Written byJohn Pocknell and Daniel Norwood

Quest Software, Inc.

DBAs, Developers and Analysts -Everyone Can Benefit from Toad for Oracle

Technical Brief

© Copyright Quest® Software, Inc. 2008. All rights reserved.

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Updated—November 15, 2008

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................1 THE CHALLENGE: ACCESSING AND MANAGING NON-ORACLE DATA SOURCES.....................................................................................................2 THE SOLUTION: TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS ...............................................3

TOAD FOR ORACLE NOW INCLUDES TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS.................................... 3 USING TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS...................................................................... 3

BENEFITS OF TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS ...................................................5 DEVELOPERS................................................................................................ 5 ANALYSTS................................................................................................... 5 DBAS ....................................................................................................... 5

SUMMARY OF VALUE ADDED BY TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS ......................6 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................8 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...................................................................................9 ABOUT QUEST SOFTWARE, INC. ................................................................10

CONTACTING QUEST SOFTWARE....................................................................... 10 CONTACTING QUEST SUPPORT......................................................................... 10

DBAs, Developers and Analysts – Everyone Can Benefit from Toad for Oracle

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INTRODUCTION

Toad® for Oracle is the world’s best known and most popular PL/SQL development solution. Over the years, though, Toad became popular not only with developers, but with DBAs, managers, and business people as well. Accordingly, in 2000, Quest launched the Toad® DBA Module (now known as the Toad DB Admin Module) specifically to support Oracle DBAs. This product extends the capabilities of Toad with a range of Oracle database administration features.

More recently, the number of Toad users generally classified as “analysts” began to increase. Analysts need an easy, graphical way to view and understand data, build queries, and publish reports, and they frequently found Toad to be an excellent tool for these tasks. However, these users also needed a way to perform the tasks they do in Toad for Oracle on data from other sources, such as SQL Server and Sybase databases, or Microsoft Access and Excel.

To address this need, Quest Software launched Toad® for Data Analysts in August 2007. Toad for Data Analysts is the first cross-platform tool built for the sole purpose of understanding, querying, and reporting on data. This highly task-oriented application enables native connections to the most widely-used RDBMS platforms as well as popular data stores like Teradata, Netezza, PostgreSQL, Informix, DB2 AS/400, and even Microsoft Access and Excel. Simply put, Toad for Data Analysts provides extremely flexible, effective, and easy-to-understand access to multiple data sources for cross-platform (or heterogeneous) querying.

With Toad for Data Analysts, repetitive tasks can be grouped together graphically, as a flow chart, to produce a workflow that can be stored, reused, or scheduled, thus saving hours of time.

This technical brief explores the challenges of accessing and managing Oracle and non-Oracle data sources, then explains how Toad for Data Analysts provides the solution. It also offers guidance on using Toad for Data Analysts as a complement to Toad for Oracle (Toad for Data Analysts is now available at no cost in Toad for Oracle 9.7 to licensed users). Lastly, this document presents the benefits of Toad for Data Analysts for developers, analysts and DBAs.

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THE CHALLENGE: ACCESSING AND MANAGING NON-ORACLE DATA SOURCES

People who have historically worked exclusively in an Oracle environment are, through business expediency, increasingly being expected to familiarize themselves with non-Oracle databases or other data stores. Additionally, Oracle DBAs are increasingly responsible for managing acquired or inherited non-Oracle databases, including creating or altering tables and other objects.

To natively query and understand the “foreign” data, Oracle DBAs and developers have to learn and use a variety of tools, each with its own visual interface and workflow. This can be very disruptive to the productivity of these IT professionals. In addition, many businesses are trying to standardize on reporting, which can be a difficult challenge when IT staff must use a variety of tools that produce visually different reports.

DBAs, Developers and Analysts – Everyone Can Benefit from Toad for Oracle

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THE SOLUTION: TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS

Fortunately, there is an alternative to using a variety of native tools to access and manage non-Oracle databases and data stores—extending Toad for Oracle. Whether you are a developer, DBA, analyst, or business user, the ideal solution combines Toad for Oracle‘s deep Oracle expertise, ease of use, and powerful development and administration capabilities with the cross-platform capabilities, flexibility, and automation offered by Toad for Data Analysts.

Toad for Oracle Now Includes Toad for Data Analysts

With the launch of the 9.7 version of Toad for Oracle in September 2008, Toad for Data Analysts is now bundled with every edition of Toad for Oracle. Toad for Data Analysts is available to use, for free, provided the user has a current, valid Toad for Oracle license under maintenance with Quest Software.

Toad for Data Analysts will automatically recognize a valid Toad for Oracle license key, so there is no need to enter another key. Toad for Data Analysts must only be used on the desktop (or notebook) on which Toad for Oracle is installed. It is non-transferrable.

Using Toad for Data Analysts

Launching Toad for Data Analysts from Toad for Oracle is easy, as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1. Launch point for Toad for Data Analysts within Toad for Oracle

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Upon launch of Toad for Data Analysts, you’ll see the Quick Guide window, which will help you quickly be productive (Figure 2). If you prefer a look and feel more consistent with what you’ve become accustomed to in Toad for Oracle, you can use the Configuration Wizard as described here: http://www.toadworld.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/67/EntryID/220/Default.aspx:

Figure 2. Toad for Data Analysts—Quick Guide window

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BENEFITS OF TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS

Developers, analysts, and DBAs can now benefit from the best of both products—the power of Toad for Oracle combined with the platform flexibility of Toad for Data Analysts.

Developers

Developers no longer have to use a multitude of tools to understand data residing on different platforms, or physically import data from external sources in Oracle, unless it’s absolutely necessary. Using Toad for Data Analysts, they can view data directly in the external data source and even use the familiar Query Builder interface to build heterogeneous queries directly on multiple data sources. And when developers do have to import data into Oracle, they can do so with much more precision because they already understand the source data better. Additionally, you can write and validate your non-Oracle SQL graphically in the Query Builder or by hand in the SQL Editor.

Analysts

Like developers, analysts benefit from Toad for Data Analysts. They are free from having to learn and use a variety of tools to access data in non-Oracle data stores. And since Toad for Data Analysts has the same look and feel as Toad for Oracle, accessing data from any data store is effortless.

DBAs

More and more Oracle DBAs are responsible for other databases, such as SQL Server and DB2. They may have limited knowledge of how to perform even basic tasks on those platforms, including how to create, view, and modify objects. Therefore they often have to learn a variety of different tools. Because DBAs are the gatekeepers for business data, it’s absolutely vital that they, more than anyone else, understand and protect the integrity of the data for which they are responsible. There’s no better way to provide that assurance than with a true cross-platform data querying and reporting tool that provides native connectivity and is simple to use—Toad for Data Analysts.

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SUMMARY OF VALUE ADDED BY TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS

The table below shows ONLY the differences between Toad for Oracle Base Edition and Toad for Data Analysts, based on specific tasks. If you choose a higher edition of Toad (such as Toad® for Oracle Xpert, Toad® Development Suite for Oracle, or Toad® DBA Suite for Oracle), you can gain significant additional value.

GENERAL FUNCTIONALITY TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS

TOAD FOR ORACLE BASE EDITION

Connect to ODBC data sources X

Connect natively to Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 UDB & z/OS, MySQL, and Sybase ASE

X Oracle only

Workflow Analyst Developer/DBA

Context-sensitive PL/SQL knowledge base, including best practices, worked examples, error messages, and much more

X

Distribute and optionally enforce configurations and settings to groups of users

X

DEVELOPMENT FUNCTIONALITY

Integrated debugger X

Build database code dependencies diagram (Code Roadmap)

X

Compare code difference in database objects X

External/remote debugging (used when the db code is called from apps like Java, C++, and VB)

X

DATABASE ADMINISTRATION AND PERFORMANCE

PL/SQL profiling to detect code performance bottlenecks

X

Trace and display TKprof output X

Display session information and performance metrics

X

DBAs, Developers and Analysts – Everyone Can Benefit from Toad for Oracle

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GENERAL FUNCTIONALITY TOAD FOR DATA ANALYSTS

TOAD FOR ORACLE BASE EDITION

SCHEMA, DATA, AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Query data across different database platforms X

Synchronize data across different database platforms

X

Compare Oracle schemas X

Import/export data utilities X Oracle only

Performance Diagnostics and Tuning

Integrate with OEM's Tuning Pack with Oracle Tuning Advisor

X

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CONCLUSION

Data is the primary investment of any business; therefore, maintaining its security, accessibility, and integrity is essential. Many companies rely on both Oracle databases and a variety of non-Oracle data sources as well, and it’s essential that data can be accessed, understood and reported on in a timely and accurate way. But viewing, querying, interpreting, and reporting on heterogeneous data usually requires multiple tools and extensive training of developers, analysts, and DBAs.

Quest provides an effective alternative: Toad for Oracle now includes Toad for Data Analysts. This solution combines Toad’s well-respected strengths—ease of use, deep Oracle roots, and sheer power—with cross-platform capabilities and automation for all your non-Oracle data needs.

DBAs, Developers and Analysts – Everyone Can Benefit from Toad for Oracle

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Pocknell is a product manager at Quest Software‘s European headquarters in Maidenhead, UK. He has been with Quest since 2000, focusing on the product areas of database design, development, and testing. John also spends significant time with customers at Toad and Oracle user group meetings throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, promoting Toad, listening to feedback and presenting Toad training courses.

John has worked in IT for more than 20 years, primarily in Oracle-based application design and development. He is also an aeronautical engineer with more than 10 years of experience as a business development manager delivering IT consultancy services and implementing quality assurance systems to the ISO 9001 standard.

Daniel Norwood is a product manager for Quest Software and manages Toad for Data Analysis and SQL Navigator. Daniel brings more than 8 years of experience in the software industry specializing in RDBMS and related technologies. In addition to product management, Daniel has worked in support, testing and project management. He spends much of his time interacting with customers around the globe, ensuring Quest’s tools exceed their expectations.

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ABOUT QUEST SOFTWARE, INC.

Quest Software, Inc., a leading enterprise systems management vendor, delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and productivity from their applications, databases, Windows infrastructure and virtual environments. Through a deep expertise in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps more than 100,000 customers worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quest provides customers with client management as well as server and desktop virtualization solutions through its subsidiaries, ScriptLogic and Vizioncore. Quest Software can be found in offices around the globe and at www.quest.com.

Contacting Quest Software

Phone: 949.754.8000 (United States and Canada)

Email: info@quest.com

Mail: Quest Software, Inc. World Headquarters 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 USA

Web site: www.quest.com

Please refer to our Web site for regional and international office information.

Contacting Quest Support

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