Archive error 100 on file creation

[NormanDunbar]

I'm an Oracle DBA by day, insomniac by night. Stuff aging out of cache is an Oracle performance problem.
But it applies to me too!

Cheers,
Norm.

[Sparrowhawk]

I'm an Oracle DBA by day

My commiserations

Heh, heh.

[NormanDunbar]

Commiserations? Nah!

It pays very well - keeps my wife in shoes anyway! And I don't pay the licence fees, that's my clients worry. In addition, I actually like working with databases. I write documentation for the Firebird database (https://firebirdsql.org/) occasionally.

I dabble in MySql/MariaDB and a wee tiny smidgen of PostgreSQL as well. Access isn't a database......... [don's flameproof suit, and sits back and waits....]


Cheers,
Norm.

[Sparrowhawk]

She must like shoes!

Access not a database? Heh heh. Not biting. It does what it aims to do very well. Would I trust client data to it if I could avoid it? Nope.

I've never got around to using Firebird. No idea why really, it seems so feature rich and well thought out. Nowadays I reach for PostgreSQL (when coding in Python) or MySQL (PHP) as they are so well supported. MySQL finally got decent at around 5.5 and very good at 8.0. I suppose being in the same stable as Oracle meant that they benefited from all that engineering expertise.

Today I have been mostly battling SQL Server RDS which has decided to keep changing the date format to mdy from the dmy I asked it to use, in the middle of batch inserts*. Why, Microsoft, why?!!!!


* mind you, clients sending dates as dd/mm/yyyy rather than yyyy-mm-dd is equally annoying.

[NormanDunbar]

She loves shoes, as most women seem to do. How many pairs do they need!

Access works reasonably well as a desktop, single user, database. It's better than Excel for that purpose, but how many people use Excel as a database? Lots - that I've come across anyway. When you start adding multi-user capabilities, it breaks.

It's worse when using Access as a client for other, proper, databases , unless the queries are set up to "pass through". I had a problem once, which was quite amusing, like this:

User started a query, it was accessing Oracle, and was attempting to scan a LNG data type for a particular piece of text. This is actually forbidden with LONGs in Oracle. The query joined three very large tables, in addition.

So, Access decided that it knew Oracle doesn't like doing scans of LONGs, and thought that it would pull the data up onto the desktop, convert the LONG to an Access TEXT data type, and scan that. The query never returned so the user shutdown access with the X button, and went on holiday for two weeks.

Access, carried on! It was attempting to pull the three huge tables back, but had completely dropped the join clauses and ended up in a Cartesian join of three mega tables. Oracle ran out of sort space when it got to the bit where it attempted to sort something like 270 trillion rows of data. Oops!

We advised the user not to be so silly in future and to always use a pass through. We (the DBA Team) did some testing to make sure that it was reproducible, it was. When Access doesn't pass through, it attempts to do stuff forbidden in the database, it will drop join clauses and Cartesian join everything to everything else.

I don't "do" SQL Server. Ever. Not after the first few times. I know a very large UK bank that still uses it, and still encounters massive problems.

Good luck with your problem, I hope you get it fixed. Is the SA password SA by any chance?

Cheers,
Norm.

[Sparrowhawk]

Just realised that I never replied. Apologies.

I got around the 'mdy' reset problem by issuing a

Code: Select all

SET DATEFORMAT dmy; 

command at the start of each iteration of the main processing loop. Crazy hack, but it solved the problem.

The SQL Server password is not SA, it's Password1. We're crafty that way, see?

I did try to get the client to use PostgreSQL as we are using Python in Linux containers, so it was a better fit (and way cheaper on AWS than SQL Server). However, their internal training is all on SQL Server, so the rest of the team (all relatively junior devs) were very nervous about that, so I did not push it. Also as a contractor who had just joined their project, I was wary of upsetting anyone early on. I keep that for when they know me better

My wife loves shoes too. As do both of my daughters. But then, I buy old computer kit and old IT manuals (especially when I'm drunk and have access to eBay). So fair's fair

Speaking of old IT manuals and with regards your Access to Oracle adventures, one of my best ebBay impulse buys (for a £1) was Client Server Access 2000 (can't recall the exact title right now). Written by sombody with a real in depth understanding of Access, it had chapters on interfacing with SQL Server and Oracle. The Oracle section was something I had never seen before in any manual - they others all assume you will interface with SQL Server.

I'm rambling again... sorry!

[NormanDunbar]

Morning Sparrowhawk,

talking of which, we have one living in our garden!

Oracle can talk to numerous databases using a "gateway". I've never had to use one myself. If I remember, Access uses OBDC to connect to Oracle.

I have 2 main rules in life:

1. Don't get drunk. (My dad and my uncle were alcoholics. My uncle died of it. My dad recovered. Many times!)

2. If rule 1 does not apply, do not connect to Amazon or Ebay.



"Password1", you might (not) be surprised at the number of times I've come across that as a password. The other "good" one is to use the username as the password. Sigh!

Rambling is a part of (my) the job description isn't it? Mine includes ranting at people who continue making the same mistakes, even after being shown the evidence. Still, keeps me in contracts. (Until Thursday this week when my current one ends.)


Cheers,
Norm.

[Sparrowhawk]

You are correct, being allowed to have a good rant is almost the raison d'être for going into contracting, surely ?

Hope you are able to get a new contract soon. I've just been extended to December which is a relief in these times.

PS - I now wish I'd not used Sparrowhawk as my username on these forums. I use it as my gaming name on a bunch of sites but these QL forums are too grown up for nicknames! Mind you, at 52, I'm amongst the youngsters here, so maybe I'm allowed a little leeway.