Oracle Database Management Strategic Directions

1. Best Practices for managing Oracle database servers.
2. Oracle Fusion Middleware products like J2EE, ADF, XML, BPEL, SOA, Web Services, Discoverer...).
3. Oracle Application Servers and Apache.

Today was an excellent wrap up to RMOUG training days. A summary of highlights:

• For RMOUG being a local users group event, there were a large number of top Oracle presenters who flew in for the conference.
  
• A large number of excellent performance tuning presentations. Performance tuning was a major focus.
  
• The networking and interaction of the attendees was as good as I've seen at a conference in years.
• I would put the quality of all of the presentations be extremely high for the conference.
• There were no marketing presentations. Excellent focus on technical presentations with high ROI for attendees.
  

An observation: Oracle10gR2 has been out a long time (2005) and there has been a slow adoption rate of Oracle Database Server 11gR1. So as we start the new year, I wanted to see how have skills and tools of DBAs have evolved in the last few years and what is changing around DBAs. A few thoughts about DBAs between 2005 and 20010:

• DBAs have gotten very, very good with core skills such as performance tuning, backup/recovery, ASM, RAC, partitioning, OEM, etc. So if you are a DBA you'd better have some very serious skills to compete as a senior DBA.
• DBAs are adding lots of scripts, tricks and techniques to managing Oracle database servers.
  
• I was surprised to see the large number of DBAs are still interested in basic DBA skills and knowledge.
  
• Still a small percentage of DBAs that are really good with Streams, Data Guard, XML, etc.
• A lot of DBAs are not using OEM features in 10g to manage their database servers due to licensing of management packs.
  
• DBAs are not migrating to managing the middle tier. For the most part DBAs are staying to the database server. There are more developers migrating to managing the middle tier, similar to how the traditional developers migrated to be come DBAs.
• There is still a long way to go to develop people's skills in Oracle Fusion Middleware (J2EE, Web Services, XML, BPEL, SOA, etc). Most people I talked to at the conference still do not even understand what Oracle Fusion Middleware is. If you ask attendees what is Oracle Fusion Middleware or why is it important, I'd bet 9 out of 10 could not answer these questions.
  

Overall a great success for the conference. Way to go RMOUG!

Now on to IOUG Collaborate 2009 in Orlando, FL starting May 3rd 2009!

Labels: RMOUG 2009