Archive for September, 2009

Use constants and literals if the values will not change in the next 3 years (for static queries)

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

The DB2 Optimizer has the full use of all the non-uniform distribution statistics, and the various domain range values for any column statistics provided when no host variables are detected in a predicate, (WHERE COL5 > ‘X’). The purpose of a host variable is to make a transaction adaptable to a changing variable; this is most often used when a user is required to enter this value. (more…)

The Many Uses of Coalesce in SQL Server

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Problem
Many times people come across the Coalesce function and think that it is just a more powerful form of ISNULL. In actuality, I have found it to be one of the most useful functions with the least documentation.  In this tip, I will show you the basic use of Coalesce and also some features you probably never new existed. (more…)

Preparing the external disks(USB) for linux

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

All new external USB/FireWire disks come formatted as FAT32. The file permissions can get a little messed up, if we use that type of disk for Linux machines. So, there are two things we need to do for any brand new disk: (1) Create a partition (provides a partition table) and (2) format the disk for ext3. An example follows after two important notes… (more…)

How to create Custom Database Role and Manage its permissions

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

This tip comes from Namwar Rizvi

Custom database roles is the best way to manage object permission for the given database in a structured way. Following script will demonstrate the steps necessary to create a new role and manage object permissions through it. (more…)

Linode.com – Linux VPS hosting

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Since Go2linux was born some years ago, has been hosted in four or five different places, it started in my office in a VMWare virtual machine with Debian Edge, then I moved it to shared web servers, but more or less six months ago, I have moved it to Linode.com, and what is Linode? well it stand from Linux node.  (more…)

Show currently executing SQL

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Whenever your database is experiencing a performance problem, it is very useful to have a script that displays all of the currently executing SQL statements. The following script joins the v$sql and v$session tables to show you all of the SQL that is executing at that moment in your database.

set pagesize  24
set newpage    1
set linesize 125
column sql_text  format a100
column user_name format a12
select
u.sid,
substr(u.username,1,12) user_name,
s.sql_text
from
v$sql s,
v$session u
where
s.hash_value = u.sql_hash_value
and
sql_text not like ‘%from v$sql s, v$session u%’
order by
u.sid;

Here is the output from this script.  As we see, this is extremely useful because a runaway SQL statement could cause degradation of your whole system.  If you identify a runaway query, you can issue the ALTER SYSTEM KILL SESSION ‘SID, SER#’; command to kill the query:

SQL> @cur_sql

5              select f.file#, f.block#, f.ts#, f.length from fet$ f, ts$ t where t.ts#=f.ts# and t.dflextpct!=0 an

d t.bitmapped=0

6              select local_tran_id, global_tran_fmt, global_oracle_id, global_foreign_id,        state, status, he

uristic_dflt,        session_vector, reco_vector, 3600*24*(sysdate-reco_time),        3600*24*(sysda

te-nvl(heuristic_time,fail_time)), global_commit#, type#   from pending_trans$  where session_vector

!= ’00000000′

7              BEGIN sys.dbms_ijob.remove(:job); END;

9 READER       SELECT TO_CHAR(page_unique_id),        page_seq_nbr,        book_unique_id,        visual_page_nbr,

page_text FROM page WHERE  page_unique_id = TO_NUMBER(’2380′)

14 READER       SELECT TO_CHAR(page_unique_id),        page_seq_nbr,        book_unique_id,        visual_page_nbr,

page_text FROM page WHERE  page_unique_id = TO_NUMBER(’9975′)

Five reasons NOT to use Linux

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

I love Linux. I use it on my servers, I use it on my desktops, and I use it on my entertainment center, but, Linux isn’t for everyone. Seriously. Here are my top five reasons why you shouldn’t move to Linux . . . (more…)

9/11 Tribute

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Have we forgotten that we were attached by people that want to destroy freedom and everything we love and hold in this nation.

SQL Tip for Today (09/08/2009)

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Tiffany asked for a SQL tip; Here ya’ go Tiff (This is a copy from some O’bscure Book), but I have used this method a lot lately at work. (more…)

Linux Audio Users Guide

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Audio software on the Linux platform is becoming very advanced. Many of the coolest projects have been in development for close to 10 years and there are several installation and setup options for new users to choose from which smooth out the rough edges and ease you through the process of getting started with Linux Audio. (more…)

How to install 3D-Desktop using Beryl

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Windows Vista provides two entirely new features to manage windows using Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D. Linux is already using this technology. 3D-Desktop is an OpenGL program for switching virtual desktops in a seamless 3-dimensional manner on Linux. The current desktop is mapped into a full screen 3D environment where you may choose other screens. (more…)

A review of Linux Mint 7.0

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

The new Linux Mint is one of the best distributions I have yet seen for anyone interested in making the crossover from Windows to Linux.  Mint is based on Ubunto which is one of the most used distributions in the world. (more…)

Zenity Brings a Little GUI Goodness to Linux Shell Scripts

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

One of the powers of the Linux command shell is the wealth of commands available to accomplish most any task. That amount of power can be intimidating to the less experienced users. Most typical computer users rarely open up a terminal window, or a DOS command box in Windows, unless they need to do some trouble shooting. (more…)

The latest version of Knoppix

Friday, September 4th, 2009

The latest version of Knoppix represents a radical remake of the venerable Live CD Linux distribution. Knoppix 6.0 is leaner, faster, and more versatile than ever. In addition to that, the new version brings another significant improvement: the amazingly fast boot process. Even when Knoppix runs from a CD, it takes less than a minute to boot to the graphical desktop. (more…)

Full Circle

Friday, September 4th, 2009

When I first went to college, my COBOL instructor was Assad Kahalahenie. Dr. Kahalahenie and I became close friends and he told me his vision of the future (the one that didn’t involve the good Dr. and The Apocalypse). He said that distributed computing and personal computing were the future, and that these mainframes were a thing of the past. (more…)