Re: Oracle 911 Article

From: Jonathan Lewis <jonathan_at_jlcomp.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 08:51:46 -0000
Message-ID: <00a201c4028f$172c88f0$7002a8c0@Primary>

Bizarre though it may seem to you, I think this is probably the best article that Don has ever written.

True, there are literally dozens of errors and questionable details. And this is the third article for dbazine where he's trotted out his pathetic sneer at the scientific approach.

BUT - there are several of his case studies where he makes the points:

    Listen to the end user
    Observe the symptoms
    Select (his opinion of ) the most appropriate solution     Monitor the effect.
    Document what you've done and WHY

This is far better than the usual "do this because it's a really good tweak and it will make the database go faster" type of claim that he puts out without context or proof.

With this article, readers have the chance to say things like:

That's not what my system looks like, so it's not necessarily relevant.

Symptom A might mean problem X, but it might mean problem Y - what did you do to eliminate problem Y as the critical issue.

The sample data you also shows symptoms for a completely different problem. What did you do about that.

Your fix may introduce another problem further down the line - why was it safe to apply the fix

I think it's a step in the right direction, and I think he should be encouraged to work on the approach that he's used in the good bits of this article.

Regards

Jonathan Lewis
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk

The Co-operative Oracle Users' FAQ
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/ind_faq.html

March 2004 Hotsos Symposium - The Burden of Proof Dynamic Sampling - an investigation
March 2004 Charlotte OUG (www.cltoug.org) CBO Tutorial April 2004 Iceland
June 2004 UK - Optimising Oracle Seminar

Original Message ----- From: "David Wagoner" <dwagoner_at_arsenaldigital.com> To: "ORACLE-L (E-mail)" <oracle-l_at_freelists.org> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 10:29 PM Subject: Oracle 911 Article

: You guys are going to enjoy this :-).
:
: I just read a very interesting article that managed to insult some of my
: favorite Oracle authors and the entire state of Alabama! Now I've heard
Mr.
: Burleson speak before, and I must admit that I thought he was a dynamic
and
: entertaining speaker. But do you really think that Oracle Support has
ever
: told anyone to call HIM to solve their performance problems (his article
: makes this claim)? Does anyone else find the tone of this article
: unbefitting of an Oracle professional with such extensive credentials? I
: honestly can't believe that DBAzine.com published this, especially
: considering that Oracle is listed as one of their sponsors.
:
: http://www.dbazine.com/burleson20.shtml
:
:
: Best regards,
:
: David B. Wagoner
: Database Administrator
:
:

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Received on Fri Mar 05 2004 - 02:48:43 CST