ORA-00205 at three in the morning: understanding Oracle critical files before you need to
Step-by-step diagnosis of ORA-00205 during a night emergency: MOUNT phase, control file, SPFILE, redo log. A practical method for on-call Oracle DBAs.
Recent
Data Warehouse
The lunch break that delayed go-live: Data Governance in the DWH
A lunch conversation about what a technically ready Data Warehouse still lacks: data ownership, quality framework, GDPR, TDE on Oracle 19c.
Oracle
PostgreSQL
Logical replication in PostgreSQL: a colleague's questions that clarify the topic
PostgreSQL logical replication explained through a colleague's questions: cross-version migration, CDC to data warehouse, step-by-step configuration.
Project Management
From rivals to co-authors: how Booch, Rumbaugh and Jacobson invented UML (and what's left of it today)
The story of the Three Amigos of UML and RUP: how Booch, Rumbaugh and Jacobson, from rivals, unified object-oriented modeling. And what's left of it today.
Oracle
Oracle 19c, 21c, 23ai, 26ai: the silent rewrite of value domains
Seven years of Oracle seen through enumerations: from 19c CHECK to 23ai SQL Domains, all the way to 26ai Assertions. An insurance migration story.
Oracle
Enumerations in Oracle: twenty years of workarounds, and the road that opened up with 23ai
Oracle never had a native ENUM. CHECK constraints, lookup tables and SQL Domains 23ai: three roads, a real banking case, and what's coming with 26ai.
PostgreSQL
ENUM in PostgreSQL: when the choice pays off, and when it bites back
PostgreSQL ENUM vs CHECK vs lookup table: ALTER TYPE ADD VALUE is metadata-cheap, dropping a value costs a migration. Three paths, one real telco case.
Data Warehouse
Data Warehouse
The lunch break that delayed go-live: Data Governance in the DWH
A lunch conversation about what a technically ready Data Warehouse still lacks: data ownership, quality framework, GDPR, TDE on Oracle 19c.
Data Warehouse
Three data marts, three truths about sales: the bus matrix as common ground
Kimball bus matrix to align isolated data marts: conformed dimensions, business processes and comparable sales. Real insurance group case.
Data Warehouse
DWH Partitioning: When 3 Years of Data Weigh Too Much
Range partitioning on an 800-million-row fact table: from 12-minute quarterly queries to 40 seconds. Monthly implementation, exchange and local indexes.
Data Warehouse
Ragged hierarchies: when the client has no parent and the group has no grandparent
Ragged hierarchy in the data warehouse: balancing unbalanced trees with the self-parenting technique. Correct drill-down on customers and groups.
Project Management
Project Management
From rivals to co-authors: how Booch, Rumbaugh and Jacobson invented UML (and what's left of it today)
The story of the Three Amigos of UML and RUP: how Booch, Rumbaugh and Jacobson, from rivals, unified object-oriented modeling. And what's left of it today.
Project Management
5 rules I've seen work in project teams that hold
Project management: 5 rules observed in teams that hold under pressure. Psychological safety, bus factor, outcome vs output, knowledge transfer.
Project Management
AI Manager and Project Management: when artificial intelligence enters the project
AI Manager: the professional role that governs the impact of artificial intelligence on architectures, processes and people. Reflections from 30 years in IT.
Project Management
Payment at 60-90-120 days: the Italian normality that doesn't exist in Europe
60-90-120 day payment terms in Italian IT consulting: comparison with European rules. DSO, EU directive 2011/7 and strategies for IT freelancers.
Project Management
Bike vs Car in Rome: the morning that opened my eyes
Commuting in Rome: electric Brompton vs car. 18 minutes vs 50, €35 of parking saved per day. The sustainable mobility choice from a practical view.
Project Management
Smart working in IT consulting: the numbers nobody wants to look at
Smart working in IT consulting: economic and strategic analysis of remote work. Real numbers, KPIs, presenteeism and productivity compared to in-office.
Project Management
When chaos becomes method: AI and GitHub to manage a project nobody wanted to touch
Project management with AI and GitHub: turning a chaotic project into a measurable workflow with issue tracking, code review and artificial intelligence.
Oracle
Oracle
ORA-00205 at three in the morning: understanding Oracle critical files before you need to
Step-by-step diagnosis of ORA-00205 during a night emergency: MOUNT phase, control file, SPFILE, redo log. A practical method for on-call Oracle DBAs.
Oracle
Oracle 19c, 21c, 23ai, 26ai: the silent rewrite of value domains
Seven years of Oracle seen through enumerations: from 19c CHECK to 23ai SQL Domains, all the way to 26ai Assertions. An insurance migration story.
Oracle
Enumerations in Oracle: twenty years of workarounds, and the road that opened up with 23ai
Oracle never had a native ENUM. CHECK constraints, lookup tables and SQL Domains 23ai: three roads, a real banking case, and what's coming with 26ai.
Oracle
Oracle from On-Premises to Cloud: Strategy, Planning and Cutover
Oracle 19c on-premises to OCI migration: 2 TB with RAC and Data Guard. BYOL licensing, Data Pump, overnight cutover — real chronicle.
Oracle
Oracle on Linux: the kernel parameters nobody configures
Oracle 19c on Linux: kernel tuning for real performance. Huge Pages, THP, swappiness, I/O scheduler, ulimit — before and after numbers.
Oracle
AWR, ASH and the 10 minutes that saved a go-live
Oracle 19c performance tuning with AWR and ASH: finding a hidden full table scan in a stored procedure in 10 minutes, the eve of a go-live.
Oracle
Users, Roles and Privileges in Oracle: Why GRANT ALL Is Never the Answer
Oracle security: redesigning the GRANT model with custom roles and Unified Audit, applying least privilege. Real case with copy-paste SQL.
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
Logical replication in PostgreSQL: a colleague's questions that clarify the topic
PostgreSQL logical replication explained through a colleague's questions: cross-version migration, CDC to data warehouse, step-by-step configuration.
PostgreSQL
ENUM in PostgreSQL: when the choice pays off, and when it bites back
PostgreSQL ENUM vs CHECK vs lookup table: ALTER TYPE ADD VALUE is metadata-cheap, dropping a value costs a migration. Three paths, one real telco case.
PostgreSQL
When an index does more harm than good: cleaning PostgreSQL waste
PostgreSQL: how to find and drop unused indexes with pg_stat_user_indexes. Real case: a table with 15 indexes, 8 of them never used.
PostgreSQL
pg_stat_statements: the first thing to install on any PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL pg_stat_statements: the first query diagnostics extension to install. Find the three queries consuming 80% of database resources.
PostgreSQL
VACUUM and autovacuum: why PostgreSQL needs someone to clean up
PostgreSQL VACUUM and autovacuum: bloat diagnosis on a 200 GB database, reading pg_stat_user_tables and tuning without disabling anything.
PostgreSQL
Roles and Users in PostgreSQL: Why Everything Is (Only) a ROLE
PostgreSQL ROLE: users and roles are the same object. Mental model, GRANT, NOINHERIT and how to build a truly maintainable read-only account.
PostgreSQL
When a LIKE '%value%' Slows Everything Down: A Real PostgreSQL Optimization Case
PostgreSQL optimization: LIKE '%value%' causes full scan. Using pg_trgm and GIN index to turn a wildcard search into a fast lookup. Real case.
MySQL
MySQL
ENUM in MySQL: when it makes your day, and when it ruins your week
MySQL ENUM vs CHECK constraint vs lookup table: three ways to model an enumeration. Pros, cons and real case of a shipment tracking system.
MySQL
Before upgrading MySQL: the numbers the customer actually asks for — and how to find them
MySQL 8.0 pre-upgrade assessment: measuring sizes, growth, backup and restore times with information_schema. Real numbers to plan maintenance window.
MySQL
mysqldump vs mysqlpump vs mydumper: the backup that keeps you up at night
MySQL backup tools compared: mysqldump vs mydumper vs mysqlpump on a 60 GB database. Real dump and restore times, parallelism and architectural choice.
MySQL
Binary logs in MySQL: what they are, how to manage them, and when you can delete them
MySQL binary log: management, retention and point-in-time recovery. Real case of a server with disk at 95% and 180 GB of binlogs in six months.
MySQL
Galera Cluster with 3 nodes: how I solved a MySQL availability issue
3-node MySQL Galera Cluster for high availability: synchronous replication, quorum, SST/IST. Full configuration against single point of failure.
MySQL
MySQL Users: Why 'mario' and 'mario'@'localhost' Are Not the Same Person
MySQL users and hosts: 'mario' and 'mario'@'localhost' are different entities. MySQL/MariaDB authentication model, common mistakes and correct GRANTs.
MySQL
MySQL Multi-Instance: A Ticket, a CSV and the secure-file-priv Wall
MySQL multi-instance on Linux: exporting a CSV with INTO OUTFILE blocked by secure-file-priv. Unix socket connection and shell workaround real case.