A brief headsup for everyone responsible for maintaining kernel options in the oracle executable. The environment where I discovered this is a 3 node racattack cluster with Oracle GI & RDBMS 12.1.0.2.0. After enabling Unified auditing in my 12.1.0.2 database I noticed that all of a sudden database startup started […]
Architecture
One of the many nice new features in 12c database: code based access control
Topic of this blog is a nice new feature in 12c, not the plsql package I built that’s using it. So here’s the story.. For one of our customers we needed to have a simple schema comparison tool that would be able to check, as part of application deployment activity, […]
Saving money by understanding Oracle licensing part 2
In part 1 the basics were explained. In this part II other topics will be treated like virtualizing, engineered systems, SE2, Unlimited License Agreements, Cloud and other stuff. Whenever I can I will link to other posts. Comments or additions are welcome. And of course, if there are still any questions […]
Saving money by understanding Oracle licensing, part 1
Oracle and licenses. The general feeling most of the time is that you pay too much for the use of the Oracle products, and it’s not always sure if you are compliant, because of the complexity of the rules. This – hopefully clarifying – blog is part of a small […]
Benefits of a Canonical Data Model (CDM) in a SOA environment
Introduction The last few years I’ve been working in several SOA related projects, small projects as well as quite large projects. Almost all of these projects use a Canonical Data Model (CDM). In this post I will explain what a CDM is and point out what the benefits are of […]
Utilizing your IT environment with Oracle Database Appliance
I admit, I’m a bit of a fan of the Oracle Database Appliance. And I also admit there are some characteristics of the X5-2 ODA’s which made it sometimes a bit hard to fit in the needs of the customer. I’ll come to that later in this post. With the […]
Digital Transformation calls for comprehensive Information Security measures.
Do you want to know how your company can survive Cyber Security threats? And what can be an approach to stay compliant? Have you ever thought about security related opportunities and business enablers? Then continue reading this blog post! And find out how we can help you. Digital Transformation takes […]
Continuous Delivery Pipeline – Overview, considerations and tools for Oracle Database and Fusion Middleware
It is important to consider the broad range of tools and product for creating your Continuous Delivery Pipeline. From this perspective we share our vision on the Continuous Delivery Pipeline specifically for the Oracle stack. This document is an overview and guide for the complete delivery pipeline and shows our […]
How to create a private 10 Gb network on an ODA X5-2
In my previous post Network considerations on an ODA X5-2 I described a solution where I created a private network to optimize network performance between the components running on an Oracle Database Appliance. I am talking about a Virtualized setup in this article, and rebuilding the second pair of public […]
Network considerations on an ODA X5-2
When you buy an Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) X5-2 off the shelve, you will get a machine with four times 10Gb copper Ethernet (bonded into two interfaces) for public communication and two 40Gb InfiniBand (bonded into one interface) for interconnect communication between the two ODA_BASE’s. You would think that should […]
Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S and X6-2M, filling the gap
Oracle introduced the ODA X6-2S and ODA X6-2M. And no, they are not the successor of the quite popular ODA X5-2, which we installed and configured quite a number of times lately. These 2 new machines are the in-between ODA’s, entry level machines for small business. Single node with flash […]
Connect Oracle Enterprise Manager 13 to Amazon’s Cloudwatch
Oracle Enterprise Manager 13C has been introduced as a ‘single pane of glass’. Managing and monitoring all the assets, in or out of the public cloud. But when creating an RDS- database instance in Amazon’s cloud, it is monitored by Cloudwatch, and it’s not possible to install a so-called Oracle […]
Chargeback in Oracle Enterprise manager 13C
Since Oracle Enterprise Manager 12C it is possible to allocate the costs of IT resources to the people of organizations who consume them. This is done through the use of the plugin ‘Consolidation Planning and Chargeback’ . Pete Sharman wrote an excellent blog about configuring this plugin in Enterprise Manager […]
Why go to a seminar or conference?
Developing a solid business case for going to a conference is not always easy. Most of the time the company culture dictates the succes-rate of your attempt. The necessity for your own development is of great importance to you but is most of the time not the prevailing factor for the company. […]
Continuous Delivery and the Oracle database (III)
In this series of blogs about Continuous Delivery and the Oracle database, I describe how to automate deployments (installations). In the previous two Blogs I have described the tools and techniques used to create and install migration scripts. In this Blog I will describe the ‘(un)happy flow’ for a database […]
News: The Oracle Microsoft Azure Private Cloud Machine
Last week Oracle announced the Oracle Cloud Machine. This solution enables organizations to reap all the full advantages of the Oracle Cloud products within the walls of their own datacenter. This way oracle delivers on the promise of “private cloud” the notion of a cloud behind your own firewall with all […]
Simple problems and simple solutions
Most developers have struggled with wires in SOA composites. You may find yourself in a situation where a wire has been deleted. Some missing wires are restored by JDeveloper. Other missing wires have to be added manually, by simply re-connecting the involved adapters and components. Simple. Recently, I had […]
Migrating Red Hat Linux subscription to Oracle
I never realized in depth the difference between a Linux subscription and a license. Linux is open source, so the software itself is for free. No license to use it is required. But when you buy a Linux support subscription, you are legally entitled to download the ISO images […]
Oracle Conference @AMIS June 2 and 3 >> Register Now
2016 is the 25th anniversary of AMIS. Time for celebration with an Oracle Open World-like conference near Amsterdam in The Netherlands. A perfect way to enjoy one of the 100+ sessions and network with your peer Oracle Experts. Join us on June 2nd and 3rd and register here for this conference. […]
Oracle Public Cloud Confusion
I always thought I could address the main differences between private and public cloud. Oracle announced the ‘Oracle Private Cloud Machine’ at Oracle Open World 2015 which runs locally, offering a private cloud for an organization. Then Oracle decided to rename it to ‘Oracle Public Cloud Machine’. And I think […]
Usage Tracking Reports, using Oracle Enterprise Manager 13C as a SAM tool
Still loving the idea to use Oracle Enterprise Manager as a ‘kind of ‘ Software Asset Management Tool, and get regular centralized reports that tells me what Oracle software is running and if there are changes in use of licenses over time. The necessary data is already there in the […]
Performance by using patterns in service implementations
Performance in service oriented environments is often an issue. This is usually caused by a combination of infrastructure, configuration and service efficiency. In this blog article I provide several suggestions to improve performance by using patterns in service implementations. The patterns are described globally since implementations can differ across specific […]
Simple security system using Raspberry Pi 2B + Razberry + Fibaro Motion Sensor (FGMS-001)
In this article I’ll describe how I created a simple home-brew burglar detection system to send me a mail when someone enters my house (so I can call the police). First my choice for the components is explained. Next how these components combine to achieve the functionality wanted. Based on […]
How to integrate Oracle Enterprise Single Sign on with Windows login.
Last month I helped a customer integrate a legacy application with Oracle Enterprise Single Single On (ESSO) version 11.1.2.3. I configured the legacy application within ESSO so the login manager would recognize the screens and log the user in. I got it all to work, but ran into a problem […]
Oracle Cloud en de Europese Privacy regels; waar moeten we op letten?
Als Oracle gebruiker ziet u de mogelijkheden van de Oracle Cloud. De grote flexibiliteit, de mogelijkheid om capaciteit bij en af te schalen, instant diensten en het maandelijkse verrekenmodel. Alleen al de korte doorlooptijd voor (tijdelijke) omgevingen en de verminderde beheerinspanning kunnen leiden tot een flinke verbetering in efficiëntie. Zo bent u minder bezig met de dagelijkse operatie van […]
Reflections after Oracle OpenWorld 2015 – Identity Management (IAM, OIM, OAM and primarily: IDCS)
Clearly, identity and access management is crucial. For on premises enterprise applications, with mobile apps and no less with cloud based applications. Identity and Access Management revolves around a number of aspects: · management of users and accounts, passwords and access methods as well as management of roles, application privileges, […]
Oracle OpenWorld 2015: Finally a real Vision and Mission. A pleasant surprise
For me the 2015 Oracle OpenWorld was a pleasant surprise. The surprise was not the announcement of an additional set of cloud products like the Identity Cloud or the Application Builder Cloud Service. The biggest surprise was the different tone of voice during the conference. In the past you could […]
API Management: Oracle’s vision from OOW
Being at Oracle Open World you get a chance to learn about Oracle’s vision and strategy directly. In this blog I’ll summarize some of the things I learned about Oracle’s vision on API Management from Oracle Product Management. API management API Management is becoming more and more important. Major drivers for […]
Whitepaper: How to reach an optimal Cloud Security Level
With the rise of cloud applications, a new way of looking at security is required. Security is no longer concentrated only within the perimeter of your company. The scope of your security management also needs to include the cloud providers that offer services to you. From a security perspective, this […]
Oracle licenses needed while monitoring your (non-)Oracle environment with OEM
With Oracle Enterprise Manager you are able to monitor an Oracle environment as well as a non-Oracle environment, like Microsoft’s SQL Server. You are also able to exchange notifications between Oracle Enterprise Manager and e.g. Microsoft’s SCOM, and there’s a choice how to monitor this heterogeneous environment. One of the […]
Database security for MySQL – MySQL Database Firewall
Looking at breaches in information systems and Cyber Crime the focus of the perpetrators is always aimed at our data. The goal is to copy, modify or even destroy the core of our business. Data protection serious business and you need to take serious measures to prevent unauthorized access. Almost half of […]
Use DB Vault to protect password strength policy
Suppose your organization wants to enforce a security policy on database password strength. The DBA’s have implemented a password strength verification function in PLSQL such as the oracle supplied ora12c_strong_verify_function in the DEFAULT profile of the database. There seems no way to get around it at first: Database account u4 […]
Managing identity information from multiple sources with Oracle Identity Manager, Part 1
When you are implementing Oracle Identity Manager to manage the identities within your organization, you may have to use multiple sources for identity information. For instance, there might be different departments with their own HR system and there might be separate sources for customers or business partners. In this article […]
Still no news from the security front…
This week I was doing research for one of our internal knowledge session when I stumbled across an interesting piece of history. I was tracing the history of computer security when I found an interview from Wired from the first people who implemented passwords as a security measure. They interviewed […]
Security Features of Standard Edition (One) – Part 2
or Some Musings on the Security Implications of Oracle Database Initialization Parameters Still following the steps of a database installation, this article will muse about some Initialization Parameters with security relevance. In order to make a Standard Edition database as secure as possible we could start by looking what is […]
Licensing ODA on NUP’s and with different metrics
Since Oracle launched the Oracle Database Appliance a few years ago it has become clear that only the Enterprise Edition is allowed on the machine. But when NOT using the bare metal setup (not the OracleVM) it’s not always quite transparent what kind of licensing requirements is needed and allowed. More […]
WebLogic Server and OpenLDAP. Using dynamic groups
Dynamic groups in an LDAP are groups which contain a query to specify its members instead of specifying every member separately. Efficient usage of dynamic groups makes user maintenance a lot easier. Dynamic groups are implemented differently in different LDAP server implementations. Weblogic Server can be configured to use dynamic […]
Keeping track of your licenses with OEM12C – reports
Wouldn’t be nice to get regularly informed how (in)compliant you are with Oracle licenses in an easy – centralized – way, and therefore not have to worry about visits of Oracle’s LMS – License Management Services? I think that would be nice for the most of us. Running LMS-scripts on […]
How to integrate OAM with windows natively (Part 2)
Two weeks ago one of my co-workers asked me if it was possible to integrate Active Directory with Oracle Access Manager. So here is my two part mini-series on working with Oracle Access and Active Directory. Today I will talk about Kerberos authentication, or in other words, how you can […]
How to integrate OAM with Windows Active Directory (Part 1)
Last week one of my co-workers asked me if it was possible to integrate Active Directory with Oracle Access Manager. So here is my two part mini-series on working with Oracle Access and Active Directory. In the first post I will focus on integrating with active directory on a basic […]