http://www.oraclepoint.com/index.php Worldwide froum on oracle and other IT products. http://www.oraclepoint.com/images/ITPUB_log.png http://www.oraclepoint.com Worldwide froum on oracle and other IT products. http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=11 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:23:00 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=11 Oracle SQL Developer vs. Toad: Users speak out
A recent SearchOracle.com article that compared the latest version of Oracle’s free SQL Developer tool with Quest Software Inc.’s popular Toad for Oracle software triggered an avalanche of emails from database developers eager to voice their opinions on which SQL and PL/SQL editing and debugging tool is best.

A few named Oracle’s relatively new SQL Developer as their tool of choice while several picked Toad. Others preferred different developer tools altogether. In particular, Allround Automations’ PL/SQL Developer got some rave reviews. But in the midst of all the differing opinions, developers seemed to agree on one thing: When it comes to features and functionality, you get what you pay for.   

SQL Developer disappointing to some

SQL Developer was unveiled last March, and Oracle says the tool has been downloaded over 390,000 times since. Developers familiar with version 1.0 said that, like many free tools, SQL Developer lacks the robust set of capabilities found in competing for-a-fee SQL editors. Others, like developer Shelby Spradling, principal of Spradling Consulting, say that even though they’re happy to have a SQL editor that is optimized for use with Oracle products, SQL Developer still isn’t ready for prime time.

Spradling said that he recently compiled a PL/SQL package with only a few warnings from SQL Developer. He soon realized, when he tried to execute the package and it went into an invalid state, that SQL Developer had failed to pick up on a number of other errors. The consultant found the remaining errors only after copying the PL/SQL procedure into Oracle’s SQL*Plus tool.

“While I love being able to finally step through PL/SQL code with an Oracle product, I’ll truly start to enjoy using this product in five years when they get it working,” Spradling said. “Until then, Textpad and SQL*Plus are about the quickest way given my particular constraints.”

But not everyone is as disappointed as Spradling. Alex Rodriguez, a senior accounting analyst with UPS Freight, said SQL Developer suits his needs just fine. He says he switched to SQL Developer from Toad because it’s free, it offers everything he needs to debug SQL and PL/SQL subprograms, and, because it’s an Oracle product, it’s prone to reflect new Oracle feature updates well before third-party competitors.

Toad seen as pricey but effective

Toad for Oracle is offered in both a slimmed-down free version and a considerably more robust version that doesn’t come cheap, according to developers.

Independent contractor and software developer Nick Gekas is a big fan of the full-featured Toad for Oracle despite the cost. He says the main benefits of Toad include its function key capabilities, which show pop-up lists of tables or columns, and its powerful PL/SQL debugger. Gekas also likes that Toad can export SQL output in several formats and gives users the opportunity to arrange screen layouts to their preferred liking. He added that creating and maintaining objects is also a simple process with Toad.

“[Toad] is very expensive,” Gekas said, “so I switch around between Toad and SQL Developer depending [on whether] my clients have a Toad license.”

James R. Bower, an Oracle database administrator with FiberMark North America Inc. in West Springfield, Mass., agrees that for-a-fee Toad is a very full-featured — and very expensive — product.

“I find myself recommending Allround Automations’ PL/SQL Developer to any users that do not require all of the bells and whistles of Toad, or who cannot fit Toad into their budget,” Bower said. “Obviously, free Toad is priced right, but it is not nearly the product that PL/SQL Developer is.”

PL/SQL Developer: An unsung hero? 

Allround Automations’ PL/SQL Developer is a solid product that’s not too pricey and not too heavy on the extra features, according to several developers writing in to SearchOracle.com. 

Some, like Alan Kirchoff, a senior Oracle developer with Corporate Lodging Consultants Inc., believe that PL/SQL Developer is actually superior to the more fully featured Toad.

“A tool that never gets much recognition is PL/SQL Developer,” Kirchoff said. “Toad locks up on me way too often and sometimes it doesn’t behave as if it’s truly threaded — and yes, I checked all the options.”

Kirchoff says he likes PL/SQL Developer because it rarely locks up. But if it does, it prompts the user to load a rescue file the next time it starts up, he said. The Oracle developer is also a fan of PL/SQL Developer’s program windows, which highlight important variables and sections of code.

PL/SQL developer also offers a “great” object browser with editable filters, a side-by-side tool that allows users to compare database instances, the ability to compile all invalid objects with one click of the mouse, and a useful explain plan tool that automatically parses results, according to Mark S. Jacobs, a senior programmer with Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. The programmer adds that Allround Automations’ support team is second to none.

“I always get a reply the same day, and they have included fixes in the next release at my request,” Jacobs said.

Honorable mentions

The list of SQL and PL/SQL editing and debugging tools is lengthy to say the least. Lesser-known tools developers wrote about included Embarcadero’s DBArtisan and Benthic Software’s Golden and Goldview tools.

“I’ve always liked Embarcadero’s DBArtisan best of all,” said developer David Bailey. “It has equivalent capabilities to Quest’s Toad, but best of all it is multi-platform.”

The fact that DBArtisan is multi-platform means that Bailey can work with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase or IBM DB2, but he only has to learn one interface.

Developer Gene Gotimer says he doesn’t need all of Toad’s features, and therefore opted for Benthics Golden and Goldview software.

“Toad might be great if you’re a DBA or need a does-everything-and-then-some tool,” Gotimer said. “But for a developer that only occasionally needs to play with the database, Golden and Goldview are easier, quicker and cheaper.”
Oringinal source: http://eyeonoracle.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/01/11/oracle-sql-developer-vs-toad-users-speak-out/
]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=16 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:29:13 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=16
Once installed and configured, DBAConnect can be used for convenient access to the Oracle Database from anywhere. The ease of browser-enabled clients allows a low maintenance method to handle third parties, consultants, or project staffing fluctuations. DBAConnect provides immediate productivity gains through the elimination of client license maintenance, improved response time to system issues, and increased convenience for database administrators. 

There are some other remote database administration tools but DBAConnect is a unique one due to its platform independent architecture, enhanced security features and its ease of use.

...Oringinal source of this review, here
...More info. about DBAConnect, here
]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=17 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:56:59 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=17
Note: not working on oracle 9i.

Source: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dbguardian/

]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=32 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:48:39 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=32
 

The main tools and utilities on that are:  

 

Toad: http://www.quest.com   

Schema Comparison Tool:  http://www.dbsolo.com/schema_comparison.html   

Schema Compare Tool for Oracle: http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/OracleSchemaCompare.asp  

DB Side-By-Side: http://www.schematodoc.com/   

 

 

Thread source: http://www.orafaq.com/forum/m/226893/42800/?srch=compare+database#msg_226893

 

]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=56 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:09:38 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=56
The only limitation of STATSPACK is that some DBAs may not be confortable with the character output. If you are one of them, why go to enjoy "JOraStat", a java-based oracle performance tuning tool, which offers graphical output against STATSPACK statistics. And, IT"S FREE! 

Source:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/jorastat/
Or
Download from http://www.itpub.ca/bigupload/RIT_JOraStat.rar

Please follow the following threads to install it.  See JOraStat Manual as attached. ]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=86 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:26:42 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=86 This is a quick review of spViewer, a tool is Oracle database administrators and performance tuning experts with a wide range of useful features.

As claimed, spViewer offers the following features:

1. Support of all current Oracle STATSPACK utility versions including 8.1.7, 9.0.1, 9.2.0 , 10.1.0, 10.2.0

     Oracle10g AWR 10.1.0 and 10.2.0 repository support.

2. Full support of performance statistics included in standard Oracle STATSPACK/AWR reports.

3. An intuitive graphical user interfaces with fully customizable chart appearance.

4. Trend chart reports are available for any STATSPACK performance metric

5. Time series reporting is supported for both STATSPACK and AWR.

6. Ability to manage in GUI the Oracle STATSPACK/AWR data as taking the snapshots and cleaning the old data.

7. Support of multiple simultaneous instance connections.

8. Statistic baseline feature support.

9. More advanced features. We tested and verified the followings:

 We tested and verified the followings:


1. Summary overview of Statspack.

2. saperate report on individual section o Statspack, such as Memory Statistics, I/O statistics and so on.

3. based on pre-created snapshots, spViewer offers the flexibility to difine the range to minotor the performance issues.

4. manually take snapshot for time point investigation.

5. excellent ploting features (offers more than 10 plotting chart themes). And, also can merge different measures into one      chat  plotting. (see image below, which show Service Time, Wait Time & Total Response Time in one chart sampled within a     range of 11 snapshots)

 Highly recommend to use it as your solution of presenting Statspack statistics .

 spViewer and other excellent tools are available at http://www.statsviewer.netfirms.com/ 

 


]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=92 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:50:20 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=92
Script as attached.
]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=109 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:12:51 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=109 Overview  
-------- [table][tr][td]Oracle Metalink Doc ID: [/td][td]Note:156965.1[/td][/tr][/table]

    coe_locks.sql displays all sessions holding a lock on a table or row.
    Knowing the session/serial#, the analyst can turn specific events like
    10046 for a particular session, using coe_event_10046.sql or similar.

    To study in detail one session, use bde_session.sql (Note 169630.1)
    with parameter session_id (sid).

]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=132 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:07:31 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=132 "Seer" for Presenting and Plotting Statspack  [/td][/tr][tr][td]
Besides of JOraStat, another free software to present and plot Statspack data is available for downloading. That would be great if you could wirte review on that.  [/td][/tr][/table] ]]> http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=153 <OraclePoint.com> OraclePoint Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:26:10 +0000 http://www.oraclepoint.com/topic.php?filename=153
Please refer to the attached review for TOra, an alternative for Toad. This is a free software for Oracle DBAs and Developers. TOra offers considerable features to help DBAs and Developers in daily works.  

The attached review is done from view of DBAs. If you are developers, you may can find the existing stuff about it.  

Source:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/tora/  (also downloadable at http://www.oraclepoint.com/bigupload/TOraInstaller.rar )

Open Forum: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=52736  

For more related products about Oracle, see http://www.orafaq.com/tools/index.htm#DBA_Tools ]]>