banjora {na+au+uk{auxilium}}

Oracle VM 2.1.5 Server, Final Analysis

Liam A. Purefoy — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:00:20 +0000

The Oracle VM concept is brilliant all together, and if Oracle should continue on improvements with their pursuit of the VM market, it quite possibly could close the gap on Oracle’s competitors.

However…

In this exercise, our goal was to virtualize some 20+ legacy Windows servers where the applications are completely dependant on Windows 2000 and Oracle8i. Apart from the vague and scarce troubleshooting information available (Metalink was of no help unfortunately), we were able to successfully (but painfully I might add) build a clustered Oracle VM environment with HP’s new SANs technology. The Oracle VM 2.1.2 and 2.1.5 product still lacks maturity, and given the ISO enforcement of Oracle’s VM design to build a custom environment (templates would not do because of the above mention dependency), it becomes very problematic, and unrealistic.

The VM lab that we did in fact create was that of Windows 2003 EE and Oracle10g EE. It was indeed very slow, as Oracle has indicated to be a significant concern. However, the article that Oracle originally posted regarding Windows guest performance has been changed since our feedback to Oracle (now dated July 2009), and now reads "Oracle VM offers paravirtualized (PV) Windows drivers that substantially improve the performance of Windows on Oracle VM." We were unable to locate such drivers.

All said, we are obviously concerned about overall support. With the vague information provided by Oracle, they seem to have made it clear that current VM support is somewhat ‘best effort’. In this exercise, we would potentially need support with Windows 2000 and Oracle8i, both of which are not listed on their certification list. Additionally, and if memory serves correctly, recall reading in the VM maintenance contract that Oracle reserves the right to de-support any module at any time. If that is true, Oracle VM then quite simply would not be for the risk averse.

Perhaps with Oracle’s acquisition of Sun and VirtualIron, the product, and it’s support, will mature.

Installing Oracle VM 2.1.2 Server, Part I

Liam A. Purefoy — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:30:25 +0000

As mulit-core processors predominately take the stage, the need to address additional Oracle licensing becomes a serious concern for many small and large companies alike. Enticed by the appealing Oracle VM solution, this posting in particular describes the simple installation of Oracle’s VM Server 2.1.2 onto VMware’s Workstation.

It is important to note that VMware’s BIOS currently does not have the ability to enable VT (Virtualization Technology), so a somewhat proper Oracle’s VM will in fact install, however, one will not be able to import ISOs. This is a precondition that Oracle has deemed necessary, and it will impact the creation of a VM Guest. Non the less, installing Oracle’s VM Server, or what we have commonly referred to as Oracle’s JEOS (Just Enough Operating System), does provide a very suitable development lab for sorting out the odd Linux challenges, and it will allow access to the VM Manager Portal to create a server pool of sorts.

Additionally, we also looked at using Oracle’s Unbreakable Linux [Enterprise-R5-U3-Server-i386] instead of the JEOS version as it would provide a nice Gnome UI. Unfortunately, this also provided different challenges altogether. If one installs UL (Unbreakable Linux) within VMware, the option to install the Xen virtualization is not present. We believe that this is because of the above mentioned where VT currently not available in VMware’s BIOS. And, if one installs UL on a physical metal server, it fails to include the installation of the ovs-agent, unlike the JEOS version. The ovs-agent is critical for creating server pools and the like. Simply bear in mind that Oracle’s VM 2.1.2 JEOS version is exactly that, just enough Unbreakable Linux to properly support the VM environment.

Lastly, and what is rather disappointing, is of current information on troubleshooting Oracle’s VM. The internet, including Oracle’s documentation and within MetaLink, it is indeed scarce and vague.

Concepts and Goals
Specifications
Prerequisites and Considerations
Benchmarks
Installation Guide
Installation Challenges
Reference Information
Summation

Concepts and Goals [return to top]

The sole purpose of creating an Oracle VM within VMware’s Workstation was to provide a development lab for sorting out the challenges with Linux, port allocations, partition sizing and to some extent, Oracle VM functionality. The final installation, configuration and testing will be performed on a HP DL380 G5 server, in a two node scenario with a shared SANs. According to Oracle, this hardware design and configuration will provide the foundation for the Live Migration component of Oracle VM. The Live Migration functionality is somewhat similar to VMware’s VMotion functionality. Basically, Oracle’s VM Enterprise Manager allows a guest virtual machine to be migrated from one Oracle VM Server to another. All guest virtual machines on a server can also be migrated at the same time. By default, live migration traffic is SSL-encrypted to protect sensitive data from exploitation.

Specifications [return to top]

VMware Host: HP Compaq 8510p, 3GB RAM, Dual 2.00GHz Intel Core2 Duo T7300
VMware Workstation 6.5.0, build 118166
Oracle VM Server 2.1.2
Oracle VM Manager 2.1.2

Prerequisites and Considerations [return to top]

With a bit of navigation, Oracle’s VM site provides all the needed ISOs and RPMs for the JEOS Oracle VM installation. The download requires registration, and all ISOs are zipped.

The assumption is that VMware Workstation 6.5 will be used, however, any VMware version that supports a ‘Other Linux 2.6.x kernel 64-bit’ or ‘Other Linux 2.6.x kernel’ template can be used.

To create a new VMware Guest, simply perform the following steps:

From the toolbar, select File > New > Virtual Machine (CTL+N)
Select ‘Custom (advanced)’, and click Next
Select ‘Workstation 5′, and select ‘ESX Server’ compatibility, and click Next
Select ‘I will install the operating system later’, and click Next
Select ‘Other Linux 2.6.x kernel 64-bit’ or ‘Other Linux 2.6.x kernel’, and click Next
Enter the desired Virtual Server Name and the path where the created VM files are to be placed, and click Next
Select either One or Two processors, and click Next
Enter 1024 (mb) for the memory value of this virtual machine, and click Next
Select ‘Use Bridged Networking’, and click Next
Select ‘LSI Logic’ for the SCSI Adapter, and click Next
Select ‘Create a new virtual disk’, and click Next
Select ‘SCSI’, and click Next
Enter 120.0 (gb) for the Maximum Disk Size, and select ‘Store virtual disk as a single file’, and click Next
Rename the default disk file to ‘Local Storage Array A.vmdk’, and click Next
Deselect ‘Power on this virtual machine after creation’ as additional modifications are required, and click Finish
From the toolbar, select VM > Settings (CTL+D), and click ‘Add’
Select ‘Hard Disk’, and click Next
Select ‘Create a new virtual disk’, and click Next
Select ‘SCSI’, and click Next
Enter 120.0 (gb) for the Maximum Disk Size, and click Next
Rename the default disk file to ‘SANs Storage Array A.vmdk’, and click Finish
Click ‘Add’
Select ‘Hard Disk’, and click Next
Select ‘Create a new virtual disk’, and click Next
Select ‘SCSI’, and click Next
Enter 120.0 (gb) for the Maximum Disk Size, and click Next
Rename the default disk file to ‘SANs Storage Array B.vmdk’, and click Finish
Select ‘CD/DVD’, and provide the location of the Oracle VM Manager 2.1.2 ISO file, and click ‘OK’

Create a backup of the Virtual Guest’s VMX file, and using a text editor such as Notepad, open the VMX file associated with this Virtual Guest, and carefully mind you, add the following entries:

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet1.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet1.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet1.addressType = "generated"

ethernet2.present = "TRUE"
ethernet2.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet2.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet2.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet2.addressType = "generated"

monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = "TRUE"
monitor_control.vt32 = "TRUE"

svga.maxWidth = "1920"
svga.maxHeight = "1200"
svga.vramSize = "33554432"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"

disk.locking = "FALSE"
diskLib.dataCacheMaxSize = "0"
diskLib.dataCacheMaxReadAheadSize = "0"
diskLib.dataCacheMinReadAheadSize = "0"
diskLib.dataCachePageSize = "4096"
diskLib.maxUnsyncedWrites = "0"

The following snap (click to enlarge) provides a view of the VM Guest configurations

If one is to install Oracle VM Manager onto this particular VM Guest, then the / root partition must be adequately sized. On this spin, we sized the / root partition to 24gb to provide space for all the unforeseen.

Benchmarks [return to top]

No benchmarks were obtained.

Installation Guide [return to top]

1.	The installation prompts the options to install or upgrade Oracle VM server. Press to continue.


2.	The initial installation and setup processes are launched. No manual intervention required.


3.	Installation continues with the loading of various drivers. No manual intervention required.


4.	If you have confidence in the media, then using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘Skip’, and press to continue.


5.	The installation process prepares and is loaded. No manual intervention required.


6.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select the desired model, then select ‘OK’, and press to continue.


7.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘YES’ and press to continue


8.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘YES’ and press to continue


9.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘YES’ and press to continue


10.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘Remove all partitions on selected drives and create default layout’, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


11.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘YES’ and press to continue


12.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘YES’ and press to continue


13.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the /boot partition, then select ‘Edit’ and press to continue


14.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ’sda’ as the only allowable drive, change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 150, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


15.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the swap partition, then select ‘Edit’ and press to continue


16.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ’sda’ as the only allowable drive, change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 5120, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


17.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the / (root) partition, then select ‘Edit’ and press to continue


18.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ’sda’ as the only allowable drive, change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 24576, enable ‘Force to be a primary partition’, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


19.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the remaining free space for the ’sda’ disc, then select ‘New’ and press to continue


20.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter ‘/u01′ as a new mount pointe, ext3 as the File System Type, ’sda’ as the only allowable drive, ,change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 93031, enable ‘Force to be a primary partition’, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


21.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the /OVS partition, then select ‘Delete’ and press to continue.


22.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘Delete’ and press to continue


23.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the remaining free space for the ’sdb’ disc, then select ‘New’ and press to continue


24.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter ‘/OVS’ as a new mount pointe, ext3 as the File System Type, ’sdb’ as the only allowable drive, change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 245758, enable ‘Force to be a primary partition’, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


25.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the remaining free space for the ’sdc’ disc, then select ‘New’ and press to continue


26.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter ‘/u02′ as a new mount pointe, ext3 as the File System Type, ’sdc’ as the only allowable drive, change the current ‘Size MB’ value to 245758, enable ‘Force to be a primary partition’, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


27.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘OK’ and press to continue


28.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight /dev/sda boot loader, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


29.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, highlight the eth0 network interface, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


30.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enable the IPv4 support, enter the IP address and NetMask values for IPv4, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


31.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter the Gateway, Primary DNS, Secondary DNS values, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


32.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select manually, and enter the hostname, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


33.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select the desired Time Zone, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


34.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter the desired password for the OVS Agent, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


35.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, enter the desired password for the root account, then select ‘OK’ and press to continue


36.	The installation performs a dependency check on the packages to be installed. No manual intervention required.


37.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘OK’ and press to continue


38.	The installation begins the formatting of the configured partitions. No manual intervention required.


39.	The installation begins installation of the packages. No manual intervention required.


40.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘Reboot’ and press to continue


41.	The server will display the shutdown sequence of events. No manual intervention required.


42.	Press any key to invoke the Oracle VM Server loading options.


43.	Using the UP or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select the desired loading option and press to continue


44.	Using the TAB, UP, or DOWN (↑ and ↓) keys, select ‘Agree’ and press to continue


45.	The installation process has been completed, and one can now log into the Oracle VM Server environment.

Installation Challenges [return to top]

1.	When the VMware Guest is started, or restarted for that matter, one may receive an error of ‘ERR: Not a 64-Bit CPU!erver-ovs’. This is simply corrected by entering the menu upon boot, and selecting the 32-bit version as described in step 42 and 43 of the installation process above.

Reference Information [return to top]

Summation [return to top]

Oracle VM Server (and Oracle VM Manager) can indeed be properly installed onto a VMware Workstation scenario, and provide a suitable development lab. Oracle’s VM Server is JEOS (Just Enough Operating System), and that is truly what is installed. However, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, one is challenged when importing ISOs into the Oracle VM Manager portal as VMware current does not have a VT (Virtual Technology) option in the BIOS.

Average VM Guest footprint (powered up) on hosting machine is 4.5gb
Standard ‘text mode’ interfaces are supported
RedHat Sysstat functionality [sysstat-7.0.0-3.el5.i386.rpm] is not installed by default, however, the RPM can be located within the OracleVM-Server-2.1.2 ISO and installed separately [# rpm -ivh sysstat-7.0.0-3.el5.i386.rpm]
By default, the CTRL+ALT+DEL functionality will in fact restart the VM Server. This can be altered by editing the /etc/inittab file

The Differences Between Oracle 10g Releases

Liam A. Purefoy — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:00:55 +0000

With today’s economy in such dire straits, many companies are getting back to basics and reviewing the overlooked areas in order to save any money possible. In particular, Oracle licensing is expensive and complicated, and therefore becomes a viable discussion for many companies looking at potentially migrating their databases over to more economical Oracle, or non-Oracle releases. The key to this equation remains on what the database release can deliver, it’s overall encompassing support, and then lastly, how is it competitively priced.

In reading Bridget Botelho’s 2007 article on ‘Licensing for quad-core processors gets tricky‘, chip manufactures such as Intel are pushing to make the Quad-Core the industry standard for all servers. Microsoft’s position on licensing remains the same when it relates to cores, which is licensed ‘per physical processor’, and has no future plans to change this model. Keeping in tune with their competitors and their releases, Oracle’s pricing on Standard Edition was simplified so customers can run systems with as many as four processors with no limit on the number of cores. However, Oracle’s pricing on Enterprise Edition remains complicated in regards to cores. "Oracle has four categories for licensing, and each category has a unique processor factor that is used to determine the total number of processor licenses. For instance, the processor factor for the UltraSPARC T1 is 0.25. To determine how many licenses are required, Oracle multiplies that number by the number of cores. A Sun Fire T2000 server with one 1.2 GHz UltraSPARC T1 processor and eight cores requires two licenses (eight multiplied by a processor factor of .25 totals two processor licenses). Processor factors for AMD and Intel chips are 0.50, so a Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) ProLiant DL145 G2 with two AMD Opteron 200 series dual-core processors will require two multiplied by two multiplied by a 0.5 processor factor, totaling two processor licenses with a list license fee of $80,000. All other multicore chips, like Sun’s UltraSPARC IV, have a 0.75 processor factor, and single core chips have a processor factor of 1.0. "

Oracle Database is available in four editions, each suitable for different development and deployment scenarios.

The Oracle Database Product Family:

Oracle Database Standard Edition One:
————————————
Oracle Database Standard Edition One delivers unprecedented ease of use, power, and performance for workgroup, department-level, and Web applications. Standard Edition One can only be licensed on servers with a maximum capacity of two processors.

Oracle Database Standard Edition:
——————————–
Oracle Database Standard Edition delivers the unprecedented ease of use, power, and performance of Standard Edition One, with support for larger machines and clustering of services with Real Application Clusters. Oracle Database Standard Edition can be licensed on single servers or server clusters that have a maximum capacity of four processors. Real Application Clusters is not included in the Standard Edition of releases prior to Oracle Database 10g, nor is it an available option with those earlier releases. When used in a clustered server environment, Oracle Database Standard Edition requires the use of Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS). Third-party clusterware management solutions are not supported. In addition, Automatic Storage Management (ASM) must be used to manage the data stored in Oracle Database. Third-party volume managers and file systems are not supported for this purpose. CRS and ASM are required in a clustered server environment in order to facilitate the installation, configuration, and support of Real Application Clusters on Standard Edition.

Oracle Database Enterprise Edition:
———————————-
Oracle Database Enterprise Edition provides the performance, availability, scalability, and security required for mission-critical applications such as high-volume online transaction processing (OLTP) applications, query-intensive data warehouses, and demanding Internet applications. Oracle Database Enterprise Edition contains all of the components of Oracle Database, and can be further enhanced with the purchase of the options and packs.

Oracle Database Personal Edition:
——————————–
Oracle Database Personal Edition supports single-user development and deployment environments that require full compatibility with Oracle Database Standard Edition One, Oracle Database Standard Edition, and Oracle Database Enterprise Edition. Personal Edition includes all of the components that are included with Enterprise Edition, as well as all of the options that are available with Enterprise Edition, with the exception of the Oracle Real Application Clusters option, which cannot be used with Personal Edition. Personal Edition is available on Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit versions). The Management Packs are not included in Personal Edition.

The following table lists the options available with this release:

Option	10g SE	10g SE1	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Oracle Advanced Security	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Advanced Security provides network encryption Strong authentication services to Oracle Database. Network encryption is implemented using industry-standard data encryption and data integrity algorithms.
Oracle Change Management Pack	N	N	Y	N	The Oracle Change Management Pack enables database administrators to make complex changes to schema objects safely, track changes to schemas and databases over time, make copies of schemas or objects, and compare and synchronize schemas and databases.
Oracle Data Mining	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Data Mining enables companies to build advanced business intelligence applications that mine corporate databases, reveal new patterns and relation-ships, and integrate that information into business applications.
Oracle Diagnostics Pack	N	N	Y	N	The Oracle Diagnostics Pack provides automatic performance diagnostic and advanced system monitoring functionality.
Oracle Label Security	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Label Security provides sophisticated and flexible security based on row labels for fine-grained access control.
Oracle OLAP	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle OLAP is a scalable, high-performance calculation engine with fully integrated management and administration for delivering analytic applications.
Oracle Partitioning	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Partitioning lets you store large tables as retaining a single application-level view of individually managed smaller pieces, while the data.
Oracle Programmer	N	N	N	N	Oracle Programmer provides a rich set of interfaces for developers who build enterprise applications that access and manipulate Oracle Database.
Oracle Real Application Clusters	Y	N	Y	N	Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) is a database computing environment that harnesses the processing power of multiple interconnected computers using clustering technology.
Oracle Spatial	N	N	Y	Y	This option comprises an integrated set of functions and procedures that facilitate analysis based on the spatial relationships of associated data
Oracle Tuning Pack	N	N	Y	N	The Oracle Tuning Pack provides database administrators with expert performance management for the Oracle environment, including SQL tuning and storage optimizations.
Oracle Configuration Management Pack	N	N	Y	Y	The Oracle Configuration Management Pack enables database administrators to track hardware and software configuration information for hosts and databases managed by Enterprise Manager.

The following table lists the features available with this release:

Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
VLDB, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence
Data compression	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides the ability to compress tables and partitions.
Bitmapped index and bitmapped join index	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides an index type commonly used in data warehouses for columns with low cardinality, such as ‘Y’ or ‘N’, to dramatically improve performance gains in a data warehouse application.
Export transportable tablespace	N	N	Y	Y	Quickly moves or creates a copy of tablespace data. A transportable tablespace can be "plugged in" to all editions of the database. (10g allows cross platform transport of a tablespace)
Import transportable tablespaces	Y	Y	Y	Y	Quickly "plugs in" a transportable tablespace
Asynchronous change data capture	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides a framework for capturing change data, publishing it, and enabling applications to subscribe to the change data in a controlled fashion. Change capture occurs asynchronously based on the information in the Oracle redo logs.
Summary management	N	N	Y	Y	Summary management consists of mechanisms to define materialized views and dimensions, refresh and query rewrite mechanisms, which automatically redirects queries to stored materialized views, improving query performance dramatically. Also includes a collection of materialized view analysis and advisory functions and procedures in the DBMS_OLAP package or via the SQL Access Advisor.
Analytic functions	Y	Y	Y	Y	Built-in SQL functions to provide a variety of sophisticated analytical computations. These include rank, moving average, and ratio-to-report, and many others.
Automated parallel query degree	N	N	Y	Y	Automated parallel query optimization based on system utilization.
Descending indexes	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides better performance when indexed data needs to sorted in descending order.
Direct Path Load API	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows complete access to all load functionality via OCI API for creation of high performance load programs.
External tables	Y	Y	Y	Y	Enables accessibility within the database to external data sources (such as flat files) as read-only tables.
Function-based indexes	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows indexes to be created on expressions or functions.
Long operations monitor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Progress of long running database and application operations can be monitored and information can be displayed, such as percent complete.
Materialized views	Y	Y	Y	Y	Create materialized views and maintain using complete and fast refresh mechanisms.
MERGE	Y	Y	Y	Y	An incremental refresh of a table requires two tasks: New records are inserted and existing records are updated. MERGE allows both tasks to be performed simultaneously in a single SQL statement.
Optimizer statistics management	Y	Y	Y	Y	Schema object statistics, used by the cost based optimizer can be copied and moved to another database.
Pipelined table functions	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows result sets to be pipelined back to calling statement, dramatically improving performance.
Sample scan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Scans of a sampling of data to determine approximate averages or other data analysis quickly even in extremely large tables.
Star query optimization	Y	Y	Y	Y	This algorithm utilizes B-tree indexes (not bitmap indexes)


Manageability:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Database Resource Manager	N	N	Y	Y	Database Resource Manager gives Oracle Database more control over resource management decisions, circumventing problems arising from inefficient operating system management.


Parallel Operations:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Parallel query	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Database transparently distributes query execution across multiple processes, resulting in excellent performance.
Parallel DML	N	N	Y	Y	This feature no longer requires the Oracle Partitioning option. DML operations are transparently divided across multiple processes.
Parallel index build	N	N	Y	Y	Indexes can be created using parallel processes, significantly improving performance of the operation.
Parallel statistics gathering	N	N	Y	Y
Parallel Data Pump and import	N	N	Y	Y	The new Data Pump Export and export Import utilities can each be run in parallel, resulting in better performance in loading and unloading data and metadata.
Parallel text index creation	N	N	Y	Y	Enables parallel Text index creation on non-partitioned as well as partitioned tables.
Parallel backup and recovery	N	N	Y	Y	Allows both backup and recovery to be run using parallel processing.
Parallel analyze	N	N	Y	Y	The ANALYZE statement, used to gather statistics on tables, can be run using parallel processing. This feature requires the Partitioning Option
Parallel bitmap star query optimization	N	N	Y	Y	This algorithm utilizes single-table bitmap indexes and an advanced star query join method, resulting in excellent performance while efficiently utilizing space
Parallel index scans	N	N	Y	Y	Queries that use an index can scan the index in parallel with multiple processes. This requires the Partitioning Option.
Parallel load	Y	Y	Y	Y	Loads of data quickly with multiple, parallel processes.


High Availability:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Oracle Data Guard	N	N	Y	Y	Data Guard provides a comprehensive set of services that create, maintain, manage, and monitor one or more standby databases to enable a production Oracle Database to survive disasters and data corruption
Fast-start fault recovery	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides fast and predictable recovery from system failures.
Online operations	N	N	Y	Y	Online index maintenance, Online table organization, Online table redefinition
Backup and recovery	N	N	Y	Y	Block-level media recovery Parallel backup and recovery Change-aware incremental backups. Duplexed backup sets Point-in-time tablespace recovery Trial recovery
Oracle Flashback features	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Flashback Table, Oracle Flashback Database, Oracle Flashback Transaction Query


Content Management:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Dynamic Services	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides Web Service Aggregation Transformation, Administration, Definition and Registration, and Delivery. ICE 1.0 support.
Oracle Database Workspace Manager	Y	Y	Y	Y	Creates heretical workspaces and uses metadata and views to version enabled tables in a long transaction framework.
Ultra Search	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides unified searching across the Oracle database, the Web (HTML), and external data sources.


Information Integration:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Oracle Streams	N	N	Y	Y	Message queuing and apply features of Oracle Streams are available in Standard Edition and Standard Edition One, but change capture is available only in Enterprise Edition.
Oracle Messaging Gateway	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle Messaging Gateway consists of an administration package for gateway configuration and management and a gateway agent that processes propagation.


Database Features:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Advanced Queuing	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides direct support in the database for high performance queuing and messaging operations, integrated with LDAP.
Database event triggers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Fires off database triggers, such as database startup or shutdown triggers, DDL statement triggers, and logon/logoff triggers, when the event occurs.
DBMS_REPAIR package	Y	Y	Y	Y	Detects and corrects software and hardware corruption early.
Drop column	Y	Y	Y	Y	Removes an unwanted column from a table.
Flashback Query	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows data to be queried from a point in the past.
Globalization Support	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides native language support with enhanced unicode capabilities.
Index coalesce	N	N	Y	Y	Defragments free space in index leaf blocks while a table is online.
Index-organized tables	Y	Y	Y	Y	Stores data in a table in a B*-tree index structure for better performance and reduced storage.
Instead-of triggers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Executes triggers instead of the DML that caused the trigger to fire.
LOB (large object) support	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides datatypes and functionality for storing and manipulating large objects, such as images or other unstructured data.
Locally-managed tablespaces	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides efficient storage management functionality that improves reliability and reduces fragmentation.
LogMiner	Y	Y	Y	Y	Analyzes transaction log information online to enable auditing of transactions and to "back out" of individual transactions.
Plan Stability	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows execution plans for SQL to be stored so that the plan remains consistent throughout schema changes, database reorganizations, and data volume changes.
Quiesce database	N	N	Y	Y	Allows for database maintenance without it forcing a shutdown.
Reverse key indexes	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows Indexed columns to be indexed on reversed column values for better index performance.
Temporary tables	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows users to manipulate data for the duration of a transaction or session.


Development:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
AppWizard for Visual Studio (NT only)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Simplifies development of Oracle based applications using Visual Studio.
Autonomous transactions	Y	Y	Y	Y	Eases complex transaction programming by enabling Blocks of PL/SQL to commit independently of each other.
COM cartridge (NT only)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows PL/SQL developers to manipulate programmatically COM objects through the OLE Automation interface. Entry points are exposed for access to the methods defined by the OLE Automation interface for easy application integration.
iSQL*Plus	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides three-tier implementation of SQL*Plus running in a web browser.
Java	Y	Y	Y	Y	Includes Java stored procedures, methods, and triggers: EJB, CORBA, IIOP, HTTP, and native Java compilation.
JDBC drivers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides JDBC access to Oracle (JDBC is a Java call-level interface to SQL that is standards compliant and supports Oracle-specific features.)
Microsoft Transaction Server Integration (NT only)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides full native integration with Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) to allow developers to deploy COM-based applications using MTS against Oracle.
Objects and extensibility	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides object relational functionality, including object types and methods and enables database extensibility via APIs to database services and functionality.
PL/SQL native compilation	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows PL/SQL byte code to be converted to C and dynamically linked into the database server.
PL/SQL stored procedures, triggers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides mechanism to deploy logic directly in the database.
PL/SQL Server Pages	Y	Y	Y	Y	Server-side Web pages (in HTML or XML) with embedded PL/SQL scripts, enabling rapid development of dynamic Web pages.
User-defined aggregates	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows for user defined aggregation functionality such as group-by on object types and collections to allow efficient aggregation for data cartridges.
XML	Y	Y	Y	Y	Stores XML documents in the databases via SQL and renders traditional database data as XML documents.


Distributed:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Advanced Replication	N	N	Y	Y	Includes basic replication plus multi-master replication functionality. Advanced Replication includes online DML during replication environment changes, Replication Manager, and parallel propagation to maximize throughput.
Basic Replication	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides bi-directional replication with automated conflict detection and resolution supports configurations that include a single updatable master site with multiple updatable or read-only snapshot sites.
Distributed queries	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows queries to include tables from multiple databases.
Distributed transactions	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows transactions to include tables from multiple databases and includes transparent two phase commit functionality and XA support.
Heterogeneous Services	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows queries and transactions to involve Oracle and non-Oracle databases transparently. This functionality is used by Oracle Transparent Gateways.


Networking:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Connection Manager	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides multiplexing, multiprotocol connectivity, and network access control.
Multiprotocol connectivity	N	N	Y	Y	This feature bridges Oracle Net Services communities of users that use different network protocols such as SPX/IPX, TCP/IP, or LU6.2.
High-speed Infiniband network support	N	N	Y	Y	Oracle protocol support now includes support for the industry-standard Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) for Infiniband high-speed networks. The SDP protocol is a high-speed communication protocol that speeds up performance of client/server and server/server connections. By using SDP, applications place most of the messaging burden upon the network interface card, freeing the CPU for other tasks.
Connection pooling	Y	Y	Y	Y	Enables the server to time-out idle sessions and use that connection to service an active session, resulting in more efficient network usage.
Oracle Net Services	Y	Y	Y	Y	Enables heterogeneous, distributed computing across machines regardless of vendor, operating system, or hardware architecture.


System Management:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Basic Standby Database	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows the DBA to manually clone a database, and to copy and to apply log files to the standby. Users can re-connect to standby should primary system fail.
Global index maintenance during DDL operations	Y	Y	Y	Y	Automatically maintains global indexes when DDL operations are executed against partitioned tables.
Legato Storage Manager	Y	Y	Y	Y	Is an integrated functionality from Legato that allows backups directly to tapes.
Multiple Block Size	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows a database to have more than one block size.
Online backup and recovery	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows backups and recovery operations to be run while the database is online.
Oracle Standard Management Pack	N	N	Y	N	Oracle Standard Management Pack includes scaled down functionality from Change Management, Diagnostics, and Tuning Packs.
Oracle Enterprise Manager	Y	Y	Y	Y	A single, integrated console that allows easy management and monitoring of the Oracle and non-Oracle database environment.
Oracle Fail Safe for Oracle on NT	N	N	N	N	Simplifies deployment of highly available single-instance Oracle database solutions on Microsoft Windows NT clusters, including those on Window 2000 Data Center 4+ nodes.
Oracle Managed Files	Y	Y	Y	Y	Automates creation and deletion of physical database components.
Recovery Manager	Y	Y	Y	Y	Simplifies setup and management processes of the entire backup and recovery process with easy to use, wizards based functionality.
Resumable Space Allocation	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows execution of large database operations to be suspended and resumed if there is a repairable failure.
Standby Database GUI	N	N	Y	Y	Supports easy installation and configuration of Standby and supports monitoring of critical Standby operations.
Transparent Application Failover	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows complete masking of many failures from end-users by preserving the state of their application and resuming any work that had been in progress at the time of failure.
Unused index identification	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows database server to track unused indexes.


Security:
Option	10g SE1	10g SE	10g EE	10g PE	Notes
Virtual Private Database	N	N	Y	Y	This feature provides functionality to create security policies that implement row-level security.
Fine-grained auditing	N	N	Y	Y	This features allows the monitoring of database access based on the content of the data accessed.
Enterprise User Security	N	N	Y	Y	This features allows the definition of enterprise users and roles.
N-tier authentication authorization	N	N	Y	Y	This feature preserves client identity throughout all tiers.
Password management	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides password expiration, complexity and security policy management.
Encryption Toolkit	Y	Y	Y	Y	Provides data value encryption.
Proxy Authentication	Y	Y	Y	Y	Allows a user to manage proxy authentication data in order to authenticate to multiple other applications with a single sign on.

last & first {aggregate function}

Liam A. Purefoy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:07:44 +0000

The Oracle SQL aggregate FIRST and LAST are very similar functions. Both are aggregate and analytic functions that operate on a set of values from a set of rows that rank as the FIRST or LAST with respect to a given sorting specification. If only one row ranks as FIRST or LAST, the aggregate operates on the set with only one element.

This function takes as an argument any numeric datatype or any nonnumeric datatype that can be implicitly converted to a numeric datatype. The function returns the same datatype as the numeric datatype of the argument.

APPLIES TO: Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g

SYNTAX: aggregate_function(column_name) KEEP (DENSE_RANK FIRST ORDER BY column_name [ASC|DESC NULLS FIRST|LAST) OVER (PARTITION BY column_name)

AGGREGATE EXAMPLE: The following example returns, within each department of the sample table employees, the minimum salary among the employees who make the lowest commission and the maximum salary among the employees who make the highest commission:

SELECT
emp.last_name,
emp.department_id,
emp.salary,
MIN(emp.salary) KEEP (DENSE_RANK FIRST ORDER BY emp.commission_pct) OVER
(PARTITION BY emp.department_id) min_salary,
MAX(emp.salary) KEEP (DENSE_RANK LAST ORDER BY emp.commission_pct) OVER
(PARTITION BY emp.department_id) max_salary
FROM
employees emp
WHERE
emp.department_id in (20, 30)
ORDER BY emp.department_id, emp.salary;

last_name	department_id	salary	min_salary	max_salary
Fay	20	6000	6000	13000
Hartstein	20	13000	6000	13000
Colmenares	30	2500	2500	11000
Himuro	30	2600	2500	11000
Tobias	30	2800	2500	11000
Baida	30	2900	2500	11000
Khoo	30	3100	2500	11000
Raphaely	30	11000	2500	11000

OVERVIEW: Aggregate functions return a single result row based on groups of rows, rather than on single rows. Aggregate functions can appear in select lists and in ORDER BY and HAVING clauses. They are commonly used with the GROUP BY clause in a SELECT statement, where Oracle Database divides the rows of a queried table or view into groups. In a query containing a GROUP BY clause, the elements of the select list can be aggregate functions, GROUP BY expressions, constants, or expressions involving one of these. Oracle applies the aggregate functions to each group of rows and returns a single result row for each group.

If you omit the GROUP BY clause, then Oracle applies aggregate functions in the select list to all the rows in the queried table or view. You use aggregate functions in the HAVING clause to eliminate groups from the output based on the results of the aggregate functions, rather than on the values of the individual rows of the queried table or view.

Analytic functions compute an aggregate value based on a group of rows. They differ from aggregate functions in that they return multiple rows for each group. The group of rows is called a ‘window’ and is defined by the analytic_clause. For each row, a sliding window of rows is defined. The window determines the range of rows used to perform the calculations for the current row. Window sizes can be based on either a physical number of rows or a logical interval such as time.

Analytic functions are the last set of operations performed in a query except for the final ORDER BY clause. All joins and all WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses are completed before the analytic functions are processed. Therefore, analytic functions can appear only in the select list or ORDER BY clause.

cume_dist {aggregate, analytic function}

Liam A. Purefoy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:00:57 +0000

The Oracle SQL aggregate and analytic function CUME_DIST calculates the cumulative distribution of a value in a group of values. The range of values returned by CUME_DIST is >0 to <=1. Tie values always evaluate to the same cumulative distribution value.

This function takes as arguments any numeric datatype or any nonnumeric datatype that can be implicitly converted to a numeric datatype. Oracle Database determines the argument with the highest numeric precedence, implicitly converts the remaining arguments to that datatype, makes the calculation, and returns NUMBER.

APPLIES TO: Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g

SYNTAX: CUME_DIST(value) OVER (partition_clause order_by_clause)

AGGREGATE EXAMPLE: The following example calculates the cumulative distribution of a hypothetical employee with a salary of $15,500 and commission rate of 5% among the employees in the sample table employees:

SELECT
CUME_DIST(15500, .05) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY emp.salary,
emp.commission_pct) cume_dist
FROM
employees emp;

cume_dist
0.972222222222222

ANALYTIC EXAMPLE: The following example calculates the salary percentile for each employee in the purchasing division. For example, 40% of clerks have salaries less than or equal to Himuro.

SELECT
emp.job_id,
emp.last_name,
emp.salary,
CUME_DIST() OVER (PARTITION BY emp.job_id ORDER BY emp.salary) AS cume_dist
FROM
employees emp
WHERE
upper(emp.job_id) LIKE ‘PU%’;

job_id	last_name	salary	cume_dist
PU_CLERK	Colmenares	2500	0.2
PU_CLERK	Himuro	2600	0.4
PU_CLERK	Tobias	2800	0.6
PU_CLERK	Baida	2900	0.8
PU_CLERK	Khoo	3100	1
PU_MAN	Raphaely	11000	1

dense_rank {aggregate, analytic function}

Liam A. Purefoy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:25:47 +0000

The Oracle SQL aggregate and analytic function DENSE_RANK computes the rank of a row in an ordered group of rows and returns the rank as a NUMBER. The ranks are consecutive integers beginning with 1.

The largest rank value is the number of unique values returned by the query. Rank values are not skipped in the event of ties. Rows with equal values for the ranking criteria receive the same rank. This function is useful for top-N and bottom-N reporting.

This function accepts as arguments any numeric datatype and returns NUMBER.

APPLIES TO: Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g

SYNTAX: DENSE_RANK() OVER (query_partition_clause order_by_clause)

AGGREGATE EXAMPLE: The following example computes the ranking of a hypothetical employee with the salary $15,500 and a commission of 5% in the sample table employees:

SELECT
DENSE_RANK(15500, .05) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY emp.salary DESC,
emp.commission_pct) dense_rank
FROM
employees emp;

dense_rank
3

ANALYTIC EXAMPLE: The following statement selects the department name, employee name, and salary of all employees who work in the human resources or purchasing department, and then computes a rank for each unique salary in each of the two departments. The salaries that are equal receive the same rank. Compare this example with the example for RANK.

SELECT
dep.department_id,
emp.last_name,
emp.salary,
DENSE_RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY emp.department_id ORDER BY emp.salary) as dense_rank
FROM
employees emp,
departments dep
WHERE
emp.department_id = dep.department_id
AND dep.department_id IN (‘60′, ‘90′);

department_id	last_name	salary	dense_rank
60	Lorentz	4200	1
60	Pataballa	4800	2
60	Austin	4800	2
60	Ernst	6000	3
60	Hunold	9000	4
90	De Haan	17000	1
90	Kochhar	17000	1
90	King	24000	2

first_value {analytical function}

Liam A. Purefoy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:35:47 +0000

The Oracle SQL analytical function FIRST_VALUE returns the first value in an ordered set of values. If the first value in the set is null, then the function returns NULL unless you specify IGNORE NULLS. This setting is useful for data densification. If you specify IGNORE NULLS, then FIRST_VALUE returns the fist non-null value in the set, or NULL if all values are null.

You cannot use FIRST_VALUE or any other analytic function for expr. That is, you cannot nest analytic functions, but you can use other built-in function expressions for expr.

APPLIES TO: Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g

SYNTAX: FIRST_VALUE(expr [IGNORE NULLS]) OVER (analytic clause)

EXAMPLE: The following example selects, for each employee in Department 20 and 30, the name of the employee with the lowest salary.

SELECT
emp.department_id,
emp.last_name,
emp.salary,
FIRST_VALUE(emp.last_name) OVER (PARTITION BY emp.department_id ORDER BY
salary ASC ) AS lowest_salary
FROM
employees emp
WHERE
emp.department_id in (20, 30);

department_id	last_name	salary	lowest_salary
20	Fay	6000	Fay
20	Hartstein	13000	Fay
30	Colmenares	2500	Colmenares
30	Himuro	2600	Colmenares
30	Tobias	2800	Colmenares
30	Baida	2900	Colmenares
30	Khoo	3100	Colmenares
30	Raphaely	11000	Colmenares

OVERVIEW: Analytic functions compute an aggregate value based on a group of rows. They differ from aggregate functions in that they return multiple rows for each group. The group of rows is called a ‘window’ and is defined by the analytic_clause. For each row, a sliding window of rows is defined. The window determines the range of rows used to perform the calculations for the current row. Window sizes can be based on either a physical number of rows or a logical interval such as time.

Blocking Executables from an Oracle DB

Liam A. Purefoy — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:00:29 +0000

Building upon the generous contributions of the Oracle community, this database trigger was designed to provide companies with SOX and ICE related information regarding any 3rd party tool’s access to a given database.

The trigger is designed to restrict access to only the ‘allowable’ programmes, and then validates the session information against specified Windows/Linux/Unix accounts. Additionally, if the executable is renamed in an attempt to disguise the programme, the trigger will not be able to identify the executable and immediately terminate the user’s session. If the database account has ‘admin’ options, the trigger will not terminate the session, but will record the session in an audit table, along with broadcasting an email with the connection information.

All standard executables have an ‘A’ flag status and allows the programme to run unchecked
All ‘C’ flagged programmes are checked against the user’s Windows/Linux account to validate if this user is authorized to connect with an identified programme

The database trigger basically identifies the session’s programme executable, and then validates the value against a list of values that resides within the OMON_TOOLPRIV_HDR and OMON_TOOLPRIV_DTL tables respectively.

If the session’s programme is allowed, no action is taken
If the session’s programme is to be validated, it checks the session information against maintained information (programme and Window/Linux account)

If the checked programme is not allowed, it performs the following:

Records the session information in an audit table
Sends an email to identified recipients, with the session information and action taken
Records the attempt and session information in the Oracle Alertlog
Immediately terminates the user’s session

If the checked programme is validated and allowed, it performs the following:

Records the session information in an audit table
Sends an email to identified recipients, with the session information and action taken
Records the attempt and session information in the Oracle Alertlog

The rollout of this trigger and the account security maintenance is very simplistic, and is designed to reduce it’s footprint on the database by keeping most of the objects in a separate tablespace.

Step 1: Create a tablespace for the table and index objects to reside. All of the objects can be created with the SYSDBA account, as the only the trigger is recommended to reside in the SYS schema.

Step 2: Create the Email header and detail tables for the recipients

Step 3: Create the Tool Privilege header and detail tables for the executables and accounts that are authorized to run the executables

Step 4: Create the audit table for recording all ‘validated’ or offending programmes

Step 5: Create the database trigger that will perform all the needed tasks. It is preferred that this trigger is created and managed by the SYSDBA account.

Entrepreneurs benefit with Linkedin…

Liam A. Purefoy — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:26:49 +0000

Why get LinkedIn? Well, for starters, LinkedIn is the creator of the world’s largest and most effective business network. With more than five hundred of the Fortune 500 companies deployed, this establishes them as a leader in the recruiting and sourcing of passive job candidates. With more than four million members in North America, more than three million in Europe, and a million-plus in Asia, these companies have adopted LinkedIn Corporate Solutions across their staffing and recruiting organizations and pay between $10,000 and $250,000 annually for subscriptions, which include access to the LinkedIn network of over 8.5 million professionals, enhanced search and communication capabilities, as well as job listing packages.

So, as an Entrepreneur, what does LinkedIn bring to the table?. It is built upon trusted connections and relationships, and is conceivably the biggest gathering of professionals and entrepreneurs seen at a global level. It is like a virtual ‘Chamber of Commerce’ open for anyone to join, without any bias or restrictions on anyone wanting to tap the opportunities it potentially offers. LinkedIn takes your personal business network online, giving you access to people, jobs and opportunities like never before. With more than four million members in North America, more than three million in Europe, and a million-plus in Asia, it provides entrepreneurs use of social networking tools for marketing and recruiting purposes.

But LinkedIn is only as good as you want it to be, and it’s effectiveness is only as much as the user can get out of it. Although regarded as the gold standard in professional networking and social interactions, it is primarily a place to do business at a global scale. It follows the principles of traditional networking in the virtual world, and makes many more people covering a broad spectrum of profiles accessible to one another.

How can it work for you? How about…

An Ever Expanding Rolodex
Finding People And Staying In Touch
Hiring People
Selling & Brand Building
Branding & Marketing Yourself
Finding A Job
Finding Vendors And Service Providers
Background Checks On People
Entrepreneurs: Get Opinions & Investors
Linkedin Answers: A Global Focus Group

LINKEDIN ACCOUNT LEVELS:

LinkedIn offers free personal accounts with robust features, including the ability to:

Build and maintain a trusted professional network of unlimited size
Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates
Request and provide recommendations
Create a professional presence on the web
Request up to 5 Introductions at a time
Search for and view profiles of other LinkedIn users

Besides the free basic account, LinkedIn also offers a variety of premium accounts that give you more ways to reach or be reached by the right people on LinkedIn – including better communication, more powerful search tools, and enhanced access to decision makers and other resources on LinkedIn.

Personal Plus accounts cost $60 per year. This includes:

10 Introductions open at a time
OpenLink Network membership
Unlimited OpenLink messages
Premium Access content
One-business-day Customer Service

Business accounts cost $19.95 per month or $199.50 per year. This includes:

3 InMails per month, with a seven-day response guarantee
- Unused InMail credits roll over each month, up to a maximum of nine
Expanded Profile views for the top 100 search results outside your network
15 Introductions open at a time
Unlimited one-click reference searches
OpenLink Network membership
Unlimited OpenLink messages
Premium Access content
One-business-day Customer Service

Business Plus accounts cost $50 per month or $500 per year. This includes:

10 InMails per month, with a seven-day response guarantee
- Unused InMail credits roll over each month, up to a maximum of 30
Expanded profile views for the top 150 search results outside your network
25 Introductions open at a time
Unlimited one-click reference searches
OpenLink Network membership
Unlimited OpenLink messages
Premium Access content
One-business-day Customer Service

Pro accounts cost $200 per month or $2,000 per year. This includes:

50 InMails per month with a seven-day response guarantee
- Unused InMail credits roll over each month, up to a maximum of 150
Expanded profile views for the top 200 search results outside your network
40 Introductions open at a time
Unlimited one-click reference searches
OpenLink Network membership
Unlimited OpenLink messages
Premium Access content
One-business-day Customer Service

Interested in networking?… introduce yourself on LinkedIn!

Reference Information:

Treo 750 upgrade to Windows Mobile 6!

Liam A. Purefoy — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:21:11 +0000

After many months of waiting, the free Windows Mobile 6 (formerly code named "Crossbow") finally became available for the US versions of the Palm Treo 750 last month. This upgrade is designed for the Palm Treo 750 running on the AT&T network, and will update the smartphone’s software to the latest release, version 2.25.

For the Cingular and AT&T customers, the High-speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) capability allows for faster data-download speeds on 3G/UMTS/HSDPA networks.

HSDPA is a new protocol for mobile telephone data transmission. It is known as a 3.5G (G stands for generation) technology. Essentially, the standard will provide download speeds on a mobile phone equivalent to an ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line in a home, removing any limitations placed on the use of your phone by a slow connection. Though any data can be transmitted, applications with high data demands such as video and streaming music are the focus of HSDPA.

The current Treo 750 runs Windows Mobile 5.2 Pocket PC edition. It is powered by a 300MHz Samsung processor and has 128MB nonvolatile flash memory (60MB available for storage). The display is a 65k colour, 240 x 240 pixel touch screen. It also has integrated Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology. It has a new side mounted mini-SD memory expansion and a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom. The battery is a removable 1200 mAh Lithium-ion, good for a claimed 4.5 hours GSM / 2.5 hours UMTS talk time, with 10 days standby time.

Although some enhancements in this upgrade may require Exchange Server 2007, they include:

Microsoft Direct Push Technology connection to email, calendar, contacts and tasks
Improved Calendar with Day-at-a-Glance bar
Email enhancements such as HTML-formatted email messages
Ability to set an out-of-office message from the Treo smartphone
Mini-SD storage card encryption, password and PIN improvements, and remote data wipe
Ability to search for email messages on the Exchange server
Ability to set an out-of-office message from the Treo smartphone
Meeting request and scheduling conflict improvements

The upgrade itself was very painless, however, it is critical that you read and understand the upgrade directions before attempting this upgrade. There is only one download limit per device (requires the Treo 750’s serial number), therefore having a backup of your Windows Mobile 6 upgrade installer is essential for potential future recovery.

The complete features list, upgrade documentation, and downloads can be found on Palm’s website for the Treo 750

Reference Information: