From ACE dinner to technical sessions and great conversations — a look back at two fully packed days.
On Monday and Tuesday, the DOAG Database & Cloud Infrastructure 2016 conference took place at Heide Park Soltau — and it didn’t disappoint.
Two packed days full of very good presentations, interesting news, and, most importantly, great conversations. 😉
In this blog, I would like to share my impressions and talk about the presentations I attended.
Sunday – ACE Community and Networking
On Sunday evening, I was invited to the Oracle ACE community dinner — great people, a fantastic dinner, and, as always, good conversations with other ACEs.
Afterwards, the evening continued with a “come-together,” where participants and speakers gathered for a drink and extended their discussions around AI, databases, cloud, and many other topics.
Monday – AI, High Availability, and My Presentation
After this great start on Sunday evening, Monday began with the official opening of the two conferences — DOAG Database and Cloud Infrastructure, as well as APEX Connect — by Christian Trieb, Philipp Berg, and Niels de Bruijn.
I started the day with Patrick Agreiter’s session “Smart Home, smart TV, smart car… und warum sprechen Sie nicht zu Ihrer DB?“
It was an interesting introduction to the idea of talking directly to your database using the right AI model.
What I particularly liked was seeing how text can be transformed into SQL queries — and vice versa.
Next up was “Automatische Quasi-Standby mit SE2” by Kersten Bühnert.
Kersten gave a practical walkthrough of how to create a refreshable PDB and use it as a kind of standby database in Oracle Standard Edition.
He didn’t just show the happy path but also highlighted typical pitfalls and errors you might run into in real-life scenarios.
After that, I took a longer break — first because I wanted to have lunch, and second because I always get a bit nervous before my own presentations and need a moment to step away.
At 2 p.m., it was my turn:
“Standby-Datenbanken manuell oder mit Enterprise Manager erstellen“
From my perspective, it went well — but the evaluation is up to the attendees 😉
Once I had finished my presentation, I could finally relax and enjoy the remaining sessions.
I joined Markus Michalewicz’s talk on
“Die wichtigsten Oracle AI Database Hochverfügbarkeits-Funktionen im Überblick“
It was a great presentation with useful insights into MAA and the new Platinum level.
After that, I attended Stefan Oehrli’s session
“Oracle Database 26ai On-Premises: New Security Features – Insights & Demos“
He gave a good overview of SQL Firewall, as well as new roles and privilege concepts.
One of my favorite features is the ability to grant read access, for example, to all existing and future tables in a database schema.
I then followed him to his next session,
“Einstieg in Oracle Database Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)“
He explained what is already possible today, how it works, and in which scenarios MFA really makes sense.
My last session of the day was Daniel Bollinger’s talk on
“Linux-based high availability for the Standard Edition with DRBD and Corosync“
It provided a solid overview of how to build such a setup and what steps are required to implement a reliable environment without Enterprise Edition features.
After such a long and intense day, I was more than ready for a cold beer — and the Oracle-sponsored happy hour delivered exactly what was needed. Thanks for that!
The evening continued with dinner, which was really good, and some great conversations with my colleagues.
We briefly stopped by the silent disco — just to have a look — but not for too long. At some point, it was simply time to call it a day.
Tuesday – Technical stuff
The second day of the DOAG Database and Cloud Infrastructure conference started with Connor McDonald’s session “The Innovation Continues – More 26ai Features, More 100% Demo, Zero Slides.”
It is always worth attending his sessions. This time, he presented new features for both developers and DBAs.
And no matter which feature he talks about, his presentations are always interesting and entertaining.
In Hervé Schweiter’s session “Secure Your Sensitive Data and Sleep Well” I got a good overview of data masking and how it can help secure your data — especially in test and development environments.
Next up was
“Ein Bild sagt mehr als 1000 Zeilen – Oracle AWR mit PowerShell visualisieren” by Andreas Jordan.
He explained which AWR data can be used to visualize performance metrics using PowerShell and Excel. The session focused more on the theoretical aspects, but provided useful insights.
Then it was time for lunch — the perfect moment to meet colleagues and talk about the sessions attended so far.
After lunch, I once again joined Markus Michalewicz’s session “Oracle AI Database 26ai On-Premises – Was Sie jetzt wissen müssen”
As always, he talked about the latest features and showed how Oracle is evolving by opening up and offering more possibilities compared to other databases.
In my next session, “Upgrades mit dem Dampfhammer: Wenn Ansible und AutoUpgrade aufräumen”
by Martin Berger,
I learned more about AutoUpgrade and how to automate upgrade processes using Ansible.
His talk definitely encouraged me to take a closer look at AutoUpgrade — such a great tool! 😉
After that, I needed a longer break — so many impressions, ideas, and new topics to process.
So I treated myself to some ice cream and took a moment to relax in the sun.
My last session, “OCI-Monitoring in der Entsorgungsbranche – ein Praxisbericht” by Nicole Cochems and Johannes Michler, showed the decision-making process behind choosing the right monitoring tool for a complex environment both in OCI and on-premis.
It was a good session with real-world insights.
Wrapping up two interesting days in Soltau
After two intensive and inspiring days, it was time to head back home.
Looking back, the DOAG Database and Cloud Infrastructure conference was once again a great mix of technical insights, new ideas, and, most importantly, conversations with the community.
Events like this always remind me how strong and supportive the Oracle community is.
I’m already looking forward to the next DOAG conference — and to seeing many familiar (and new) faces again.