Re: venting my spleen

spamdump_at_nospam.noway.nohow (Ed Stevens) wrote in message news:<3d186843.90515654_at_ausnews.austin.ibm.com>...
> An application project is getting under way that, to me, has the smell of
> disaster written all over it. Please tell me my lack of dba experience is
> causing me unnecessary worry.
>
> Project is built around a purchased package. Said package will remain anonymous
> at this point, but I will say it is not SAP. As it turns out, the package
> requires tablespaces with specific names. And I am told that it requires
> certain tables to be placed in specified tablespaces. This looks like a tuning
> disaster waiting to happen.
>
> My first thought is that the only SQL the app could be issuing that would
> require a specific TS name would be a CREATE TABLE statement. Why would an app
> need to be creating tables? And what would be the justification for not using
> the default TS for the application's own userid?
>

A number of packages give you a set of default tablespaces or even datafiles in their installation script. Normally DBAs are the ones who create the schema and install, or are at least involved in the installation of, the package. So you will have an opportunity to find out if it can be customized. It may not be as bad as you think.

> When the project was first started, we (DBA) were told to make a SYSDBA userid
> available to the development team. This gave me heartburn in and of itself.
> Then last week, while working with them on a non-DB performance problem, it came
> to light that they were concerned about gettng time on the server because they
> didn't even know they could connect with SQL*Plus from a client machine!!!
>

Sounds you don't have much control over the configuration and security of your database. That's quite the opposite of what I have seen. Databases are a very critical component of every organization. The person responsible for the availability and integrity of the databases is often well respected and has big influence on how databases are accessed. If you are going to be responsible for the data you need to demand that things are done correctly. As far as the developers you are working with, they appear to be inexperienced with Oracle. The only thing you can do is educate them.

Also, be careful with what you say here:) You think the person in charge of development won't visit this forum?

> I'm sure some of you have seen this kind of thing before. Do I have cause for
> concern? If so, what problems can I anticipate, and what can I do to minimize
> them?
>
> TIA.
Received on Wed Jun 26 2002 - 23:55:34 CDT