My problematic 7D get replaced yesterday

Lotus
Originally uploaded by Flyhorse@LonelyPlanet.

Last saturday the shopper Digi 33 called me and said there are Minolta 7Ds available while I was on the way to Shen Zhen. Pretty excited since I was told previously I may have to wait for a long time.

Well... yesterday I went to the shop to replace the problematic 7D. Again, obviously the so-called new 7D is not a brand-new one. I found out the S/N is even earlier than mine. With the caution, I thoroughly chcked it. There was some hair on the mirror and the WB button was moved. These made me very uncomfortable since the shopper is not honest at all! They even told me there is no way to replace once more and they were out of stock again! What they can do is to fix my problematic one! Jesus! I don't want them to fix my 7D. Who knows where they will bring my 7D, probably not the Minolta maintenance centre. I'd rather pay Minolta to fix it if I must fix it! Anyway, using my blower, I wiped the hair off the mirror. Through a thorough examination, there was not any other problem for the time being.

My wife and I were going to Repulse Bay after the replacement. However, we decided to go to Hong Kong park to test this new 7D. This picture has been taken in the park yesterday. Using Sigma 70-210/2.8 at 210mm end, I took this picture without a tripod at f5.6@40 with ISO 100. Minolta's unique anti-shake function is pretty cool. This picture is very sharp even it's was taken at 1/40" at 210mm without a tripod.

How to install Veritas DB Agent for Oracle on Solaris

Well... it's pretty straightforward. If you install from a CD natively, it won't be a problem; if you install from a CD remotely, you need to tar the whole CD first and untar into a temporary directory in the target box as root. Simply run 'install' shell script and complete the installation by following the steps.

After the installation, you need to make a symbolic link for the Media Manager library in the Oralce home.

$ > cd $ORACLE_HOME/lib
$ > ln -s /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/libobk.so64.1 libobk.so

However, there is no need to relink the Oracle executable as some doc. ask you to do so. When you make a call in RMAN, the library will be linked dynamically by Oracle.

To test the connectivity, run RMAN:

RMAN> run {
2> allocate channel ch1 device type 'sbt_tape' parms 'ENV=(NB_ORA_POLICY=ipdev_oracle,NB_ORA_SERV=maple)';
3> }

allocated channel: ch1
channel ch1: sid=27 devtype=SBT_TAPE
channel ch1: VERITAS NetBackup for Oracle - Release 5.1 (2004043016)
released channel: ch1

A successful installation!

A beautiful dusk

This picture has been taken by Minolta Dynax 7D at 6pm Oct. 30, 2005 while my wife and I was walking back to my parent's home.
Actually the visibility was not good at the day time. Everything looked gray. But close to dusk the sky turned clear. It's breezing softly. What a beautiful evening! The view was quite breath-taking at the time. Sun already sank and the street lamps were lit. The clouds formed a long beautiful curve and were being burned by the sunset glow. 

Photo Gallery: Best Wildlife Photos Announced

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world's largest wildlife- photograph competition. Organized by London's Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, the 2005 competition's top images are on exhibit at the museum through April 23, 2006. The exhibition will then tour internationally.

Overall Winner: "Sky Chase"

Learn Something New Every Day: Easy Connect Identifier

Prior to Oracle 10g, after creating a new database and configuring the listener, to connect to the DB from other box, you must first either create a TNSNAMES.ORA file in your local box or set up an entry for the DB in some name services (Oracle NAMES or LDAP). Sometimes it's annoying. Since Oracle 10g Release 1, you don't have to do this any more. Just like using thin JDBC to connect to a DB by providing host, port and SID, you can now easily connect to a DB via SQLNET by providing host, port and sevice name without any extra configuration.

Pretty cool! Below are from Oracle SQL*Plus Documentation

Easy Connection Identifier

The easy or abbreviated connection identifier has the syntax:

[//]host[:port][/[service_name]]

Example 4–4 Start a command-line session to the sales database using the easy connection identifier

sqlplus hr/password@sales-server:1521/sales.us.acme.com

Example 4–5 CONNECT to the sales database using the easy connection identifier

connect hr/password@sales-server:1521/sales.us.acme.com

The easy connection identifier can be used wherever you can use a full connection identifier, or a net service name. The easy syntax is less complex, and no tnsnames.ora entry is required.

However, through some tests, I found out you still have to put the below entry into SQLNET.ORA file. Otherwise, you will keep receiving ORA-12154 error either using 'sqlplus' or 'connect'. It's very frustrating!

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (EZCONNECT, TNSNAMES)

After adding the EZCONNECT entry, I tried the command line 'sqlplus' many times but without success. Below are some output. Still trying ... :-(

swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@"mars:1521/flyhorse.domain"

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:27:33 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect
descriptor


Enter user-name: ^C
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@'mars:1521/flyhorse.domain'

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:27:46 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect
descriptor


Enter user-name: ^C
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@'//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain'

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:27:53 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Usage: SQLPLUS [ [] [] [] ]
where ::= -H | -V | [ [-C ] [-L] [-M ] [-R ] [-S] ]
::= [/][@] | / | /NOLOG
::= @|[.] [ ...]
"-H" displays the SQL*Plus version banner and usage syntax
"-V" displays the SQL*Plus version banner
"-C" sets SQL*Plus compatibility version
"-L" attempts log on just once
"-M " uses HTML markup options
"-R " uses restricted mode
"-S" uses silent mode
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@"//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain"

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:28:00 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Usage: SQLPLUS [ [] [] [] ]
where ::= -H | -V | [ [-C ] [-L] [-M ] [-R ] [-S] ]
::= [/][@] | / | /NOLOG
::= @|[.] [ ...]
"-H" displays the SQL*Plus version banner and usage syntax
"-V" displays the SQL*Plus version banner
"-C" sets SQL*Plus compatibility version
"-L" attempts log on just once
"-M " uses HTML markup options
"-R " uses restricted mode
"-S" uses silent mode
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:28:10 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Usage: SQLPLUS [ [] [] [] ]
where ::= -H | -V | [ [-C ] [-L] [-M ] [-R ] [-S] ]
::= [/][@] | / | /NOLOG
::= @|[.] [ ...]
"-H" displays the SQL*Plus version banner and usage syntax
"-V" displays the SQL*Plus version banner
"-C" sets SQL*Plus compatibility version
"-L" attempts log on just once
"-M " uses HTML markup options
"-R " uses restricted mode
"-S" uses silent mode
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@mars:1521/flyhorse.domain

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:28:14 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect
descriptor


Enter user-name: ^C

I worked out another way to bypass this problem, that's using 'connect'. You need to enclose the connection identifier with quote marks! Here are some tests including both success and failure. Here we go!

swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:08:30 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.


11:08:31 connect sysman@"//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain"
Enter password:
Connected.
11:08:48 sysman@flyhorse> connect sysman@'//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain'
Enter password:
Connected.
11:09:03 sysman@flyhorse> connect sysman@//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain
SP2-0306: Invalid option.
Usage: CONN[ECT] [logon] [AS {SYSDBA|SYSOPER}]
where ::= [/][@] | /
11:09:16 sysman@flyhorse> connect sysman@mars:1521/flyhorse.domain
ERROR:
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor


Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.
11:09:28 sysman@flyhorse> connect sysman@"mars:1521/flyhorse.domain"
Enter password:
Connected.
11:10:33 sysman@flyhorse> connect sysman@'mars:1521/flyhorse.domain'
Enter password:
Connected.

Guess what? You still have to enclose the connection identifier with quote marks while using the command line 'sqlplus' no matter you use the double slashes or not. Slash doesn't matter but the quote marks really matter here! The only difference from 'connect' is you need an extra step, that's to escape the quote marks! It's Oracle to interpret the quote marks rather than Solaris (I am working on Solaris). So you need to pass the connection identifier with the quote marks to Oracle. Below are some samples.

swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@\"mars:1521/flyhorse.domain\"

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:39:22 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

11:39:27 sysman@flyhorse> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@\'mars:1521/flyhorse.domain\'

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:39:51 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

11:39:53 sysman@flyhorse> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@\"//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain\"

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:40:35 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

11:40:37 sysman@flyhorse> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
swong@sun:nemo > sqlplus sysman@\'//mars:1521/flyhorse.domain\'

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production on Fri Oct 21 11:40:55 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

11:40:58 sysman@flyhorse> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

This connection mechamism can also be used to create a database link.

17:17:11 ops$swong@FLYHORSE> create database link report@user
17:17:41 2 connect to user identified by password
17:17:48 3 using 'mybox.com:1521/testdb.com';

Database link created.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.36

Most of films have been saved in this roll!

This roll of film is the 1st roll which I loaded into my Minolta 800si, one of two I brought with me for this Tibet trip. In the morning of Sep. 16, 2005, near the holy mountain Kailash, I loaded it in and took few pictures. At dawn on Sep. 19, 2005, the day after Chinese mid-autumn festival, while waiting for the sunrise at Gu Ge Dynasty, I took it out and used it again for those beautiful clouds in the morning sunlight as well as the Gu Ge Dynasty. Absolutely it's precious time for me and it's difficult to catch them again! Unfortunately, 2 days later, I opened the camera back accidentally while the whole roll has not been rolled back into the box! How careless I am! Usually rolls will be automatically rolled back after the last one has been exposed. The reason why it didn't work this time is because I changed the default setting in order to take 1 incompleted roll out for the future reload. However, I forgot to change it back. So the automatic rolling back was disabled. I didn't realize at the time and opened the back. Even I closed it almost in no time, but I know some of films must be fully exposed. I am even afraid all of them have been destroyed! Just like a nightmare! I had been blaming myself all the time. How come on the earth I am reckless like this! This is not me! But I know it happened. No matter how much I blame myself. The only one thing I wanna do is to print and develop this roll as soon as possible. However, I dare not to process it in Shi Quan He. I have to wait until we go back to Lhasa. Meanwhile, I was suffering from this. I was really angry at myself!

After going back to Lhasa, I was going to process this roll in one pro-like shop. I just couldn't wait more. My wife told me not to do so there. "You've already been waiting for many days! Why don't you wait for few more and take all of them back to HK to process them safely and securely?" I was convinced again even I was dying to see the final impact.

Finally I came back to HK and processed all the rolls. Thank God! Things were not like that bad as I thought previously! Only the last 10 films have been fully exposed but the rest are all preserved! Especially for those I took in that morning at Gu Ge Dynasty! The attached photo is one of them! Is it Kailash's blessing? 

Oracle Secure Backup (OSB) - a replacement for Veritas DB Agent for Oracle

Sounds cool! If it's the case, we don't have to buy Veritas DB agent for Oracle any more. Previously, we must buy Veritas DB agent for Oracle as well as NetBackup client to backup a Oracle DB directly to tape library. Otherwise, the tape library can only been seen by Veritas MML and unseen by RMAN. To backup a DB to offline tapes, we can only backup it to hard disks as a staging place first and load the backup files onto tapes later via NetBackup Client. Despite the inconvenience, this method will cause a lot of other problems such as availability and managebility. One of them is like this: RMAN thinks all the backups remain in the hard disks by the data in the repository, but actually they are not since they have been archived to offline storage. There will be always inconsistencies between RMAN repository and Veritas MM database.

Oracle Database 10g Release 2: Top Features for DBAs: "In Oracle Database 10g Release 2, a new tool called Oracle Secure Backup (OSB), available in the first quarter of 2006, makes this requirement much more affordable by replacing the MML specific to third-party tape management systems. OSB can back up to a tape library directly, so you don't need any other media management layer. And, best of all, OSB is tightly integrated with the database engine and thus can be controlled and administered via Oracle Enterprise Manager."