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Toad + Excel = Easy Data Access |
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Bert
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:27 AM
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Many business analysts rely heavily upon Microsoft Excel as one of their primary tools for manipulating and reporting upon their business data. Sometimes they will send data extraction requests to their information systems (IS) people to perform and then deliver, sometimes they’ll instead access it themselves in place via the external data interface within Excel, and sometimes they’ll extract the data ...
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Virtual Paranoia? |
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Bert
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008 7:24 AM
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Lately I’ve been seeing what I think might be an interesting yet disturbing new trend: whenever there’s a problem that initially seems unusual and/or unexplainable, it’s not uncommon to quickly question virtualization as a potential source of the issue. I fully understand that virtualization adds a new variable to the basic equation – and represents greater complexity due to more moving parts. But it seems to b ...
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Oracle + VMware = Success Part IV |
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Bert
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Wednesday, December 03, 2008 10:47 AM
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A few weeks ago I wrote Part III of this series – and fortunately (or unfortunately for my poor ego) an astute reader wrote to ask for some clarification on my Excel chart. Ends up my Excel formula had a mistake – so many than ...
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Run Toad off a USB Flash Drive |
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Bert
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008 1:32 PM
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Lot’s of people have asked “How can I setup Toad to run off a flash drive?” The reason for this question varies in nature and intent by requestor – but the general concept is that some users need the ability to carry Toad with them. Some are contractors who must use whatever computer and/or desk is open that day. Some are database developers who must travel around their company to perform or assist w ...
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Speeding-Up Oracle on Your Notebook PC |
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Bert
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008 7:29 AM
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Just a quick blog this week – some relatively easy suggestions on how to make Oracle run as fast as possible on minimal computer setups such as a notebook PC. My goal is simply to squeeze as much performance blood from the Oracle turnip as possible when deployed on limited capacity equipment. The suggestions below should work for most operating systems, including Windows, Mac-OS and Linux – simply interpret and ...
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Just Make Oracle Go Faster |
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Bert
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:25 AM
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Catchy title – huh? But don’t laugh, in today’s hectic world many database professionals (whether DBA’s or developers – and sometimes even end users) just wish that the Oracle database would go faster. That may seem self evident – but let’s just accept that premise for now. So what does this mean for Toad users?
Toad offers numerous database monitoring, ...
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Oracle + VMware = Success Part II |
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Bert
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 2:40 AM
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Last week I wrote about how simply adjusting various virtualized infrastructure default settings that a database could perform up to 440% better. Of course “ your mileage” will vary, but the key point is ...
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RAC the Casba |
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Bert
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008 5:44 AM
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On many occasions, people will email or call me to get help with perceived RAC connectivity issues for various client applications – Toad and other Quest products included. Now some times they may have setups that we’ve not pre-tested, so they have a potential bug – or at least another regression testing scenario for us. But many times, it’s simply a SQL*Net configuration issue. While it’s easy to dr ...
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Speed Up Toad - Updated |
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Bert
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008 3:38 AM
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It’s not uncommon for software to increase in install size and memory footprint over the years – and Toad is no exception. But, that does not mean that these newer versions have to run more slowly. We take great pride in keeping Toad expedient as it matures. Thus do not simply assume that if your Toad is running slower these days – that it’s just the “cost of progress”. Most often t ...
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Toad Executing Scripts against Multiple Databases (Part 1) |
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Bert
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:15 PM
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One of the more frequent questions people ask me is why can’t Toad run scripts or commands against multiple databases at once? Of course as usual the answer is Toad already can – so I’m going to dedicate the next couple weeks’ blogs to this topic.
This week I’ll highlight the first method of running scripts for multiple databases using the “Toad Script Manager”. It ...
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Toad Data Modeler Generates Best SQL |
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Bert
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:11 AM
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When you go through the entire exhaustive process of doing an effective (i.e. accurate) logical model so that you have properly captured all the true business rules and requirements, you sure don’t want your data modeling tool to compromise those findings as you move into the physical model – which is database platform dependent. Yet most data modeling tools do a very poor job of translating ...
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Only Toad can debug SQL Scripts |
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Bert
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:45 AM
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I have been doing Oracle work for just over two decades – and I’ve probably written thousands of SQL scripts. Many of those were DBA oriented in their task nature, but even application development presents times where SQL scripts are used. For example, the need may arise for the operating systems’ or third party schedulers to invoke a shell script to execute a SQL script to execute ...
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Toad and Dynamic SQL Scripting |
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Bert
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Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:02 AM
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Sometimes, even in today’s world of super GUI’s, a SQL script is still the best way to do something. Plus there are always those people who steadfastly prefer command line to GUI’s no matter what. Can Toad accommodate and even facilitate these needs? Of course you know that the answer is a resounding yes.
Let’s sa ...
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Toad Data Modeler Hits a Home Run!!! |
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Bert
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Wednesday, July 02, 2008 5:28 AM
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I have always believed that Toad Data Modeler offers the best, easy to use data modeling tool on the market for the money. Now my faith has been confirmed – others are starting to see just what a gem Toad Data Modeler. Take a look at this review. I agree 100% of course – but everything there is true.
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Making Toad Do What You Want |
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Bert
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:55 AM
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A lot of times people will ask Quest tech support or via our Yahoo discussion groups how to make the editor run SQL commands and do stuff more like SQL*Plus or how to better control the output look and feel (i.e. behavior). Along those lines and another very popular question is where one can set an option in Toad for the editor to do something specific (e.g. turn off feedback, etc) – because they have ...
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ODTUG Post Mortem |
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Bert
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Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:22 AM
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There are quite a few blogs out there about what happened or what’s new from this week’s ODTUG conference in New Orleans. So rather than restate what many others are reporting, I thought I’d try a slightly different approach – to instead report more on what was noticeably absent or different this year. J
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The Database “Big Easy” |
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Bert
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:43 AM
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Next week the annual ODTUG conference will be held in New Orleans. I’ll be attending sessions and visiting vendor booths in order to stay current with the database DBA and development markets (more developer oriented at this particular show). I’ll report my findings and things of interest next week. I especially hope to corner some Oracle folks on the 11g R2 beta – which I&rsqu ...
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How about a free copy of Toad DBA Suite for Oracle? |
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Bert
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Friday, June 06, 2008 5:20 AM
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I’m working with our product team to develop a novel idea – and need feedback from you, our customer base. So here comes what may seem like a silly question: How would you like to win a free copy of the Toad DBA Suite for Oracle?
Let me explain. I’m proposing that we sponsor an Oracle ...
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Database Benchmarking Preparatory Checklist |
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Bert
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:20 AM
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There have been several papers and blogs from Quest on the issues of benchmarking successfully, however the condition persists where people experience trying issues with Benchmark Factory and obtaining satisfactory benchmark results. I still maintain that it’s primarily attributable to a lack of proper and complete precursory work. But people generally seem to need more than a notice to prepare more, ...
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ODTUG is just around the corner |
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Bert
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:50 AM
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It’s that time of year once again. The Oracle Developer Tool Users Group (ODTUG) is quickly approaching (June 16th-19th in New Orleans – see below). For Quest, this is a really great show. It’s very well attended by and representative of our Toad customer base. It’s not uncommon for a vast majority of this show’s att ...
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Toad Saves Mucho Dinero |
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Bert
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:15 AM
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Sometimes people will compare Toad against low cost competitors or freeware (remember, Toad offers a freeware version as well). The idea being that one can save money by going with a lesser product. That seems fiscally responsible – until you do the math that is. So, let’s work a simple exam ...
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Yet another Little Toad Gem |
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Bert
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008 5:23 AM
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There are so many useful little make or break features inside Toad, it’s very often difficult to pick one to highlight. A few weeks ago I started to divulge some things coming in Toad 9.7 (and already in the beta). One item I ment ...
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How Data Modeling Can Save Money |
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Bert
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008 4:46 AM
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It’s not uncommon to discover databases that have simply evolved over time rather than having been built according to some overall design or “master plan”. And there seem to be no shortage of answers as to why this occurs. Sometimes DBA’s are just far too busy with a myriad of other tasks. Sometimes developers are under th ...
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Toad Can Reduce Waits |
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Bert
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008 3:46 AM
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When using either Toad’s Stats Pack Browser or AWR Browser screens (both part of the optional DBA module and/or bundle), the plethora of graphs can sometimes be a wee bit overwhelming – as shown in the screen snapshot below. So how is any DBA in an urgent situation or hurry to both successfully and expediently interpret such database activity?
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Toad Fits Like a Glove |
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Bert
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 5:42 AM
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I’ve seen some people on competing product discussion boards say things like Toad’s schema browser Is far too bloated – with too many tabs and images sucking up all the precious real-estate. But like anything else in Toad, if you don’t experiment with and utilize all the cool options it offers – you could very easily arrive at this quite mistaken conclusion. So ...
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Toad – What Next? |
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Bert
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008 8:34 AM
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Recently, my Toad World blog asking whether we needed to update the Toad Handbook generated as many or more replies than all my other past blogs combined. So it obviously seems best to ask you guys – our customers and users – for more opinions and ideas. |
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Toad Should be a No-Brainer |
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Bert
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:10 AM
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I often get asked by both new and exiting customers to aid them in the cost justification process for purchasing Toad or upgrading their licenses. I thought since I get asked this so often, maybe a short blurb on the topic would be generally beneficial.
To write this blog, I’m using Microsoft Word. When I’m done, I’ll be em ...
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Toad does RAC – Really |
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Bert
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:08 AM
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An increasingly common question these days is does Toad support Oracle RAC (i.e. Real Application Clusters)? And if so – how, when and where?
HOW: There ...
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Database Version Control via Toad |
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Bert
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:01 AM
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One key task for many DBAs is maintaining a database version control or change revision history. Database version control affords the DBA the ability to restore the database to any prior state, or to detect unplanned database revisions that cause the database to be out of compliance with its specification. One could argue that the latter scenario would unlikely happen in a well controlled production environment ...
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Toad Database Probe Customization |
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Bert
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:54 AM
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Did you know that Toad’s Database Probe screen is customizable? That’s why it’s vastly superior to the simple Database Monitoring screen. Here’s a basic screen snapshot:
 < ...
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Toad and Monitoring Indexes |
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Bert
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008 10:11 AM
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Ever wonder which indexes are being used in your database? Well Oracle 9i introduced the capability to track index usage. But you had to learn new ALTER INDEX command syntax to support this and then how to query V$OBJECT_USAGE view to see the index usage information. Well I’m too darn lazy, and why not be – as with most things in Oracle, Toad cleanly exposes this feature and increases its us ...
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Toad Dynamic SQL Scripting |
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Bert
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008 7:36 AM
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Sometimes people will request that Toad have a certain special new feature, often special to the task at hand which they’re trying to accomplish. Keeping in mind my recent Toad blog about SQL*Plus compatibility, there are very often easy ways to use existing Toad features to do what the ...
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Toad and SQL*Plus Compatibility |
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Bert
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Friday, February 01, 2008 12:17 PM
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Sometimes people will ask why can’t Toad work more like SQL*Plus – and the funny thing is the answer is quite often it does. You really just need to know how SQL*Plus works – and then look for the same feature within Toad. Let’s take a very, very common scenario that gets asked almost every quarter. Look at my SQL*Plus SELECT command in the screen snapshot below. Suppose ...
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Toad’s New & Improved Database Browser |
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Bert
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Thursday, January 03, 2008 11:08 AM
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There are many different types of Toad® users, and since job titles and descriptions vary so widely, it’s tough to say a typical Toad user looks like this and thus needs this. Thus Toad has evolved over time to meet the ever growing needs of our customers. Quest has two key Toad Yahoo discussion groups to fa ...
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Speed Up Toad |
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Bert
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Monday, December 17, 2007 1:20 PM
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It’s not uncommon for software to increase in install size and memory footprint over the years – and Toad®
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Super & Sub Type Option #1 |
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Bert
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Friday, November 30, 2007 3:50 PM
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When we create a super-and-sub type (a.k.a. Inheritance) entity relationship in a logical data model, it’s very clear what the business requirements being communicated are – that different subsets of attributes comprise the “cumulative entity” being modeled depending upon the business context. &l ...
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Oracle 11g on a notebook: Tread Lightly |
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Bert
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Friday, November 16, 2007 10:41 AM
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This blog posting is not meant to demean or slander the Oracle database in anyway. I’ve staked almost my entire career on Oracle technologies – and I intend to finish these last 7-10 years doing more Oracle stuff. To quote a funny Saturday Night Live skit: “Oracle has been very, very good to me.” So my comments are mo ...
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Expedite Saving Data via Toad |
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Bert
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Tuesday, November 06, 2007 8:14 AM
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Probably one of the most useful and frequented tasks performed with Toad® for Oracle is saving data to a file, such as comma delimited text (or any of the other numerous formats supported). It’s a relatively easy feature to find – you simply depress the “right hand mouse” (RHM) ...
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Oracle Parallel Query Abuse |
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Bert
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007 6:46 AM
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Oracle’s Parallel Query Option (PQO) is a fantastic tool, but much like any good tool, it can very easily be used in the wrong situation or simply abused. In those cases, PQO can actually make database performance much worse. Let’s examine some common misuses or misperceptions regarding optimal and efficient PQO usage.
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Running Toad on Linux! |
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Bert
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Monday, October 22, 2007 4:09 AM
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OK – now that I grabbed your full attention with that snappy title, let’s see just how to run the Toad® on your Linux desktop or notebook. Let’s say that you’re running Redhat, CentOS, SuSE or Ubuntu Linux on your PC, let’s further assume that you would like to run Toad either ...
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