KEEP in MIND if we have to close this deal, time will play the real
role here.
SAP PM/PS
Norwalk, CT .

I have some program wrote in C on my unix enviroment.
I need to execute that program from some oracle stored procedure.
Something like xp_cmdshell that i use on MSQL.
Any Idea????

Can anyone point to any benchmarking packages (tables with data/scripts
etc) that I can use to benchmark like Oracle 10g instances running on
different hardware platforms such as Linux/X86, AIX/R6000 etc?
Thanks for any help.

OK, I give up, I can not make this simple pl/sql code block give me a
message when no data is returned from a table.
I correctly get the output line when a row is returned, but not when no
row is returned.

Please help me,
  I'm new to oracle environment.
  I  want to make a kind of auto generated primary key for my table.
  I can make auto key with sequences and triggers. But only numeric

I wonder whether anybody has an idea of how to enhance the following:
Suppose a table which has 2-segment-trips in it (i.e. somebody took the
train/plane in order to go from New York to Boston and then to Dallas,
i.e. two segments: New York-Boston, Boston-Dallas) as follows:

How do I get result of number of rows on a table that contains far
beond millions of rows? Just stating a count is not a god idea i
suppose. Is there any fast and afficient way to do this?

I am in the early stages of studying the migration path to 10gr2.
Anything particular to watch out for?
I kind of recall that 10g now automatically collects table index
statistics?

I would like to have a few advice on memory-related issues in Oracle.
So far some of the figures I find seem to be contracdictory even though
I
could be wrong.

I have an obscure problem.
I moved my oracle instance (8.1.7) from one subnet to another (changed
on server tnsnames.ora, listener.ora, tnsnames on clients) and now only
a few seconds after startup, sqlplus and other clients can connect.

its possible ask by sql statement, wich user/process/procedure has made
the last writing access into a table?
like select * from v$ .... ?
thank you very much!

The recommendations I've got here in the past have been really great
(thanks all) so here goes again: What books do you recommend for the
following:
1. General PL/SQL language (stored procs, etc) (not general SQL).

               I need to get some information on oracle 10g external
tables new features.
Can anyone tell me some comparison document or link on Oracle 9i and
10g external tables

Thank everyone who helped on my previous post.
But I have to seek some more help from you.
1. Can I create a sequence inside a trigger?
  =========================================

I'm trying to create a stored procedure function which is a wrapper to
the dbms_redefintion function.
I have allocated EXECUTE ON DBMS_REDEFINITION and DBA rights
if I create a script that grants these rights, and logs on as the user