Who is this? I Dunno...

Hi Everyone!!

Greetings..Its been quite long time since I blogged. I have been quite busy with stabilizing my 16 node mid-tier, 4 node RAC environment. It crashes frequently!!! I am bit relieved this week. No crashes!! :-) I have been getting so many mails from the readers of the blog, asking their issues and scenarios. I hope I have answered them promptly, if not immediately in a day or two. I appreciate your patience. I am happy to answer your questions. As usual drop your questions when you have one.

In this post, I just wanted to give general ideas for the beginners to deal with " I Dunno" situation.

Apps is so complex & dynamic

Oracle Ebiz suite is so complex and dynamic product due to the nature of its architecture.
It depends on Database product and Application Server product. Changes that happens in any of the product will affect Apps behavior. To add the complexity, too many new features and fixes are being made by apps developers day to day. How to deal with this dynamic product?

In developers perspective, coding is all about the making the efficient algorithm to reduce time(how much time it takes to run the code) and space(how much memory it takes) complexity.
In DBA perspective, Supporting the apps is all about reducing the time(reducing the time to figure out the issue and fix) and increasing the space(how much external orientation you have) complexity!! Expanding above statement, You need to resolve the issues in the acceptable SLA time limits. To meet the SLA, you need to have much external(space) orientation.

As a Beginner, Here are the Area's you need to concentrate to deal with "I Dunno" situation.

I) Metalink

First and foremost you needs to use metalink extensively!!. www.metalink.oracle.com should be the first link you should click when you come to office daily!!

Metalink vs Google
Though Google gives considerable amount of hits, when you support apps, I advise to use metalink rather Google. You will be getting good hits in google when you face db related issues.

Use advanced search wisely to narrow down the hits.

II) Oracle Support:

If you face difficulty handling the issues after searching metalink, say no hits or you think its a bug with oracle product, Oracle SR would be the ideal choice. Working effectively with Oracle support Note:166650.1

I have seen folks raising TAR/SR without full details/problem statements. It just delays the TAR resolution time. Convey the issues clearly to Oracle support to get the correct resolution. If you look at the others perspective, if the DBA who is having full access to the database is not able to understand what is the issue, how the remote oracle engineer who doesn't have access to your database can understand the problem? (without understanding the problem obviously no resolution is possible). Communicate clearly to Oracle support. Do not make assumption. Convey the issue as is.

III) Oracle Forums

Create your own Oracle forums account if you haven't yet one. Oracle forums is the best medium to communicate with the community to get help. Even I have seen scenario's where Oracle Directors look at the forum updates and they help with possible solution.
Get started with forums - http://forums.oracle.com/. There are apps geeks like Hsawwan, Fadi, Michael Taylor to help you always.

IV) Oracle Documentation set

Its superset of all information sources. If you read the entire documentation set, you will be having in depth knowledge. Here is the link to download the documentation set.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/applications.html

V) What is new in Ebiz?

Best place to look at new in ebiz is Oracle's ATG Sr.Director Steven's blog. If you haven't registered with Steven's blog yet, I would recommend to register immediately. http://blogs.oracle.com/schan/ is the URL.

VI) Blogs

Blogs are best to get information from the field DBA's experience. There are good blogs in this web to get more information on ebiz suite.
http://blogs.oracle.com/ gives you the good list of blogs.

VII) Oracle University

To gain the knowledge in short period of time, you can make use of Oracle university courses.
http://education.oracle.com/ is the URL to find current trainings in your locality.

VIII) Books

I have seen Oracle Ebiz 11i/R12 book from Joyjeet Banerjee, which is worth reading.
It covers both 11i and R12.

If you are newbie, I hope you will find this article useful.!! See you in next technical article.