Oracle Security Patches

SECURITY ALERTS + LINKS TO THE PATCHES

https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/
Stay safe and patch

We would like to inform you that it’s patching day again, even though many of our customers have their databases located behind a secure network firewall. We understand that some customers may be reluctant to regularly engage in patching due to the effort and risks involved, especially when the system is actively in use. Therefore, we recommend that Oracle patches be initially installed on development and test systems before being applied to the production system after 2-3 weeks. We would be happy to support you in managing the patching process of your Oracle environment. Our Managed Services team is available to assist you promptly, and we also recommend this approach to our customers.

TL;DR:

Introduction: Patching is an essential aspect of maintaining an Oracle environment. Keeping up with the latest patches can help ensure the security, stability, and performance of your database system. However, the patching process can be overwhelming, especially for beginners. In this blog post, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide to Oracle patching and offer some tips to help simplify the process.

Step 1: Identify the Appropriate Patches Before starting the patching process, you need to identify the appropriate patches for your environment. Oracle releases patches on a regular basis, so it’s essential to keep track of the latest patches and determine which ones are relevant to your database system. You can use Oracle’s My Oracle Support (MOS) to identify and download patches.

Step 2: Plan the Patching Process Once you have identified the appropriate patches, it’s time to plan the patching process. This involves creating a patching plan that outlines the sequence of patch installations, the estimated downtime, and the rollback strategy. It’s important to involve stakeholders in the planning process to ensure that the patching process aligns with their requirements.

Step 3: Test the Patches Before installing patches on the production environment, it’s essential to test them on a development or test environment. This can help identify any potential issues that may arise during the patching process. It’s crucial to ensure that the testing environment replicates the production environment as closely as possible.

Step 4: Install the Patches After testing the patches, it’s time to install them on the production environment. The installation process can vary depending on the type of patch, but Oracle provides detailed instructions on how to install each patch.

Step 5: Validate the Patch Installation Once the patches have been installed, it’s important to validate the patch installation to ensure that the patches have been successfully applied. You can use Oracle’s opatch utility to validate the patch installation.

Step 6: Monitor and Maintain the Patched Environment After successfully patching the environment, it’s essential to monitor and maintain the patched environment. This includes regularly checking for new patches, applying patches as needed, and testing the patches before applying them to the production environment.

Conclusion: Oracle patching can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it’s an essential aspect of maintaining a stable and secure database environment. By following these steps, you can simplify the patching process and ensure that your Oracle environment remains up-to-date and secure.

About our chart series

The topics covered in this chart series explore the types of charts used in data visualization and how they can help you better understand data patterns. The articles cover the pros and cons of various charts such as area charts, pie charts, heat maps, bubble charts, Sankey charts, boxplots, Gantt charts, line charts, and bar charts. Each article explains the purpose of the chart, how to interpret it, and when to use it. These articles provide valuable information for data analysts, project managers, and anyone who wants to visualize data in a more meaningful way.

We are happy to share our experience, feel free to ask us about dashboards and charts!

YAITCON

Understanding Data Patterns with Area Charts

Introduction

Area charts are a type of data visualization that display quantitative data over time or across categories. They are similar to line charts, but with the area beneath the line filled in with color or shading to create a solid shape.

Area charts are useful for showing trends in data, especially when comparing multiple data sets. They can also be used to emphasize the magnitude of changes in data over time or across categories. However, they can be less precise than other types of charts, especially when the data sets overlap.

When creating an area chart, it’s important to choose appropriate colors and shading to ensure that the chart is easy to read and interpret. It’s also important to label the axes clearly and provide a legend to help viewers understand the data being presented.

The main difference between area charts and line charts is that in area charts, the area beneath the line is filled in with color or shading to create a solid shape, while in line charts, only the line representing the data is displayed.

Here are some key differences between area charts and line charts:

  1. Emphasis: Area charts place more emphasis on the magnitude of changes in data over time or across categories, while line charts focus more on the trends and patterns in the data.
  2. Precision: Line charts tend to be more precise than area charts because they only display the line representing the data without the added shading or color that may obscure or overlap data points.
  3. Data density: Line charts are better suited for displaying large data sets or data with many categories, while area charts may become difficult to interpret when multiple data sets overlap or when there are too many categories.
  4. Interpretation: Line charts are easier to interpret for comparisons and relationships between multiple data sets, while area charts are better for showing how a single data set changes over time or across categories.

Ultimately, the choice between an area chart and a line chart depends on the specific data being presented and the intended message or insights to be conveyed.

Use-Cases for area-charts:

  1. Stock Market Performance: An area chart can be used to show the performance of a stock market index, such as the S&P 500, over time. The chart would display the index value on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The area beneath the line would be filled in with color or shading to show the magnitude of changes in the index value.
  2. Website Traffic: An area chart can be used to show the traffic to a website over time. The chart would display the number of page views on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The area beneath the line would be filled in with color or shading to show the level of traffic.
  3. Sales by Product Category: An area chart can be used to show sales by product category over time. The chart would display the sales amount on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The area beneath each line, representing each product category, would be filled in with a different color or shading to differentiate between the categories.
  4. Climate Data: An area chart can be used to show changes in climate data, such as temperature or precipitation, over time. The chart would display the data on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The area beneath the line would be filled in with color or shading to show the magnitude of changes in the data.

Create an Area Chart (microstrategy.com)

Oracle 23c: A Necessary Upgrade for the Future

As a database developer, I’m sure you’re aware of the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest technology. Oracle 23c is the latest version of Oracle’s database software, and it’s a necessary upgrade for the future. With its improved scalability, enhanced security, and advanced analytics capabilities, Oracle 23c is a must-have for any business that wants to stay competitive in the digital age. It’s a powerful tool that can help you take your business to the next level.

Oracle 23c Free Developers Edition will bring the Release early to Developers

GVENZL ORACLE

Things that we as Oracle Database Developers have been missing for a long time have now been implemented for the most part:

  • DROP TABLE IF EXISTS
  • CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS
  • Data type BOOLEAN
  • The End from DUAL
  • Column alias in GROUP BY und HAVING
  • Better Error Messages
  • Annotiations for Table, Columns usw.. useful for LOVs ?
  • Javascript supportin the database
  • JSON Duality Views
  • GraphQL
YAITCON

Try it out:

Excerpt

Oracle 23c is a great upgrade for the future. It’s packed with new features that make it easier to use and more secure. I’m excited to see what this upgrade has to offer and how it can help us stay ahead of the competition. It’s a necessary upgrade for the future!

TIPP to get more Free Stuff from Oracle .. more coming soon ..

Databases (oracle.github.io)

Why I’ll Never Use Pie Charts Again

Introduction

If you’re like me, you’ve probably used pie charts in the past to visualize data. But after a while, I started to realize that pie charts weren’t the best way to present information. They can be difficult to read, hard to compare, and just plain ugly. That’s why I’ll never use pie charts again. Instead, I’ll be using more modern, Human-friendly alternatives like bar graphs, line graphs, and scatter plots. These options are much easier to read, easier to compare, and can be customized to look more visually appealing. So if you’re looking for a better way to present data, ditch the pie charts and try something other.

Excerpt

I used to think pie charts were the best way to display data, but after trying them out I realized they can be misleading. They don’t always show the full picture, and it’s hard to compare values. So, I’m done with pie charts – I’m sticking to bar graphs from now on.

Create a Pie or Ring Chart (microstrategy.com)

How Heat Maps Can Help You Find the Big Fish in Your Data Pond

A heat map is a graphical representation of data in which different values are represented by different colors. In a BI dashboard, a heat map can be used to visualize patterns and trends in large datasets, making it easier for users to quickly identify areas of interest and focus their attention where it’s needed most.

Some use-cases for heat maps in BI dashboards include:

  1. Sales Analysis: A heat map can be used to show the distribution of sales across different regions or territories. This can help sales teams identify areas where they need to focus their efforts in order to improve performance.
  2. Customer Behavior Analysis: A heat map can be used to show the areas of a website or application where users are spending the most time. This can help designers and product managers identify areas of the user experience that need improvement.
  3. Risk Management: A heat map can be used to visualize potential risks and their likelihood of occurrence. This can help organizations identify and prioritize risks in order to develop effective risk management strategies.

Some good practices for using heat maps in BI dashboards include:

  1. Keep it Simple: Heat maps can quickly become overwhelming if there are too many data points or if the colors are too bright or contrasting. Stick to a simple color scheme and limit the number of data points in order to keep the visualization clear and easy to read.
  2. Use Color Effectively: Choose colors that are easy to differentiate and that have meaning. For example, green might represent positive values, while red might represent negative values. Make sure that the color scheme is intuitive and easy to understand.
  3. Provide Context: Heat maps are most useful when they are accompanied by other data or visualizations that provide context. For example, a heat map showing sales by region might be more useful if it’s also accompanied by a chart showing the overall sales trends over time.

Introduction to Heat Maps (microstrategy.com)

Exploring the Power of Bubble Charts with Hans Rosling

Introduction

If you’re looking to explore the power of bubble charts, Hans Rosling is the man to turn to. A Swedish statistician and public health professor, Rosling is known for his groundbreaking work in data visualization. He was the first to use bubble charts to illustrate the relationship between health and wealth in the world. Through his work, Rosling has been able to make complex data more accessible and understandable. With his help, you can learn how to create your own bubble charts and use them to explore the power of data visualization.

Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, statistician, and public speaker who was known for his creative use of data visualization to explain complex global issues. He was a pioneer in the use of bubble charts to illustrate data in a more visually appealing way. Bubble charts are a type of chart that uses circles to represent data points, with the size of the circle representing the magnitude of the data point.

https://youtu.be/jbkSRLYSojo

Rosling used bubble charts to show the progress of countries over time, such as the change in life expectancy and the GDP of countries. He used this type of chart to demonstrate how the world has changed and to show the differences between countries. His work has been credited with helping to bring data visualization to the mainstream and to make it more accessible to the public. Rosling’s work has been an inspiration to many, and his use of bubble charts has been adopted by many other data visualizers. His work has helped to make data more accessible and easier to understand, and has been a great contribution to the field of data visualization. His legacy will continue to inspire and inform data visualizers for years to come.

Excerpt

I recently watched Hans Rosling’s TED Talk on the power of bubble charts. It was amazing to see how he used data to tell a story and how he used visuals to make it easier to understand. I’m inspired to use bubble charts to explore data in my own work.

ALERTs on Oracle 19.17 at RHEL 8

After a new installation of an Oracle 19 CDB+PDB database we always look at the alert.log.

And there were 2 anomalies:

1: ORA-00800:

ORA-00800: soft external error, arguments: [Set Priority Failed], [VKTM], [Check traces and OS configuration], [Check Oracle document and MOS notes], [] Error attempting to elevate VKTM’s priority: no further priority changes will be attempted for this process

ALERt.LOG

So the customer had to open a ticket with RHEL:

The latter already knew the problem:

  • Removing any software which enabled CPUQuota and/or CPUaccounting on systemd level (usually Insights), or remove the CPUQuota and accounting directives from systemd files.
    This solves ORA-00800 error without need of changing cpu.rt_runtime_us.
  • Why does Insights prevent Oracle grid services from starting
    https://access.redhat.com/solutions/6020561
  • Oracle Database Enterprise 19c fails to start with error: ORA-00800: soft external error, arguments: [Set Priority Failed], [VKTM]
    https://access.redhat.com/solutions/6991342



2: Prallel FPTR failed:

PDB(3):Undo initialization recovery: Parallel FPTR failed: start:28373 end:28380 diff:7 ms (0.0 seconds)

ALERt.LOG

support.oracle.com:

Workaround:

The default value for _min_undosegs_for_parallel_fptr is 100, which you can change to 0. This problem appears to be documented in the note below and fix included in oracle 20.0 version.

Bug 30159581 – A DB open hangs after switchover due to a detected deadlock ( Doc ID 30159581.8 )

Please implement work around solution as discussed in the ( Doc ID 30159581.8 )

Oracle DBA Life

yaitcon

The end of the Oracle DB – Links?

Database links in Autonomous Database Shared are the past – Cloud links are the future

Hermann BAER – Oracle PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Database links have been a popular way to let remote databases access specific tables or views in a database, but they require a lot of back and forth communication to establish the connection. However, with Oracle Autonomous Database Shared’s new feature, Cloud Links, data owners can easily register a table or view for remote access by a certain audience, without needing to set up a connection every time someone needs to access the data. This means that anyone with remote access can discover and use the data that has been made available to them without any extra hassle.

select .. from <namespace>.<name>@cloud$link;

https://blogs.oracle.com/datawarehousing/post/database-links-in-autonomous-database-shared-are-the-past—cloud-links-are-the-future

We like this Solution

SPHINX.AT

Voting behavior with Sankey diagrams

Sankey diagrams can be useful in analyzing voter behavior in elections. They can visually represent the flow of voters between different parties or candidates, as well as the factors that influence their decision-making.

For example, a Sankey diagram could show how many voters switched from one party to another between two elections, and what issues or events may have influenced their decision. It could also show how many voters abstained from voting altogether or how many new voters entered the electorate.

By analyzing the flow of voters through a Sankey diagram, political analysts can gain insights into the dynamics of an election and better understand the factors that determine electoral outcomes. They can also use Sankey diagrams to compare different elections or to track changes in voter behavior over time.

Overall, Sankey diagrams can be a valuable tool for anyone interested in understanding the complex and ever-changing landscape of electoral politics.

d3.js example

Create a Sankey Diagram Visualization (microstrategy.com)

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