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March 26, 2008
Teamwork - Project Management Software
Michael Ellis has assigned each of us the job of putting our programming tasks into a new application called Teamwork. After bugging Michael a few times, I was able to log into the new application. It is a bit clunky to use, and there is a definite small learning curve to get around in it, but after a while I got the hang of it and was able to enter some project information into the application. As I entered by information, a lot of other programmers where doing the same thing with their projects, and Teamwork was really getting hammered. There are now about 4 pages of projects entered by the programming team.
We are hopeful that Teamwork will help to schedule and track our projects. We are also hopeful that it will enhance our ability to demonstrate how badly we need some additional programmers! Our current programming team does not have a single person who does strictly programming. For example, I estimate that my job has no more than 10% available for programming tasks. One other item I've learned is that as we add more and more software applications - ones we've written and ones that have been purchased - more and more time is necessary to maintain those applications. We all spend a certain amount of time making small modifications or fixing data entry errors, etc. to existing applications. They just don't keep on working by themselves.
Teamwork will also have the benefit of assisting management of tasks. For instance, if a new project comes along, it will become more obvious how long it will be before someone can begin working on the new project, and also, if we start work on this project right away, what other projects will have to be put off. That will be very helpful in assigning tasks and in setting programing priorities. We are all aftraid that there will be a mighty long wait to get to new tasks.
Posted by rossm at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
Some Random Database Stuff
There are a few random things to add to the database log. Most of these came up from preparation for next week's maintenance window.
First item - how to move a table from one tablespace to another. This is occassionally done when a table gets put in the system tablespace by mistake, or if a new tablespace is created, and you want to move some existing objects (usually tables) into it:
ALTER TABLE [tablename] MOVE TABLESPACE [new tablespace name];
Second item - Brad and Clayton showed me how to use a unix application called RCS. This is a way to log changes to a particular file. You use commands to check the file out and in, and to lock it while you are modifying it. Then you enter a description of the changes you made to the file. In the end, you have a nice log of all changes that have been made to the file. You can also roll back to any version of the file. We are going to use RCS to log all changes in our configuration files for the database. That will help us keep some good information on what's going on in those files, and who to contact for a particular change. This will be implemented right after our next maintenance window.
Third item - Log files that drive me crazy. With each upgrade of Oracle, it seems like another log file or two pops up and causes trouble. The Apache ssl_request log is one such creature. You can't delete the log file or Apache goes haywire, and the thing grows by many MB's per day. Pretty soon it is a huge mess. It does actually have some useful information in it, but you are hard pressed to find it among every single SSL request that's made. There's not much to do with this one but clean it out while the db is down anyway. A new item from Oracle is opmn - this is now used to stop/start the webserver instead of apachectl. Of course, it comes with it's own set of logs in addition to the Apache logs. The upgrade also has some sort of conflict and the ons log also grows like a weed - it is just full of error messages from the conflict. Hopefully, this one will get fixed during the next maintenance window. There are more of these, but this is enough to get the picture.
I guess that about covers it for this week. Time to add a bit more to my web log.....
Posted by rossm at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
ASTRA - Full Tilt!
You've heard the saying, "the train's a commin' - you can either get on it or get under it"? Well, that describes Astra this week. Jill has shifted into high gear and the events portion of Astra has really taken off. I have added 5 more users this week, and we are really making some headway by adding in more areas of campus into the Astra fold. Soon we will have the Hamersly Library, Music, and Creative Arts all on board.
Jill showed me something else that's pretty neat with Astra. If you go to the Astraweb, which is located here, then choose "Schedules", then at the top View as: select "Daily Room Grid", then pick a building and time frame that interests you, then click the "apply filter" button. This will show you a really cool grid of all events scheduled in that building for that day. You could use this to determine if a room you were interested in is available or not, and about a thousand other uses.
As we move forward, Astra just seems more and more like a really great asset for the entire campus.
Posted by rossm at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
10gR2 - Up and Running
Well a week has passed and our 10gR2 database has done a darn good job of shouldering the load. Nobody has been phoning me to say how much faster everything is, but they haven't been phoning to tell me X isn't working, either! I have identified 6 items that need attention at our next schedulied maintenance window. I am amazed at the screwy logging schemes that seem to pop up everywhere on a production Oracle database. We've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 MB of connection log entries on the HTTP server in this short time period. The ons.log grows like a weed and Dale has deleted it off both Sundown and Maverick several times already! I am hopeful that some day we can create circular logging schemes for all of these various logs so that they don't need constant babysitting.
Read on to see more detail regarding the upcoming maintenance items.
The first maintenance item is an effort to try and keep the ons.log from running wild. Oracle documentation recommends adding this line to the configuration:
SUBSCRIBE_FOR_NODE_DOWN_EVENT_LISTENER=OFF
However, I had added the line in, and Bill could not get the web server to start with it in there, so some tweaking of this is obviously necessary. This is just an annoyance item, not a threat in any sense.
The second maintenance item is possible applying Patch 5337014. This is the patchset that moves the db from 10.2.0.1 to 10.2.0.3. Michael Ellis needs a 10.2.0.3 db version for his CBORD install, however it looks like that install might get moved to this Summer. If so, we will not apply this patch until later, because of the next item...
The third item on the maintenance list is Patch 5752339. This is a patch for Solaris 64 Bit using Veritas, which is us, and must be applied with the other patch or else the database can't communicate with the disks. Now you see why I'm willing to wait awhile to apply these patches! We don't need this kind of problem, and perhaps a more comprehensive patch will be available by this Summer that avoids this kind of issue altogether.
The fourth maintenance item is to shut down the Apache web server and clear out the connection log, possibly putting something more user friendly in place.
The fifth item is to make a number of modifications to, and restart the db using an upgraded parameter file, then make a new SP file for future db restarts.
This is the list of modified parameters:
control_files ='/newpath/control/control01.ctl',
'/newpath/control/control02.ctl',
'/newpath/control/control03.ctl')
log_archive_des_1=newpath/arch'
07_DICTIONARY_ACCESSABILITY=false - Moved from true to false.
PROCESSES - reset the following parameter:
processes=500 (up from 180)
When all nice and working well:
create spfile from pfile='path and init filename;
shutdown db
startup; //this command should work if the spfile is created OK.
//this is the way we want to start the db.
These are just a few "cleanup" items from the upgrade.
The final item for the maintenance window, and by far the most aggravating of them all, is to overwrite two simple time zone files, which have prevented us from using Enterprise Manager since the upgrade. Somehow, the installer puts in two different time zone files, one for the db and one for Java, and since they don't match EM does not work. Aaaack! It is a bit like flying blind trying to figure out what's going on in the database when your A number 1 tool is on the fritz for such a goofy reason.
Oh, well..... On the positive side, the database is running, it is manageable, and it cheerfully does a ton of really key work each and every day.
Posted by rossm at 8:51 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008
Astra Update - Another Bug!??
Well, Astra took a back seat to the database upgrade this week, but it looks like Jill has found yet another system bug. I wish she would quit doing that.... Anyway, Jill set up a "collection", which is a group of items the WUC checks out as a package - the sound system for the Pacific Room. Although it is set up properly in Astra, when Jill prints out the event confirmation, Astra prints the collection, then prints out every piece of equipment contained in the collection, then charges the customer the collection price for each entry - not good! That has slowed down the entry of events which require the use of a collection. Jill has moved forward on other events, and has started to book events into Astra!
One other area of events that is moving forward as soon as I get on it is adding in Rice and Smith. That one is waiting on me to work on the room setup and do an install of Astra Schedule. That will be done probably tomorrow.
The class schedulers (sections) group is going great guns and are working on the Fall, 2008 term right now. One thing that came up there, is we need to add in some classrooms that will become available next Fall in the OPA building - classrooms that don't even exist yet! Fortunately, Astra doesn't really know if a classroom actually exists or not... How's that for a little pre-planning?
Posted by rossm at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
10gR2 Upgrade is Done!
Yes. We are now running on Oracle 10gR2 in our production database. The upgrade was very difficult to perform, and there is no way I could have done it without the help of about 20 other people including Bill, Travis, Ron, Michael, Brian, Dale, Brad, Clayton, and some others I'm sure I forgot. We started the upgrade at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday to coincide with our monthly maintenance window. We finished at 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
As of today, there are still a few loose ends out there. The archive logs and control files are still being written to the old Oracle Home, there is a 2000 parameter limit on items passed through the web server, Enterprise Manager is not working (open TAR on that one), and the ability of the database to write onto the file system seems to not be working right. Out of a list of about 10,000 details, not bad at all - although I do hate that the Enterprise Manager isn't working yet.
Due to limits with the Viking application, it now resides by itself where our test database will eventually live. We had to make a complete 9i instance for them, and that was a bit rough. It seems to be working well now. This Summer we are going to quit using that application, so at that time we can reclaim our server and reinstall the test database.
All in all, we got a very good result. I am glad we don't do that every day, though!
Posted by rossm at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2008
Just a Short Note on Personal Transportation
I've written some blog entries on my electric bike, and my experiences with it - mostly positive. I still ride the thing to work nearly every day, and it is still a lot of fun - even though this is Winter time and it gets me wet once in a while. Well, I thought it would be fun to tell you about my other transportation. I've been riding a cherry 1986 Honda GL1200 Gold Wing for the past 4 years or so. It is a really classy looking motorcycle and is a lot of fun to ride. As I've gotten older though, this feeling that I've just about pushed my motorcycling luck as far as I want has come over me. It is still a lot of fun to ride a motorcycle, but I've become more and more concerned that some careless driver will put me in the ditch, or worse. Don't feel too bad for me, though, because the solution has already been completed - yup, I bought a convertible! A 2002 Mazda Miata, turquoise - a really neat little car. So now I've been driving that thing every chance I get. We are planning a trip to Victoria for my wife's birthday in May, so I'm hoping to talk her into taking this car rather than the sensible one - her Camry. I'll try and get you a picture of the Honda and the Miata, but I don't have time to do it right now.
Posted by rossm at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
Astra Weekly Update
This week Astra has taken a back seat to the database upgrade, but still things are moving forward. We imported and activated the Fall 2008 term from Banner into Astra, and the class schedulers are busy working out the class schedule for that term. Astra did it's thing beautifully. The events side has moved forward, and we have two open requests with Astra support to help Jill get her event confirmation form into an acceptable state. Also, the confirmation form is printing out a lot more equipment reservation items than Jill wants, so we're trying to figure out a way to fix that annoyance, too. We did manage to get the logo switched, so now our event confirmation doesn't look like it came from Astra - this is good. Configuration of the WUC rooms, equipment, customer types, and so forth is nearly complete. Also, Jill was able to meet with Jerry Lee and help get her started on the Library's configuration.
Once again, the system itself has worked really well. Oh yeah, in a weak moment I upped the number of allowed Astra sessions on the database from 3 to 8, but nobody called to say how much faster it is working yet. Once we move to the new 10g database I'll increase it even more.
Posted by rossm at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
Ora10gR2 - Thursday Night!
Finally. We are getting ourselves ready for upgrading the Aero 9i production database to 10gR2! It is pretty exciting. A lot of folks in UCS have been helping to prepare various pieces of the database for upgrade, and this Thursday we are going for it. We will start around 9:00 pm, and the production database will be offline for several hours minimum. But, come Friday morning, we will have moved to nearly current with our database.
One complication we ran into is that the Viking application is unable to run in Oracle 10g unless the character set is US7ASCII. This is an unacceptable character set for our production database, so we are creating a separate 9i database solely for this application. The bad news is, it will wipe out our test instance. The good news is, we are only using this application for a few more months. Then we will put our 10g test instance back in place, and upgrade it to version 11.
Some of the improvements we should see with the 10g version are many more sessions!, much improved Enterprise Manager for database management, Oracle Wallet will hopefully begin to work, we will be using the standard Java virtual machine, DAD creation and management is much easier, metalink support automated, and a lot more! Next week, I'll give you the blow by blow and how it works out. Sometimes my job is just too much fun.....
Posted by rossm at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)