As Published In January/February 2006

Tricks of the Trade
By Blair Campbell

Three peers on the best tools for database monitoring, backups, and remote administration

Jony Safi

Peer Specs Company: Vidéotron Ltée, the major cable services provider in Quebec Job Title/Description: Operations DBA, responsible for ensuring database administration, availability, functionality, and performance, in addition to data analysis Location: Montreal, Canada Length of Time Using Oracle Products: Seven years

How did you get started in IT? I started in college, while earning my BS in computer science. I was impressed by databases and their ability to store and manipulate data to produce important reports. I was introduced to Oracle in 1998 while working at a little company as a Delphi programmer. In 2000, I began working for Xerox in Brazil, and that's where my DBA career started.

What new techniques are you using to ensure database performance? In the Engineering department at Vidéotron Ltée, we have a mission-critical environment that needs to be monitored on a 24/7 basis. So I developed an application that accesses my databases and does a health check by collecting data and statistics, which it then stores in a centralized database. The application interface and the processes are made with Oracle HTML DB, which in my opinion is a great product.

What's your favorite thing to do that doesn't involve work? As a good Brazilian, I am a soccer fanatic, so in addition to my DBA career I'm also a professional soccer coach.

Laurent Leturgez
If you could change a feature of Oracle Database, what would it be? I would modify Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g to make it more intuitive for first-time users.

Peer Specs Company: TECHSYS, an information services firm Job Title/Description: Integration engineer, responsible for deploying new Oracle-based applications and integrating new data into existing applications Location: Lille, France Length of Time Using Oracle Products: Four years

Now that you're using Oracle Database 10g, which of its features are you finding most valuable? When minor evolutions on models occur, flashback capabilities are very useful and help save time for backups. Internal scheduling and Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) are two other features I'm really finding valuable—ADDM in particular offers a way to monitor databases and make more-precise decisions if problems occur.

What technology has most changed your life? Locally managed tablespace and UNDO management. Since their introduction in Oracle9i Database, I've saved a lot of time on database monitoring.

You mention that you've taken an Oracle University class. What led you to do this? I began my career working with Oracle products, and I thought that a class was the best way to know exactly how Oracle works. The instructor was an Oracle Certified Master, and his knowledge of and experience with the database server was very helpful. During the class, I used the Oracle documentation, which is still one of my favorite resources.

Brian Carr

Peer Specs Company: GOJO Industries, a leading manufacturer of hand hygiene and skin care products Job Title/Description: Database services and Web application development supervisor, responsible for managing all database services and for oversight of in-house Web application development within the Oracle environment Location: Akron, Ohio Oracle Credentials: Oracle-certified DBA (Oracle8i) with eight years of experience using Oracle products Oracle ACE

Tell us more about your current company, GOJO Industries. Most people know us for the Purell sanitizing product we created, but I was first introduced to GOJO in my father's garage. We always had a tub of GOJO cleaner—it's a staple for any mechanic.

What's your favorite tool or technique? My persistence. Keeping at a problem has helped me time after time. As [Rush lyricist and drummer] Neil Peart says, "You can do a lot in a lifetime if you don't burn out too fast."

Do you use wireless technologies on the job? I'm currently trying out a BlackBerry device to see how it can help us with remote administration of our database and Web environment. I'm also seeing how we can leverage our existing custom applications on the BlackBerry platform.