Oracle University Podcast

Want to quickly provision your autonomous database? Then look no further than Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless, one of the two deployment choices offered by Oracle Autonomous Database. Autonomous Database Serverless delegates all operational decisions to Oracle, providing you with a completely autonomous experience. Join hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Oracle Database experts, as they discuss how serverless infrastructure eliminates the need to configure any hardware or install any software because Autonomous Database handles provisioning the database, backing it up, patching and upgrading it, and growing or shrinking it for you. Survey: https://customersurveys.oracle.com/ords/surveys/t/oracle-university-gtm/survey?k=focus-group-2-link-share-5 Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Rajeev Grover, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started.

00:26

Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead: Editorial Services.

Nikita: Hi everyone! We hope you’ve been enjoying these last few weeks as we’ve been revisiting our most popular episodes of the year.

Lois: Today’s episode is the last one in this series and is a throwback to a conversation on Autonomous Databases on Serverless Infrastructure with three experts in the field: Hannah Nguyen, Sean Stacey, and Kay Malcolm. Hannah is a Staff Cloud Engineer, Sean is the Director of Platform Technology Solutions, and Kay is Vice President of Database Product Management. For this episode, we’ll be sharing portions of our conversations with them.

01:14

Nikita: We began by asking Hannah how Oracle Cloud handles the process of provisioning an Autonomous Database. So, let’s jump right in!

Hannah: The Oracle Cloud automates the process of provisioning an Autonomous Database, and it automatically provisions for you a highly scalable, highly secure, and a highly available database very simply out of the box.

01:35

Lois: Hannah, what are the components and architecture involved when provisioning an Autonomous Database in Oracle Cloud?

Hannah: Provisioning the database involves very few steps. But it's important to understand the components that are part of the provisioned environment. When provisioning a database, the number of CPUs in increments of 1 for serverless, storage in increments of 1 terabyte, and backup are automatically provisioned and enabled in the database. In the background, an Oracle 19c pluggable database is being added to the container database that manages all the user's Autonomous Databases. Because this Autonomous Database runs on Exadata systems, Real Application Clusters is also provisioned in the background to support the on-demand CPU scalability of the service. This is transparent to the user and administrator of the service. But be aware it is there.

02:28

Nikita: Ok...So, what sort of flexibility does the Autonomous Database provide when it comes to managing resource usage and costs, you know... especially in terms of starting, stopping, and scaling instances?

Hannah: The Autonomous Database allows you to start your instance very rapidly on demand. It also allows you to stop your instance on demand as well to conserve resources and to pause billing. Do be aware that when you do pause billing, you will not be charged for any CPU cycles because your instance will be stopped. However, you'll still be incurring charges for your monthly billing for your storage. In addition to allowing you to start and stop your instance on demand, it's also possible to scale your database instance on demand as well. All of this can be done very easily using the Database Cloud Console.

...

In this special episode of the Oracle University Podcast, Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Principal HCM Instructor Jeff Schuster, delve into the intersection of HCM and AI, exploring the practical applications and implications of this technology in human resources.

Jeff shares his insights on bias and fairness, the importance of human involvement, and the need for explainability and transparency in AI systems. The discussion also covers the various AI features embedded in HCM and their impact on talent acquisition, performance management, and succession planning.

Oracle AI in Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/learning-path/oracle-ai-in-fusion-cloud-human-capital-management-hcm/136722

Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM: Dynamic Skills: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oracle-fusion-cloud-hcm-dynamic-skills/116654/

Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu

Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.

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00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started!

00:26

Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs here at Oracle University, and with me, is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services.

Nikita: Hi everyone! Last week’s conversation was all about Oracle Database 23ai backup and recovery, where we dove into instance recovery and effective recovery strategies. Today’s episode is a really special one, isn’t it, Lois?

00:53

Lois: It is, indeed, Niki. Of course, all of our AI episodes are special. But today, we have our friend and colleague Jeff Schuster with us. I think our listeners are really going to enjoy what Jeff has to share with us.

Nikita: Yeah definitely! Jeff is a Principal HCM Instructor at Oracle University. He recently put together this really fantastic course on MyLearn, all about the intersection of HCM and AI, and that’s what we want to pick his brain about today. Hi Jeff! We’re so excited to have you here.

01:22

Jeff: Hey Niki! Hi Lois! I feel special already. Thanks you guys so much for having me.

Nikita: You’ve had a couple of busy months, haven’t you?

01:29

Jeff: I have! It’s been a busy couple of months with live classes. I try and do one on AI in HCM at least once a month or so so that we can keep up with the latest/greatest stuff in that area. And I also got to spend a few days at Cloud World teaching a few live classes (about artificial intelligence in HCM, as a matter of fact) and meeting our customers and partners. So yeah, absolutely great week. A good time was had by me.

01:55

Lois: I’m sure. Cloud World is such a great experience. And just to clarify, do you think our customers and partners also had a good time, Jeff? It wasn’t just you, right?

Jeff: Haha! I don’t think it was just me, Lois. But, you know, HCM is always a big deal, and now with all the embedded AI functionality, it really wasn’t hard to find people who wanted to spend a little extra time talking about AI in the context of our HCM apps. So, there are more than 30 separate AI-powered features in HCM. AI features for candidates to find the right jobs; for hiring managers to find the right candidates; skills, talent, performance management, succession planning— all of it is there and it really covers everything across the Attract/Grow/Keep buckets of the things that HR professionals do for a living. So, anyway, yeah, lots to talk about with a lot of people!

There’s the functional part that people want to know about—what are these features and how do they work? But obviously, AI carries with it all this cultural significance these days. There’s so much uncertainty that comes from this pace of development in that area. So in fact, my Cloud World talk always starts with this really silly intro that we put in place just to knock down that anxiety and get to the more practical, ...

In this episode, Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham chat with MySQL expert Perside Foster on the importance of keeping MySQL performing at its best. They discuss the essential tools for monitoring MySQL, tackling slow queries, and boosting overall performance. They also explore HeatWave, the powerful real-time analytics engine that brings machine learning and cross-cloud flexibility into MySQL. MySQL 8.4 Essentials: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/mysql-84-essentials/141332/226362 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X: https://x.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. ---------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started!

00:25

Lois: Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me today is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead: Editorial Services.

Nikita: Hey everyone! In our last two episodes, we spoke about MySQL backups, exploring their critical role in data recovery, error correction, data migration, and more.

Lois: Today, we’re switching gears to talk about monitoring MySQL instances. We’ll also explore the features and benefits of HeatWave with Perside Foster, a MySQL Principal Solution Engineer at Oracle.

01:02

Nikita: Hi, Perside! We’re thrilled to have you here for one last time this season. So, let’s start by discussing the importance of monitoring systems in general, especially when it comes to MySQL.

Perside: Database administrators face a lot of challenges, and these sometimes appear in the form of questions that a DBA must answer. One of the most basic question is, why is the database slow? To address this, the next step is to determine which queries are taking the longest. Queries that take a long time might be because they are not correctly indexed. Then we get to some environmental queries or questions. How can we find out if our replicas are out of date? If lag is too much of a problem? Can I restore my last backup? Is the database storage likely to fill up any time soon? Can and should we consider adding more servers and scaling out the system?

And when it comes to users and making sure they're behaving correctly, has the database structure changed? And if so, who did it and what did they do? And more generally, what security issues have arisen? How can I see what has happened and how can I fix it? Performance is always at the top of the list of things a DBA worries about. The underlying hardware will always be a factor but is one of the things a DBA has the least flexibility with changing over the short time. The database structure, choice of data types and the overall size of retained data in the active data set can be a problem.

03:01

Nikita: What are some common performance issues that database administrators encounter?

Perside: The sort of SQL queries that the application runs can be an issue. 90% of performance problems come from the SQL index and schema group.

03:18

Lois: Perside, can you give us a checklist of the things we should monitor?

Perside: Make sure your system is working. Monitor performance continually. Make sure replication is working. Check your backup. Keep an eye on disk space and how it grows over time. Check when long running queries block your application and identify those queries. Protect your database structure from unauthorized changes. Make sure the operating system itself is working fine and check that nothing unusual happened at that level. Keep aware of security vulnerabilities in your software and operating system and ensure that they are kept updated. Verify that your database memory usage is under control.

04:14

Lois: That’s a great list, Perside. Thanks for that. Now, what tools can we use to effectively monitor MySQL?

Perside: The slow query log is a simple way to monitor long running queries. Two variables control the log queries. Long_query_time. If a query takes longer than this many seconds, it gets logged. And then there's min_exam_row_lim...

Join hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham in Part 2 of the discussion on database sharding with Ron Soltani, a Senior Principal Database & Security Instructor. They talk about sharding native replication, directory-based sharding, and coordinated backup and restore for sharded databases, explaining how these features work and their benefits. Additionally, they explore the automatic bulk data move on sharding keys and the ability to split and move partition sets, highlighting the flexibility and efficiency they bring to data management. Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oracle-database-23ai-new-features-for-administrators/137192/207062 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started!

00:26

Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I’m Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor.

Nikita: Hi everyone! In our last episode, we dove into database sharding and Oracle Database Sharding in particular. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I’d suggest you go back and do so before you listen to this episode because it will give you a lot of context.

00:53

Lois: Right, Niki. Today, we will discuss all the 23ai new features related to database sharding. We will cover sharding native replication, directory-based sharding, coordinated backup and restore for sharded databases, and a few more.

Nikita: And we’re so happy to have Ron Soltani back on the podcast. If you don’t already know him, Ron is a Senior Principal Database & Security Instructor with Oracle University. Hi Ron! Let’s talk about sharding native replication, which is RAFT-based, meaning that it is reliable and fault tolerant-based, usually providing subzero or subsecond zero data loss replication support. Tell us more about it, please.

01:33

Ron: This is completely transparent replication built in within Oracle sharding that duplicates data across the different shards. So data are generally put into chunks. And then the chunks are replicated either between three or five different shards, depending on how much of the fault tolerance is required. This is completely provided by the Oracle sharding database, and does not require use of any other component like GoldenGate and Data Guard. So if you remember when we talked about the architecture, we said that each shard, each database can have a Data Guard component, whether through GoldenGate or whether through Data Guard to have a standby. And that way support high availability with the sharding native replication, you don't rely on the secondary database. You actually-- the shards will back each other up by holding replicas and being able to globally manage the replica, make sure everything is preserved, and manage all of the fault operations. Now this is a logical replication, generally consensus-based, kind of like different components all aware of each other. They know which component is good, depending on the load, depending on the failure. The sharded databases behind the scene decide who is actually serving the data to the client. That can provide subsecond failovers with zero data loss.

03:15

Lois: And what are the benefits of this?

Ron: Major benefits for having sharding native replication is that it is completely transparent to the application or any of the structures. You just identify that you want to go ahead and use this replication and identify the replication factor. The rest is managed by the Oracle sharded database behind the scene. It supports fast failover with zero data loss, usually subsecond failovers. And depending on the number of replicas, it can even tolerate multiple failures like two server failures.

And when the loads are submitted, the loads are also load-balanced across all of these shards based on where the data is located, based on the replicas. So...

Security takes center stage in this episode as Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham are joined by MySQL Solution Engineer Ravish Patel. Together, they explore MySQL’s security features, addressing key topics like regulatory compliance. Ravish also shares insights on protecting data through encryption, activity monitoring, and access control to guard against threats like SQL injection and malware. MySQL 8.4 Essentials: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/mysql-84-essentials/141332/226362 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X: https://x.com/Oracle_Edu Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode. --------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00:00

Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we’ll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let’s get started!

00:25

Lois: Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I’m Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me today is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services.

Nikita: Hey everyone! In our last episode, we took a look at MySQL database design. Today is the first of a two-part episode on MySQL security.

Lois: In Part 1, we’ll discuss how MySQL supports regulatory compliance and how to spot and handle common security risks.

00:55

Nikita: Joining us today is Ravish Patel, a MySQL Solution Engineer at Oracle. Hi Ravish! Let’s start by talking about how MySQL supports regulatory compliance.

01:06

Ravish: Some of the most important international regulations that we have surrounding data and organizations include the GDPR, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, the UK Data Protection Act, and the NIS2.

Although each regulatory framework differs in the details, in general, you must be able to comply with certain key requirements and all of which are enabled by MySQL. First, you must be able to monitor user activity on the system, which includes keeping track of when new users are created, when the schema changes, and when backups are taken and used. You must protect data, for example, by ensuring that databases that are stored on disk are encrypted at REST and ensuring that only authorized users have privileges to access and modify the data.

You must have the appropriate retention policies in place for your data, ensuring that backups are held securely and used only for the purpose intended. You must be able to audit access to the data so that you can trace which users gained access to records or when they were modified. All of these facilities are available in MySQL, either as part of the core community edition features or made available through enterprise features.

02:21

Lois: What kind of risks might we encounter, Ravish, and how can we address them?

Ravish: As your system grows in complexity, you're likely going to have more risks associated with it. Some of those risks are associated with the human factors that come with any computer system. These might be errors that are introduced when people perform work on the system, either administrative work on the environment or database or work that developers and testers perform when working on a changing system. You might even have malicious users trying to exploit the system or good faith users or support staff who make changes without proper consideration or protection from knock-on effects.

At the foundation are the necessary components of the system, each of which might be vulnerable to human error or malicious actors. Every piece of the system exposes possible risks, whether that's the application presented to users, the underlying database, the operating system or network that it works on, or processes such as backups that place copies of your data in other locations.

More complex environments add more risks. High availability architectures multiply the number of active systems. Consolidating multiple application databases on a single server exposes every database to multiple vectors for bugs and human error. Older, less well supported applications might give more challenges for maintenance. Engaging external contractors might reduce your control over authorized users. And working in the cloud ca...