Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been and is the undisputed king of the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market, and as of the end of December 2016, AWS is estimated to control an incredible 40% of the entire public IaaS market, according to the quarterly research conducted by the Synergy Research Group. AWS also leads…

Oracle, the database giant, has been making inroads into all aspects of the cloud market for the last few years, and its already existing lead in the database management services (DBMS) market has helped fuel its growth. The Oracle Database Cloud Service is built on its existing Database technology, and the service’s ease of use…

Oracle Compute Cloud Service is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud solution that provides on-demand, rapidly scalable computing infrastructure and resources in the public cloud domain. The solution provided are secure, cost-effective, highly reliable, and you pay as you need. There are various IaaS offerings under this service such as Compute, Dedicated Compute, and SPARC Model 300….

Outsourcing database administration (DBA) services has become increasingly popular in recent years as firms have started to realize the innumerable benefits associated with outsourcing. Outsourcing has become a widely accepted method of managing entire IT service, and not DBA alone. There exist several firms that are capable of highly efficient DBA services as and when…

Using a hybrid cloud approach most definitely seems to be the way forward due to the benefits accrued by using private clouds and public clouds. Hybrid cloud computing is key to efficient management of a firm’s application workloads as different applications require a different platform. However, hybrid cloud does not come without its fair share…

As a managed services and technology consulting company we are only as good as the people that support our customers. We go to great lengths to ensure we hire individuals that have the right technical background, attitude, and drive. Over the course of the year MiCORE reviews hundreds of resumes and interviews dozens of candidates…

Reasons for and the Benefits of Upgrading to Oracle 12c For Oracle customers still running version 11g, Oracle has already announced EOL for Premium Support.  Extended Support is available until 2020, but that comes with added costs.  Yet there are other reasons than just support costs for upgrading to version 12c, mainly new features that…

A hybrid approach to cloud incorporates the benefits of public cloud services, enterprise-controlled private clouds, and the once dominant dedicated hosting services. Hybrid approaches have been all the range in the last couple of years as enterprises can avail the advantages of each service while minimizing risk levels. With a hybrid cloud, an enterprise’s data…

Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most popular cloud computing services available today. AWS was launched in 2006 as a subsidiary of Amazon Inc. as an on-demand cloud computing platform. AWS provides a wide range of cloud computing infrastructure such as support for application interfaces, bandwidth allocation, and near unlimited…

This is the last of a 4-post blog series comparing Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs. Oracle Cloud. In this post, we discuss the Service-Level Agreement (SLA) provided by each vendor, and share key takeaways from the blog series.   Service Level Agreement Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an umbrella concept that some people tend to…

The Best Practices for Protecting Your Data There is nothing more valuable for a business than the data that they obtain and store each and every day. This information serves as a backbone for running all operations of your business and requires only the most efficient database security systems and protocols for the best results….

This is the third of a 4-post series comparing Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs. Oracle Cloud.  In this post, we compare the interfaces of each vendor. To write this review, we gave both Oracle and Amazon a trial run by signing up for accounts on both sites. Amazon has a graphical interface, as does Oracle.  And…

Amazon vs. Oracle Cloud: Virtual Machine Pricing   This is the second of a 4-post series comparing Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs. Oracle Cloud.  In this post, we look at the prices for virtual machines at each vendor.   Calculating Cloud Pricing: No Easy Fete Calculating how much Amazon cloud services cost is so difficult that…

Cloud computing is a commonly used term, especially in the tech world. Many Internet users regularly use cloud-computing services without knowing. Simply put, cloud computing is a technology that allows remote access to shared computing resources like servers, storage, and applications. This is made possible without interacting with the service provider. Through cloud computing you…

Amazon Web Services vs. Oracle Cloud This is the first of a 4-part blog series on AWS vs. Oracle Cloud. In this 4-post series, we will provide a side-by-side comparison of Oracle and Amazon’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud computing offerings.  We only look at their public infrastructure cloud solutions. Our comparison examines important metrics such as the services…

In working with SQL Server, you may have encountered errors related to unresolved deadlock and scheduler deadlock. Many people blend these errors together, but they are actually separate issues.  In this post, we provide a high-level explanation of both types of deadlock errors.   Unresolved Deadlock In general, an unresolved deadlock is a SQL Server…

A great database appliance can be critical for the optimum functioning of your company. After all, databases provide storage for large volumes of data, and data is highly important for many companies. Three of the best database appliances on the market are the Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) X6-S, X6-2M, and X5-2 High Availability (HA).  In…

As business needs change and the focus on security increases, the landscape of data storage and analytics options is growing more complex.  Discover the common database management challenges businesses face and how to avoid them by selecting an effective database management solution.   5 Challenges Companies Have with Database Management: And How to Choose the Right Solution…

Trends may come and go, but many new concepts in database management have staying power, as well as the ability to greatly impact the organizations that integrate them. Every organization wants to stay updated with the latest trends in database management as well as how to best take advantage of them to benefit their business. Database Management…

Oracle was a late entrant to the cloud business, launching that just in 2015.  Larry Ellison and Mark Hurd were reluctant as they saw the cloud as something that could cut into their revenue stream for traditional software licenses.  But now they, like the vast majority of the industry, have embraced the cloud model.  Here,…

Let’s face it, Oracle’s licensing policies around its various software product suites are not known for being straightforward.  Between core factors, VM restrictions, version upgrade limitations, and user minimums, it can be difficult to tell whether or not your organization is compliant with Oracle’s database licensing requirements. Oracle’s complex licensing policies, along with the fact…

RMAN cross-platform database transport is ability to migrate the entire database from one operating system platform to another, so long as the two endian formats are the same.  In this post, we provide a step-by-step guide for using RMAN to perform cross-platform Oracle database migration from Windows to Linux. When converting the database from one…

In our last post, we shared the 4 most important areas of database security and discussed how to safeguard your Oracle environment with best practices for Authentication and Access Controls. In this post, we continue with a breakdown of Oracle database security best practices for Secure Oracle Configuration and Database Auditing.   Secure Oracle Configuration Secure Listener…

  Corporate information is a critical differentiator for organizations and their customers.  Financial intelligence, personally identifiable information (PII), trade secrets and other proprietary information are common forms of data stored in databases. In order to protect this information from internal and external misuse or attack, businesses must implement security measures as close to the data…

  I’ll be the first one to point out that there is no exact science when it comes to conducting an interview. There are many methods, formats, and schools of thought for how recruiters can most effectively select quality candidates to fill open opportunities. The Plight of the Non-Technical Technical Recruiter Understanding a candidate’s work history,…

The purpose of this post is to provide a step-by-step guide to the migration of OBIEE 11g to OBIEE 12c. The method outlined in this documentation is “Out-of-place”: were a new OBIEE 12c installation is performed followed by a migration of relevant files to the new installation using the BI Migration Tool. This new tool…

There is no question that running a successful IT managed services business requires a technically competent team with the ability to quickly troubleshoot issues in crisis situations. But having worked in the high tech industry for over 20 years, I have learned that effective communication and other “soft skills” have a bigger impact on building…

Have you lost or deleted a control file from an Oracle database? We’re here to help! Follow the steps below to recreate the control file. 1. If you try to take the backup of control file using the below command, when the control files are deleted you will get the following error. Instead, get the…

One of the biggest selling points of Oracle’s engineered system Exadata is its storage offloading capability. Storage offloading allows data to be instantly filtered when it is read from storage, reducing the amount of data that is sent and processed by the database. One of the filter operations storage offloading performs is join filtering via…

Now that you have a good design (see posts on documentation and data model), it is time to focus on the performance of the data warehouse from both the loading of the data warehouse from the source systems via ETL to the running of the reports and presentation of analytics to the end user. Below…

In our last post here we talked about documentation best practices for data warehousing. In this post we’re going to focus on data modeling and the key information that you need to know. Data Model The data model is where all of the action takes place. Now that your documentation and naming conventions are defined and you have…

    When migrating to the cloud, one of the primary hurdles you’ll have to overcome is selecting the right cloud provider. Make the process easier by evaluating four key areas of consideration: Technical Considerations Service Level Agreement Transparency Security Considerations Each of these areas can be evaluated based by asking a few simple questions of your…

One of the most frequently asked questions when starting a Data Warehousing initiative is: “What best practices should I be following?” In this series of posts, we will outline our recommendations to follow when building a data warehouse – starting with data warehousing documentation.     Data Warehousing Best Practice: Documentation  A successful data warehouse implementation…

In our last post we discussed the top myths and benefits associated with Oracle RMAN. Now that you’re ready for (or already have reached) implementation, we’d like to share some best practices to follow. 1. Take regular backups and verify that they work. Use validate command of Oracle RMAN or restore them to a test…

Background: Database Administration Challenges Managing Oracle database backup and recovery is a critical operational requirement for database administrators (DBAs). With increasing database sizes and Service Level Agreements (some requiring 24×7-database availability), DBAs need to effectively design and manage data protection solutions to minimize performance impact on production databases. Below are key operational goals that DBAs…

One of the benefits of making the very substantial financial investment in the Oracle Exadata Database Machine is the retinue of service packages that come included, free of charge, with the purchase. These services include significantly quicker response times than standard Oracle Premier Support, 24/7 remote fault monitoring, and, of course, the main focus of…

In our last post, “What are Data Warehouses?”, we talked about what a data warehouse is, some of the history behind it, and when your organization may need a data warehouse solution. Now we will going to explain the top three requirements for creating a data warehouse solution. #1. Executive Sponsorship Without buy-in from senior executives, data warehouse…

The X5-2 database machine is the latest in the Oracle Exadata series – engineered for high performance, cost savings, and easy to deploy systems that include both hardware and software. Oracle Exadata X5-2 is sized and tuned for various Oracle workloads and consists of unique software (Exadata Storage Software) that make it the most powerful…

A data warehouse is a large, central store of data from sources across an organization or company. The information contained in this central data store is used for making strategic and tactical business decisions. Building a Data Warehouse When it comes to building a data warehouse for your organization, the most commonly utilized methodologies are…

What is Cloud IaaS? Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), are self-service models for accessing, monitoring, and managing remote datacenter infrastructures, such as compute (virtualized or bare metal), storage, networking, and networking services (e.g. firewalls). Instead of having to purchase hardware outright, users can purchase IaaS based on consumption, similar to electricity…

Co-Authored by Rajesh Khatri and Sri Gutta Why It’s Important Active monitoring and proactive maintenance are critical in ensuring a healthy Oracle database. Your company’s Oracle environment should be evaluated on an ongoing basis and best practices should be deployed to improve overall database performance and stability. Proactive Real-Time Monitoring Monitoring should be implemented on…

If you haven’t noticed, Oracle’s focus is in the cloud. Over the past year, there has been a significant push from Oracle to grow their cloud business. Part of this push has included “wrapping” or “baking” Oracle Cloud services into many of their standard on premise license deals. There’s a good chance you’ve already read…

If you are an Oracle customer, or currently looking to do business with Oracle, it will become quickly apparent that Oracle is hyper focused on their cloud solutions. Given Oracle’s track record, when focused on something, they are definitely a force to be reckoned with. I was recently working with a customer who needed to purchase additional Oracle software…

If your organization is like most, you’ve probably been asked to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. Budgets get slashed, corners get cut, and the result sometimes comes at a cost that has little to do with dollars.

Take the case of a recent client, for example. This customer had 23 production databases deployed on a X2-2 1/4th rack Exadata server that was initially configured in 2012. But because of multiple factors—cutbacks, skill and resource gaps, resource shortages—the Exadata server had not been patched for last two years…

You’re not performing up to par and you’re feeling a little sluggish. So what do you do? If you’re like most, you’ll probably schedule an appointment with your doctor to find out what the problem might be, and how to quickly get back up to speed. So if your Oracle database doesn’t seem to be performing as expected, doesn’t it make sense to schedule a health check to see how you can boost it up a notch or two? Every system needs a checkup from time to time, and your Oracle database is no exception…