James Koopmann

Performance in Oracle is directly related to the SQL workload that is submitted. Often it is not the change in the SQL that degrades performance but instead is the access path to that data. This article will help you understand when new access paths have been introduced in your environment. There are only two types […]

Everyone is looking for an edge. With PL/SQL that edge is compiling the PL/SQL code into native code. This article will show you how to setup and compile your PL/SQL procedures and packages. The default behavior for creation of PL/SQL code execution is purely interpretive. If you want to skip the interpreted aspect of PL/SQL […]

Looking for a database that won’t cost you an arm and a leg? I am. Join me as I take a look at what PostgreSQL has to offer. What is It PostreSQL is an object-relational database management system. Nothing really more to say here except that, as you read on, it is a free database […]

If you want to store date and time information in Oracle, you really only have two different options for the column’s datatype. Lets take a quick look at these two datatypes and what they offer. DATE datatype This is the datatype that we are all too familiar with when we think about representing date and […]

Oracle pipes have been around for a long time but I venture to say that not many use this powerful mechanism. Let’s explore this feature and realize that it is truly not dead yet. The DBMS_PIPE package is really quite simple. Its main purpose in life is to provide a communication mechanism between two different […]

There are many options for study material when wanting to upgrade your Oracle8i certification to Oracle9i. Come along with me and explore what I used and how I did. If you are an Oracle8i OCP DBA, you should know by now that you need only pass the upgrade exam to become Oracle9i certified. There are […]

In Oracle9i, we are now able to call a table function within the FROM clause of a SQL statement and have it return a result set that mimics what we would normally expect from a traditional SQL SELECT statement. Recently I was posed a SQL problem where I needed to pull from the database all […]

Everyone needs a little help now and then. If you have never used Oracle’s help facility, venture with me and find new ways you can provide benefit to your users of SQL*Plus through this simple interface. Invoking Help The SQL*Plus facility has a very simple syntax. HELP [topic] In order to get the appropriate help […]

Oracle’s traditional method of storing parameters in the INIT.ORA file has given way to a more robust method– the server parameter file (SPFILE). Learn what truly works in converting and maintaining your parameters without ever having to use an editor again. What is an SPFILE In a nutshell, the SPFILE (server parameter file) is Oracle’s […]

Let’s face it, database administration does not come with a cut and dry job description. It is often up to the DBA to determine what will and will not make an impact on the companies for which they work. The true value DBAs can give is not only to maintain database order but also to […]

James Koopmann has fourteen years of database design, development and performance tuning experience. In addition, he has extensive database administration experience in Oracle and other relational databases in production environments, specializing in performance tuning of database engines and SQL based applications. Koopmann is an accomplished author with several technical papers in various Oracle related publications […]

Oracle has once again given us what we asked for, almost. A simple way to generate the DDL for objects defined in the database. The Old Method It used to be that in order to generate object DDL from the Oracle database, we had one of three methods we could use. Build the SQL Most […]