Re: Development DBA Tool Recommendations

We are just starting to look for tools as well. I too, come from a DB2/IMS background, so can relate to the type of tools you are looking for. Here are some very rough equivalents you may want to look at:

>BMC's Change Manager (a tool which for example would generate all the DDL,
>unload and LOAD statements for reordering columns)

I haven't heard of a good Change Manager tool for Oracle similar to the BMC Change Manager, but would be interested if you find any    

>Some kind of debugging tool for PL/SQL - haven't looked at. But I vaguely
remember seeing a presentation for Oracle testing tools by Legent (now Computer Associates) a long time ago.

>Some kind of Logical to Physical design tool, with the ability to generate
 the
>DDL when the physical design is finalised.

There are many CASE tools out there which generate DDL from a model (a common one is Erwin). We use an add-on product to the Bachman DBA product we have for DB2. It generates DDL, but just saves typing; you have to make a lot of manual changes to the DDL. But it is an cheap alternative for someone having the Bachman CASE tools already. We looked at Bachman's new Windows product which was supposed to be written especially for Oracle. However, it was too similar to Sybase (Bachman wrote it for Sybase first) and its first release left a lot to be desired.

>A reorg package.

Platinum has a tool as well as company called Aris , I think (I might have the spelling wrong).

>A monitor.

Platinum DB Vision, BMC Patrol, Candle OMegamon, something from Best/1, a monitor from Compuware.

What about a tool to analyze Explains, similar to Platinum Plan Analyzer. Platinum has just come out with an Explain tool, also called Platinum Plan Analyzer, though I heard that it is a tool they acquired from another company - therefore, it is unlikely it has the same look and feel as the DB2 tool.

Finally, and not least, you should look at the Oracle 7.3 Enterprise Manager. I saw an Educational video on it and it looks great! It is a performance monitor plus many other things.

I'm interested in hearing about any other feedback you get.

                          Rosemary Fleming
                          flemir_at_tdbank.ca