Quest Revs Tools for DBAs

Quest Software Inc. is rolling out a version of its database management tools for the Oracle Corp. database that sports new memory management capabilities and automated advice that can help get database administrators out of tight spots, company officials said.

Quest Central for Oracle 2.7 enables database performance tuning, administration, performance diagnostics and space management in a single console. The update features an enhanced console that allows for user feedback, browsing thats enabled through a virtual tree, notification of license expiration and an option to automatically check for software updates.

The update, available now, will enable DBAs to view temporary and locally managed data files and table spaces. It comes with new Table Visual Object Editors, giving administrators the ability to modify tables and their parameters. It also features the ability to kill user sessions from the console. As part of the standard console, the software provides the ability to look into Oracles Trace files through a GUI interface.

Performance diagnostics were updated with new Oracle9i advisories, enhanced startup and loading views, and the ability to remember Windows sizing and positioning.

In the realm of database analysis, Quest Central 2.7 lets users create a tuning plan. It also features a shared repository of analysis results, eliminating the need to e-mail such results.

Nancy Malpass, an Oracle DBA at Interstate Batteries System of America Inc., in Dallas, said that of all the new features, one of the most compelling is the ability to kill user sessions from the console, a feature that she said would “increase response time to need,” enabling her to quickly put an end to problematic sessions by offering easier navigation to the kill feature. Malpass also looks forward to the upgrades automatic update check, which she said would be convenient, and to new 9i advisories, which she deemed “powerful.”

TOAD (Tool for Oracle Application Developers), a database development product that normally ships with Quest Central, is not included in this version. TOAD will appear in Version 4.0 in the fall, said Quest officials, in Irvine, Calif.