Save years of technical debt with an hour of entity relationship modeling
Tuesday, 9-9:50 AM, Grapevine 5-6
“Product numbers include a category, a region, and a 7-digit ID, and we use them all the time. That should be a column in a table.”
“Just add a column with the total cost of all the line items to the order table so we don’t have to calculate it all the time.”
“All the columns should be nullable to make testing data entry easier.”
These types of ‘quick and easy’ decisions lead to years of technical debt. If you spend a lot of time writing lots of complicated code to eliminate ‘bad data’, have tons of DISTINCTs in your SQL statements, or would like to avoid these types of situations in the future, this session is for you.
We’ll take a detailed look at entity relationship modeling and how working this skill can lead to the elimination of years of technical debt in all your future projects, and provide a clear path forward on existing projects.
The material from this presentation makes an excellent reference to bring back to your next design meeting so that you can save years of technical debt.
Case Study: Migrating & Upgrading 100+ Complex APEX Environments Using Ansible
Wednesday, 9-9:50 AM, San Antonio 5-6
Embark on a journey through the intricate process of modernizing over 100 legacy Oracle databases, featuring a transition from outdated APEX and legacy mod_plsql applications to the latest supported versions with pluggable databases. This case study offers a deep dive into the challenges and breakthroughs encountered when using Ansible to automate and streamline a massive upgrade and migration effort.
In this session, we will explore:
Why was Ansible chosen?
Navigating deprecated database functionalities and old APEX versions, including relics like WebDB.
Transitioning from mod_plsql to Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS).
Implementing Apache rewrites to maintain legacy application functionality.
Discover the power of Ansible’s declarative automation as we detail the step-by-step process developed to migrate databases into Oracle pluggable databases on new servers, and to construct a robust ORDS and Apache deployment that supports updated APEX environments without disrupting existing mod_plsql applications.
Join us to learn how automation not only made this daunting task feasible but also reproducible, paving the way for future migrations and upgrades. Whether you’re a DBA, developer, or a project manager, this session will provide valuable insights into managing large-scale database migrations with precision and efficiency.
APEX & ORDS for DBAs and System Admins – 2025 Update
Wednesday 1:30-2:30 PM, Fort Worth 3
“Hey, can you set up APEX for me? It’s easy, all you do is install APEX and ORDS and then it’s ready to go.” says the developer to the DBA or system admins.
Unfortunately, all too often, the answer is not “Sure!” but instead, “But what about security?” followed by “What about this, or that, or this other thing?”
If you are a developer who wants to be able to answer the “What about?” or understand how APEX and ORDS (Oracle REST Data Services) work at a technical level, or a DBA/system admin who has never implemented APEX & ORDS, or an experienced DBA/system admin who would like to learn to implement APEX & ORDS in a more supportable and maintainable way, this is the session for you.
You’ll leave with clear step-by-step instructions for:
Providing database developers with the functionality of the APEX packages and APIs without exposing your database to browsers.
The correct way to allow database developers to reach out of the database to web-based resources.
Finally, how to install and configure ORDS middleware (especially since the changes in ORDS implementation architecture) so that APEX applications and REST services can be served from your database.
This is a 2025 update of Kscope23’s Oracle APEX Top Speaker award-winning session with the latest versions of Oracle Database, Oracle APEX and ORDS.