RE: My 10 Commandments of Database Administration...

  • From: "Nelson, Allan" <anelson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: mwf@xxxxxxxx, oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 08:38:23 -0500

Not so fast.  The state for all records in fnd_login that have no
corresponding record in v$session and v$process and end_date is null are
both known and incorrect.  Just because something was validly null at
one point in time does not mean that it is true forever and this is the
problem for leaving the nulls there when the user is not connected.

Allan

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark W. Farnham
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 8:15 AM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: My 10 Commandments of Database Administration...


Hmm. The end_date of a login is an unknown value when the login is not
yet ended. That sounds right to me. The end_date of a login is probably
also unknown to Applications in the event of an abrupt termination. (And
maybe the database too, if the abrupt event was a crash. Even if the
database stays up, I'm not sure what value you'd like to stuff in
there.) So a NULL in end_date correctly describes the information that
the end_date of the login is unknown.

I think this illustrates that attempting to ASCRIBE MEANING to a NULL
value other than it is unknown is the problem.

I think you're the one who gets to start cooking for Nuno. (Also
possibly someone in documentation at Oracle if they wrote that a NULL
end_date in fnd_login means anything other than it is unknown when that
login ended.)

Slight amendment to Ryan's #11: Thou shalt feed me whatever I want
if.... (and usually it's gonna be pizza and beer, but I'm not ruling out
Chinese.)

mwf

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Nelson, Allan
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 8:42 AM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: My 10 Commandments of Database Administration...


Dear God!  Oracle Financials uses NULL in end_date on fnd_login to
indicate either the current login or an abrupt termination of the user
session neatly making your point and potentially providing with an
enourmous number of cooks!

Allan

-----Original Message-----
=3D46rom: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nuno Pinto do Souto
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 7:41 PM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: My 10 Commandments of Database Administration...


Quoting from AUTHOR ryan gaffuri:
> 11. Thou shalt feed me if I have to work late to fix something =
you=3D20=20
> broke.
>
> I'm a single guy...


Nuno's design corollary #1:

Thou shall not use end_date =3D3D NULL to mean "current row" of =
ANYTHING!
NULL has NO MEANING whatsoever: it does NOT mean "current"!

Under penalty of having to cook for Nuno (and I'm a heavy bloke)...





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