracle 10.0 at #OOW09 (booth 335) -- who's attending?

@TeamFuze - Quest will also be in TeamFuze booth 3701 with Microsoft. Stop by to learn about Project Fuze

Tweeters info at Oracle Open World

Check back as I will continue to update the list. To be added to list, tweet username, 1 line info adding #gvwoods and I will create list.

@gvwoods - Oracle DBA from Eastern Tennessee
@gregorydwhite - Storage product marketing at Dell.
@oracleopenworld- The official blog for all things Oracle OpenWorld

@ProLiant - HP ProLiant industry-standard servers and solutions

@PoppAtHP - Kristie Popp, Enterprise Servers, Storage & Networking

@chrispman01 - Chris Purcell, Enterprise Servers, Storage & Networking

@bladenews - HP ProLiant Blades servers and solutions

@BetsyLM

@DellatOracleWld

@IBMatOOW - For the latest info about IBM at Oracle Open World

@TeamFuze - Quest will also be in TeamFuze booth 3701 with Microsoft. Stop by to learn about Project Fuze

@EXTOL_B2Bi: Guess whodunnit at #oow09 in Booth 4041 for prizes. Watch the murder take place at http://www.extol.com/mystery

@Cathy4003 Stop by the EMC booth #1801 at #OOW, mention u heard about us on Twitter & get 2 chances to win cash & collect a special prize

@Quest_Toad Quest is showcasing the upcoming release of Toad for Oracle 10.0 at #OOW09 (booth 335) -- who's attending?

@cloakware_inc will be at #OOW #OOW09 discussing privileged account, security and ID management booth #4030

@entwistletx - Interested in SOA, BPM, and process intelligence (aka BI)

@fmtsystems - Business process integration consulting/#Oraclepartner

@merv - analyst at IT Market Strategy - love to do a poll with those willing

@daniellecormier

@jkuramot

@oracletechnet

@topperge

@dannorris

@billycripe

@martinpaulnash - DBA from UK. Excited to be heading to OpenWorld

@OracleIDM - The latest info on Oracle Identity Management

@Fuadar - DBA from chicago illinois ready to head to #oow09

@Oracle_JAPAC - (Oracle ASIA Feed) for live tweets from #OOW09 next week

@ERoske - Edward Roske, Oracle ACE Director for EPM/BI/Hyperion, getting ready to tweet about #OOW09.

@mrgareth - (Tech PR Oracle Aust & NZ) for live tweets from the floor of Oracle Openworld

@OracleRedRoom - (Oracle ANZ Feed) for live tweets from #OOW09 next week

@craftybeans - CFO/booth babe for greenEPM in the Green Marketplace, for the non-techie tweets! Come by and say hi! #OOW #oo09

@aus_effendi - Oracle Apps DBA from Austin, TX

@bucchere - Oracle Ace Director, Web Center Interaction(formerly BEA ALUI, formerly Plumtree) fro Arlington, VA

@aroyfaderman - Oracle ACE director (Fusion Middleware), Java EE architect, developer, and trainer from right near Oracle HQ

@stenvesterli - Oracle ACE Director (Fusion Middleware), developer, consultant & trainer from Denmark

@myfear - German author and software architect, Oracle ACE Director Fusion Middleware

@chriscmuir - Aussie Oracle ACE Director for Fusion Middleware

@lonnekedikmans - Oracle ACE Director, Managing Partner of Approach, Netherlands. SOA and enterprise architecture

@elygre - Oracle ACE Director, CTO of e-vita as, Norway. Oracle by day tango by night.

@bkhan - Oracle ACE Director for Fusion Middleware & Oracle Applications from Irvine, California

@guyharrison - Leaving Melbourne for #oow09 - my 12th #OOW ! Doing two talks and some book give-aways http://bit.ly/9kD6a

@brhubart - Architect MeetUp Monday Overlook III Moscone West

@omebos - will be there! First picks of #OOW09 are online! http://tr.im/Bh8Y

@murrayel - Oracle DBA from Olympia, Washington

@42_theanswer - Programmer/analyst Univ of Nevada, Reno - Oracle develop .net

@milehighmg - Martin Gruszka, Oracle BEA Portal

@d_cain - Project Manager from Omaha NE will be there | DUB ID: DC

@ChannelJen - Tweeting live from the OPN Forum, and throughout OOW on anything that may impact Oracle's 21,000 partners

@oracle partners - Daily Tweets from the Oracle PartnerNetwork fro VARs, SIs, ISVs, VADs and Remarketers worldwide

@lydiasmyers - OPN Forum

@CarolSato - OPN Forum

@leonsmiers - OPN Forum

@susanwu88 - OPN Forum

@thevarguy - OPN Forum

@TAMTraining - OPN Forum

@mfauscette - OPN Forum

@paulhamerman - Paul Hamerman tweeting at #oow09: Forrester industry analyst, VP, Enterprise apps and business processes

@identigral