I was recently asked to update the EBS Plugin from 12.1.0.2.0 to 12.1.0.3.0 in my Cloud Control 12 setup. During the prereq steps I got an error: "EM-04050: The selected plug-ins cannot be deployed on the Management Server because there are some Management Agents on which incompatible versions of these plug-ins have been deployed."
Unfortunately no other information was given. I knew there must be some old versions of the Agent plugin floating around out there but didn't have an easy way to find them. Oracle Support to the rescue... Run the following against your SYSMAN schema:

This second vizualization is more of a workflow proof of concept compared to some novel visualization but I can guarantee you haven't seen the SCOTT.EMP table like this before. I have wanted to combine my two favorite tools for a while. Here is how you can drive a d3.js visualization directly from a SQL Developer custom report.

I enjoyed giving my presentation on SQL Developer User Defined Reports to the 2014 East Coast Oracle Users Conference. This is a local conference that is a great value and pulls in lots of fun folks that attend and present.

DMann-SQLDeveloper4Reporting.pdf

Check out my GitHub project for examples and source code : https://github.com/dmann99/SQLDevUDRepPack

The first visualization I will be working on is something I have been wanting for a while. I need a way to quickly show SQL Statement performance over time for 1 statement, especially to identify Execution Plan volatility. When researching performance problems I often need to quickly digest historical performance of a trouble statement - a statement that usually has run fine for years but now has started acting up.

It is time for me to get my rear in gear. I have tons of notes floating around on Oracle administration and performance related visualizations I would like to work on but without a deadline things start dragging out... Like when you have a weight loss or stop smoking goal that becomes real when you tell people about it.

I gave my talk "Time for Some New Graphs: Incorporating Time and Animation Elements into Your Web App Visualizations" at KScope14 this week. As usual KScope has delivered on content and experts. I have been enjoying immersing myself in the Administration and Apex tracks.

Here are the slides to my presentation : Time For Some New Graphs - Slides

I am currently getting my mind blown by Craig Shallahamer's Oracle Conference on the James presentation on Detailing Oracle CPU Consumption... But earlier today I was able to give my talk on Oracle Data Auditing... Well minus the demos because I need to get better about cutting out slides.

Here are the links to the slides: DataAuditingConceptsAndImplementation.pdf

I have been messing around in JavaScript and d3.js a bit more than usual lately.

In the past my JavaScript prototyping environment was a collection of html/js/json files on my local disk and a basic HTTP server (like python SimpleHTTPServer). I would edit files and reload reload reload reload. Very tiresome. Not very "2014" if you ask me.

Well I have seen the light, there are a few ways to skin this cat and get into a more robust and interactive development environment.

As the licensing of the Oracle Flashback Features has changed over recent releases I wanted to provide a summary. In 12c Oracle has opened up basic usage of Flashback Data Archive which is a handy way to add data archiving capabilities to existing/legacy applications.
The cost part of Flashback Data Archive is now an Optimization feature which reportedly will reduce the disk space requirements by 2-4 times. This requires an Advanced Compression license to use.

table,td,th
{
border:5px grey;
}
td
{
border:1pm solid black;
}

I have been encountering a lot of Plus/Delta activity at the end of my meetings and projects. Basically it is an informal feedback mechanism. A chance to communicate 1) what was good about the meeting and 2) what may need to be changed in the future.

I can appreciate the sentiment. Just having a project or meeting leader ask for the feedback is a great step forward in improving processes. One of my group leaders took it a step further though when applying it to tasks or projects.