The new release update experience
For about the last … hmmm…maybe decade or more, when you downloaded a release update from MOS for your database, the patch would consist of a single folder which...
2026-05-04
66 reads
My APEX installer / patcher
Hopefully you have just seen that APEX patchset bundle 16 has just been released for 24.2. Of particular note is that a well-publicised Chrome change to deprecate the unload...
2026-05-01
73 reads
The unhealthy obsession with ROLLBACK
So I jumped onto an LLM and asked it to give me some PL/SQL to handle a 3-step series of DML statements and out popped the following code: That...
2026-04-30
33 reads
Unleashing Skills onto my database
You may have already seen that thanks to Kris Rice, we now have a baseline set of Oracle skills available for your favourite AI tools. Check out the skills...
2026-04-28
47 reads
SQL skills just got MORE important
There seems to be a school of thought in the tech community that a robust knowledge SQL is now optional. After all, with modern AI tools able to generate...
2026-04-22
36 reads
GROUP BY ALL – Is it ALL you ever need?
You have probably seen a couple of cool GROUP BY features that came with Oracle Database 26ai. You can check out the short video below but since you’re on...
2026-04-17
80 reads
Voxxed Days Zurich
That was my first experience at a Voxxed Days event. Obviously I like Oracle-focussed events, but that can give you a blinkered view of the world. There’s a lot...
2026-04-07
39 reads
Thank you after 21 years
Throughout my long history of working with the Oracle Database, there are some things that often just take for granted, on the assumption that they have always been present....
2026-03-12
47 reads
Bind Variables – Worse than you were told
Many of you probably know Martin Bach. He’s a colleague here at Oracle although we’ve both been good mates in the Oracle community long before either of us joined...
2026-03-09
54 reads
Where is my TNSPING?
I’m a big fan of the “instantclient” solution to Oracle connectivity. No more calls to “runInstaller”, no registry files on Windows, it is just download-unzip-go. That makes installation a...
2026-03-05
54 reads
Blogs
Architecting Zero Downtime Deployments–Day of Data Boston
By Steve Jones
Here are the resources for my talk at Day of Data Boston. Slides –...
The Book of Redgate:A Prehistory
By Steve Jones
I’ve covered the values in a number of previous posts on the Book of...
Evidence-bound: what AgentDBA will and won’t link
By Arun Sirpal
When the evidence names the database, it says so. When it doesn’t, it stops....
Forums
Azure SQL Database Event Log Limitations
Hi, Do you know if there is a way to get more detailed logging...
Four Rules for Adding AI Without Breaking What Already Works
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Four Rules for Adding AI...
SQL Server 2025 section missing?
Hello, the title says it all. Is the SQL Server 2025 section missing?
Question of the Day
Hyperscale Replicas III
In an Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Edition, how many named replicas can be configured?
See possible answers