Re: table disk usage?

"Bob - Andover, MA" wrote:

> From: kennedy-family_at_attbi.com , who wrote in message news:<DMwJa.78793$sm5.80175_at_rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net>...
>
> > Clearly management made a mistake getting rid of the DBA. Now you get to
> > hire someone or pay a consultant. guess the data isn't that important.
> > Jim
>
> Brilliant post. It *never* occurred to me that management made a
> mistake. Thanks for the invaluable _technical_ advice.
>
> -Bob
>
> > Replace part of the email address: kennedy-down_with_spammers_at_attbi.com
> > with family. Remove the negative part, keep the minus sign. You can figure
> > it out.
> > "Bob - Andover, MA" <tsreyb_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:a8cd904e.0306222130.7d25d0ec_at_posting.google.com...
> > > My company uses oracle9i (solaris). unfortunately we've lost most of
> > > our oracle expertise to layoffs. We're training someone to pick up the
> > > slack, but it is slow going. In the meantime, we continually run into
> > > problems filling up the disk partition containing the oracle database
> > > files - but nobody knows how to determine which users and which tables
> > > are consuming the space, nor how to reclaim that space.
> > >
> > > I'm wondering if there are any quick and dirty stop-gap hints anybody
> > > can suggest. Ideally, we'd like to be able to perform the following
> > > tasks:
> > >
> > > o discover names of all tables in the oracle database files
> > > o monitor table space usage for all the discovered table names
> > > o drop one or more tables
> > > o reclaim any space from dropped tables for new table growth
> > > o Resize disk space allocations for each table
> > > o perform these tasks using sqlplus command line
> > >
> > > Part of the problem is, I just don't understand how the handful of
> > > users connecting to this db server can consume its 18g of disk space
> > > in just a matter of weeks. We have one application that does produce a
> > > lot of data, but supposedly none of us are running that app. So part
> > > skill we need is to be able to discover which tables are causing all
> > > the problems.
> > >
> > > I realize oracle admin is a monumental task .. but if we just had a
> > > few commands to hold us over until the expertise is acheived in house,
> > > we'd breathe a lot easier!
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > > -tsreyb

I understand your sense of offense at Jim's remarks but there is something there of great value.

Why are you making managements bad decisions your problem? Why are you expending effort covering for decisions made by people who at best were ignorant of consequences and at worst figure you for the fall guy?

I know this may sound cold and callous but you don't have enough fingers to plug all of the holes in the dike yourself. Let it fail! Bad decisions have consequences. And those consequences can happen to the bad managers or to your health and happiness.

Make your actions professionally and concientiously but don't be self-abusive. Tell them that there is a reason why good DBAs get paid in six figures and that if they can not afford a full-time DBA they should hire one that looks things over on a regular schedule via a remote connection. There are several companies I can recommend that do that well.

You get paid to one job. Be prepared to pay the consequences if you try to do two or more. And it is absolutely impossible for us, or anyone else, to quickly give you enough information to keep you from making bigger mistakes than just doing nothing at all.

Relax. Take a brisk walk at lunch. It is a nice day.

--
Daniel Morgan
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/extinfo/certprog/oad/oad_crs.asp
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with a 'u' to reply)