Blue Gecko

Blue Gecko named to 2010 Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest growing companies in America!

yvusataya — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:42:32 +0000

Blue Gecko is one of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the second year in a row. An Inc. 500|5000 recipient in 2009, Blue Gecko is once again listed in Inc. Magazines’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

The list debuted in 1981 as a ranking of the 100 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The following year, it expanded to the Inc. 500, and in 2007 they inaugurated the Inc. 5000. Through each evolution, Inc. has sought to recognize and to celebrate the creativity, dedication, and hard work that entrepreneurs put into building their companies.

A big thanks to all of our customers and wonderful employees for once again earning this honor!

Finding thread IDs and names of SQL Server background threads

jwilton — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:57:09 +0000

In Microsoft SQL Server, session IDs of 50 or less are dedicated background threads. These are analogous to Oracle’s background processes. Suppose you needed to obtain the Windows thread ID of a SQL server background thread. Just try finding out how to do that in the Microsoft documentation or by Googling. I tried, and came up empty-handed.

Why might you need to know this kind of thing? Well suppose one of those threads was misbehaving or hanging. You would need to debug it and obtain a stack trace. For that you would need the OS thread ID.

A little sleuthing shows that you need to query three dynamic system views: sys.dm_os_threads, sys.dm_os_workers and sys.dm_exec_requests. The following SQL should do the trick in MSSS 2005 and 2008:

1> select session_id, command, os_thread_id
2> from sys.dm_exec_requests as r
3> join sys.dm_os_workers as w on r.task_address = w.task_address
4> join sys.dm_os_threads as t on t.thread_address = w.thread_address
5> where session_id <= 50
6> order by session_id
7> go

session_id command          os_thread_id
---------- ---------------- ------------
1          RESOURCE MONITOR         2776
2          XE TIMER                 2908
3          XE DISPATCHER            2416
4          LAZY WRITER              1316
5          LOG WRITER               2404
6          LOCK MONITOR             1592
7          SIGNAL HANDLER           1516
9          TRACE QUEUE TASK         1544
10         BRKR TASK                1540
11         TASK MANAGER             1524
13         CHECKPOINT               1520
14         BRKR EVENT HNDLR         1556
15         BRKR TASK                1552
16         BRKR TASK                1536

With these IDs in hand, you can use a thread debugging tool like Sysinternals Process Explorer to kill, debug or otherwise troubleshoot the problem.

SQL Server

Good OCP / bad OCP

jwilton — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:20:49 +0000

For those contemplating launching a career in Oracle database administration, there are essentially three routes:

Oracle education and certification (OCP)
Third-party educational programs (University and private training)
Self-directed study and experimentation

Most entering into the field assume that to be employable, they must become an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP). They might be surprised to know that most working Oracle professionals do not have this certification.

Although having an OCP is a nice way to show a prospective employer that you are serious about your profession, this certification has never gained the kind of universal traction that Microsoft’s MCSE has. There are a few reasons for this:

Oracle education has not matched curriculum with business needs
The Oracle certifications are very expensive
Generally, companies hire Oracle DBAs based on technical merit, not paper certifications

Oracle’s classes and exams emphasize memorization of syntax and specific values and settings, instead of broader concepts. The kind of minutia that must be retained to pass an OCP exam is easily referenced day to day in the Oracle manuals. Senior professionals in our field frequently do not know specific syntax and parameters. What makes them senior is their broader, holistic understanding of Oracle systems, and the ability to solve problems.

The OCP certification costs over $2000 and exposes candidates to a minimum amount of practical hands-on experience. Candidates must attend just one 5-day class in person or on-line and pass two exams to complete the program. Needless to say this does not prepare anyone to face the real-life challenges of managing enterprise production systems. It simply graduates people skilled at memorization and test taking.

More and more, the meritocratic culture of the Internet has pervaded hiring strategies for Oracle professionals. That means that a person who has a broad and holistic knowledge of systems, and can ace a phone screen, is more valued in hiring decisions than someone who simply boasts an OCP credential. Interviewers are much more likely to ask, “How would you deal with the following scenario…?” rather than “What is the exact syntax for …?”

The value of private education and self-directed study

Many universities and private companies have crafted programs to provide education services that seek to fill the void left by Oracle University’s lack of practical orientation. These programs emphasize hands-on lab exercises, concepts and best practices.

Blue Gecko has taken a keen interest in one program at the University of Washington: UW Professional and Continuing education’s Certificate in Oracle Database Administration. This weekly three-hour night class runs from October 2010 through June 2011. Blue Gecko’s president, Chuck Edwards serves on the academic board for this program, and it is largely taught by… me!

Two things make the University of Washington program unique:

Each student maintains their own 64-bit Linux Oracle server on Amazon EC2 for the duration of the program, compliments of Amazon Web Services
I deliver the course simultaneously in person in downtown Seattle at the UW’s Puget Sound Plaza, and over the Internet via Adobe Connect. This means that students from anywhere in the world can take the course by attending virtually.

Even with the benefit of a class like the UW certificate program, anyone serious about becoming an Oracle DBA must be self-directed, and engage in plenty of independent experimentation and study. Oracle’s development license allows anyone to download their software and run it for purposes of independent experimentation. My course at the UW is designed to orient students so that they are prepared to build independently on the knowledge they gained in the course. During the course, I assign independent projects and reading. The goal of the course is to prepare students to think critically and formulate intelligent solutions both on the job and in job interviews.

Being an Oracle DBA can be a lucrative and interesting career. But trying to break in using the Oracle certifications may prove more challenging than some might expect. Consider the third-party education route, combined with independent study for your best chance at professional success.

Oracle Education – Our First DBA Class!!

Meet Blue Gecko Face to Face at NWOUG 2010 Conference!

yvusataya — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:51:25 +0000

Chuck Edwards, JJ Ecker, Jeremiah Wilton, Rick Harwood and Ken Safranek will be attending the 2010 NWOUG Conference in Portland, OR.
Stop by the Blue Gecko booth at the Business Exhibition or attend Jeremiah’s presentation and learn about “Database Deathmatch: Oracle vs. SQL Server”. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

NWOUG 2010 Conference
Thursday, Aug 26, 2010, 7:30 AM until 7:00 PM
Location: The Nines Hotel http://www.thenines.com
525 SW Morrison St Portland, OR 97204
More info: http://nwoug.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=165905&module_id=51142
Registration: http://nwoug.org/content.aspx?page_id=87&club_id=165905&item_id=129527

Presenter: Jeremiah Wilton
Presentation topic: Database Deathmatch: Oracle vs. SQL Server
Presentation description: We’ve all been there. Someone disses your RDBMS, and the next thing you know, you’re all “my RDBMS can beat up your RDBMS.” Brave talk, but is it ever really put to the test?
In this explosive, live demonstration, identical Windows servers run Oracle 11gR2 and SQL Server 2008 R2. Under full workload, the databases undergo several identical crises. An I/O failure. A datafile corruption. A user screws up and updates a whole table because he forgot a where clause. Finally, we run the two databases on the same server and turn up the workload until these titans of data processing are all up in each others’ grills. The RDBMS with the best uptime and ability to continue transacting business wins. The one flailing in a hopeless state of abject failure loses.
Who wants to see which enterprise database product fails most spectacularly under load when denied the most basic resources, such as I/O and CPU? We do!

Meet Blue Gecko Face to Face at NWOUG 2010 Conference!

yvusataya — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:11:28 +0000

Blue Gecko implements Oracle E-Business Suite on EC2

cedwards — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:25:56 +0000

Earlier this year, Blue Gecko designed and implemented an Oracle EC2 solution for Sage Manufacturing, an Oracle E-Business Suite customer. Download the white paper here, and read how Blue Gecko leveraged the flexible, cost-effective Amazon EC2 platform to improve Sage’s Oracle E-Business Suite infrastructure.

Velocity 2010 – MySQL Scaling & Operations

yvusataya — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:04:49 +0000

Event: Velocity
Title: MySQL Scaling & Operations
Speaker: Sarah Novotny
When: June 24th
Where: Hyatt Santa Clara in Santa Clara, CA,
More Info: MySQL Scaling & Operations

I’m a founding partner of Blue Gecko. I manage and am a senior administrator in the Open Databases / LAMP practice. We do remote administration and management of databases around the world.

I additionally run the Seattle meetups for LinuxChix, MySQL, and one focused on Opensource and general geeky socializing.

Oracle Open World 2010 – You Know Databases, So how hard can MySQL Be?

yvusataya — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:54:32 +0000

Event: Oracle Open World
Title: You Know Databases, So how hard can MySQL Be?
Speaker: Sarah Novotny
When: Sunday, September 19
Where: Oracle OpenWorld, JavaOne, and Oracle Develop San Francisco Marriott Marquis
More Info: MySQL Sunday

“Tech Café” – Blue Gecko Sponsored Event!

yvusataya — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:17:00 +0000

Date: June 21, 2010 4:30 pm-7:00 pm
Venue: Red Lion Terrace Garden Lounge
Address: 1415 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, United Google Map

This will be Blue Gecko‘s second time hosting and this time they are going all out! We’ll be hosting just next door at the Red Lion’s terrace deck and Avelle/ Bag Borrow or Steal, Inc will be giving a talk as will Jeremiah Wilton (who should prove interesting for all you database techies)!!

Of course the event is free to attend and there will be free drinks/food, there will also be great people to talk to and network with, and an awesome talk – we changed the name, but we didn’t change the event.

Jeremiah has worked with Oracle technology since 1994. His main claim to fame is having been Amazon.com’s first database administrator, back in the pre-IPO days. For seven years, he helped Amazon.com survive exponential scaling, and a wide variety of nearly-catastrophic technology failures. Jeremiah owned and ran ORA-600 Consulting for a number of years, until it was acquired by Blue Gecko, Inc., a global provider of remote administration for Oracle, MySQL and E-Business Suite. Jeremiah also teaches the Oracle certificate program for the University of Washington. Jeremiah is an Oracle Certified Master, a member of the Oak Table, and a frequent presenter at industry conferences and user groups. His publications and whitepapers can be found at www.bluegecko.net.

This will be a fun way to kick off the TechCafe event series – we will be opening it up to more creative events as well as trying even harder to show off cool Northwest tech companies (at their offices). There are some great events in the works for the rest of summer and there is a lot more content on the site so be sure to subscribe to the feed and stay on this mailing list for information.

Blue Gecko will be attending SAWSUG June Meeting

yvusataya — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:26:41 +0000

Blue Cecko will be attending the Seattle AWS User Group (SAWSUG) June Meeting