When properly configured and managed, Oracle Rdb provides a highly-reliable, high-performance database environment that is ideally suited for mission-critical applications where down-time is not an option. However, poor design, configuration problems or operational management issues can lead to performance, reliability and availability problems -- and loss of data.

This session focuses on the basics of Rdb database administration, based on 20+ years of experience supporting Rdb databases in a variety of environments.
This session provides a guide to "best practices" for managing Rdb databases, including both what you MUST do -- as well as what NOT to do. We will cover everything from the basics of file-placement and backup strategies to more advanced topics like implementing a high-performance Row Cache and Hot-standby databases. While specific to Rdb, many of the "best-practices" also apply to other database engines...If your data is important, this session is a "must-attend".  Presented by Bryan Holland, President and founder of SCI.
 

Rdb Security:  Keeping the Auditors Happy

...Imagine that all of the data from your Rdb database were posted on a public Internet site

...Imagine if unauthorized changes were made to your Rdb - data a back door to "cooking the books" as they say

...Imagine the data in your Rdb database was destroyed or otherwise made non-recoverable.

These events would cause a huge legal, financial and moral costs to your business. And, these are all bad things that CAN happen unless appropriate protection and auditing controls are put in place.

As caretakers of sensitive data, you have a fiduciary responsibility to protect this data -- to control and audit access to this data and to prevent unauthorized access. Failure to provide such controls can lead to significant financial costs and legal action. Rdb and VMS are well known for strong security features. However, simply having Rdb installed is not enough.
 

This session will discuss many of the Rdb security and auditing features and HOW TO IMPLEMENT them in your environment. While keeping auditors happy may not be one of your life's goals -- this is one session that you will be glad that you attended!
Presented by Bryan Holland, President and founder of SCI.

CIFS for Advanced Server Users

So you want to allow secure File Sharing between your OpenVMS Server and other Operating Systems? Not to worry. For a long time HP OpenVMS Servers have been able to participate in Windows Domains. Over the years the products and capabilities have changed. This session will cover the latest HP technologies which allow your OpenVMS Servers to participate in your Microsoft Windows environment and perform secured File Sharing activities.
 

PATHWORKS for OpenVMS and Advanced Server for OpenVMS (ASV) have been replaced on the Alpha and Integrity platforms with the HP OpenVMS Common Internet File System (CIFS) product based on Samba.
 

This sessions will explore the reasons for the change to CIFS, feature and functionality differences between ASV and CIFS, and the migration from ASV to CIFS. Migration topics will include the CIFS migration kit, migration of the SAM database, file shares, file security and hostmaps. We will also explore implementation of CIFS in an OpenVMS cluster, and the role of CIFS in Microsoft domains.  Presented by Brad McCusker, formerly of HP's OpenVMS engineering group.  Brad manages SCI's OpenVMS System Services business.

OpenVMS System Management for the 21st Century

OpenVMS is an incredibly robust and rugged computing environment-- able to withstand many types of failures, allowing for continuous database and application access. However, failures can and do occur -- often the result of neglect or mismanagement.
 

Do you have "Peace of Mind" that your VMS systems are adequately maintained, and that you are able to prevent failures and efficiently recover should a failure occur?
 

OpenVMS is often running applications that are critical to the businesses they support. Yet, they are often only small part of their IT departments, often relegated to second tier status and lacking adequate staff and maintenance. Worse yet, they may have been left in a corner and nearly forgotten -- until the application fails and disrupts business.
 

This session discusses proven methodologies and best practice for VMS system management that virtually eliminates downtime while maintaining exceptional performance -- with minimal or no VMS knowledgeable staff. We will discusses real-world experiences that have caused outages or disruptions to production environments. More importantly, we will discuss how to avoid these costly events by:

• Implementing pro-active, consistent and repeatable processes;

• Automated monitoring of all critical events;

• Redundant processes;

• Exception tracking and monitoring;

All of which are part of the infrastructure necessary in the 21st century OpenVMS environment to insure continuous availability.  Presented by Brad McCusker, formerly of HP's OpenVMS engineering group.  Brad manages SCI's OpenVMS System Services business.

OpenVMS VAX/Alpha to Integrity Migrations

This block will explore the process of migrating from VAX and/or Alpha to HP Integrity servers.

 
We will start with a higher level overview/planning session and then progress into more detailed sessions that address porting of applications, migrating the platform infrastructure and migrating databases. Although the block is structured in a cumulative format, each session will stand on its own. Feel free to come for only the sessions that are important to you, or, stay for the whole block!

Part 1: "Planning for VAX/Alpha Migrations to Integrity" (30 minutes)

This section will provide an overview of OpenVMS on the Integrity platform, the philosophy behind the port of OpenVMS to Integrity, changes in OpenVMS between Alpha and Integrity, application and layered product availability and recommendations for planning the migration to Integrity.
 

Part 2: "Porting OpenVMS Applications to Integrity" (30 minutes)

Since before OpenVMS was released on the Integrity platform, millions of lines of application code have been ported from VAX and Alpha to the Integrity platform.
This section will explore the issues around porting custom written applications. Discussion of compilers, changes to floating point implementation, recommended coding constructs, binary translation, tools and application performance will be addressed.
 

Part 3: "Migrating the Platform to Integrity" (45 minutes)

This section will focus on migrating the platform and infrastructure necessary to support your applications on Integrity. Specific topics include migration of users, groups, logicals, queues, non-database disk data, layered products, middleware and more. Drawing on the experiences of actual migrations, we'll discuss the processes and methodologies we've developed doing platform migrations, the problems we've encountered and how we solved them.
 

Part 4: "Rdb Migration to Integrity --Strategies That Work"

Presented by Bryan Holland, Founder and President of SCI. (30 minutes)

Oracle has completed the hard part -- Rdb runs great on Integrity. But what does it take to actually move the database to Integrity. The answer may be "It's easy"...but that really depends the version and platform from which you are moving from.
This session will discuss several Rdb-to-Integrity migration options that have been used to move real Rdb databases from Alpha (and yes, even VAX) to Integrity. Come learn how to super-charge your Rdb database by moving it to an Integrity server. These strategies work -- with minimal (or no) downtime!
 

Part 5: "Oracle Database Migrations to Integrity" (30 minutes)

This section will address migration of Oracle databases on OpenVMS to the Integrity platform.

Co-Presented by Brad McCusker and Bryan Holland