Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Missing Features

As any DBA who has used a few tools for database administration can tell, this tool is not very feature rich. So why do I like it anyway?

First it is free. I do not have to beg my boss to buy an expensive tool with many options and few useful ones. I can simply install it; this is how the tool has ended up on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Second, it is easy to extend. Features can be added as they are needed. I can write an additional script using the same template, add the line to the corresponding HTML menu and, voila, a cool new feature is supported.  So, which features will be supported first?

The first feature to be supported is handling STATSPACK.  This is why init.php stores the date when the instance was started as a session variable.  There will be a new menu, called Statspack, which will be able to execute a STATSPACK snapshot, delete snapshots and produce a STATSPACK report in the web browser.

The next feature lists RMAN backups from v$backup_set, v$backup_piece and v$backup_datafile, much like RMAN. Oracle 10g  RMAN utility allows piping RMAN commands and arguments to RMAN utility, which allows starting RMAN backup from a web server process. Such a feature would be especially useful for ad-hoc backups, taken whenever there is a major change in the database.

I would like to be even more ambitious and actually produce the whole STATSPACK report in the browser, but that is a heap of work and requires putting all the queries and procedures from sprepins.sql into a PHP5 script.

Reverse engineering which would produce DDL statements for various types of objects, not just tablespaces, is also high on the list of priorities. dbms_metadata can do much more than just producing the list of CREATE TABLESPACE statements. dbms_metadata can be used to re-create various types of objects, including procedural objects, constraints, views and whole schemas. I do plan to offer a recreation of all those object types as options in a separate sub-menu.

Finally, when time permits, I would like to write a schema comparison tool, using PHP, SQL and PL/SQL.

The changes and new features will be posted regularly on the Rampant Books web page. I must express my extreme gratitude to Don Burleson and Rampant Books as a whole for this valuable service to the open source community.

The list of priorities can also change, depending on my job requirements. I have propensity for implementing the features that are actually needed for my DBA position first.

Of course, there are many missing features that would be extremely useful to have, and I am looking forward to volunteers and suggestions. Writing and maintaining a tool like this requires a significant effort. Unless a community gets involved, it will eventually become obsolete and fade into oblivion like other open source DBA tools. This is why this tool is written using a popular scripting language and why it is broken down into gazillion of small, understandable and manageable pieces.

I hope my philosophy proves correct and the tool is successful in attracting many developers and DBA people alike. The finaldecision is in your hands.

See code depot for complete scripts

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