Pubudu: Data and Decisions

  “Oracle Deep Data Security” was discussed recently at the Oracle AI World Singapore and it interested me to further study on how data security is evolving in the age of AI. The way data is accessed, processed and protected is changing dramatically with the rapid adoption of AI among the organizations. That’s why I thought it would be useful to explore Oracle Deep Data Security in a simple and practical way. In today’s world, data is everywhere. Businesses store customer data, financial transactions, employee records and much more inside databases. Earlier time, security was mostly handled at the application level. But this approach is no longer strong enough. With AI tools generating queries dynamically and multiple systems interacting with the same database, relying only on application level security creates risks. This is where Oracle introduces a new approach, moving security directly into the database itself. Oracle Deep Data Security is built on the idea that data shou...

  “Bring AI to Data” is a term I recently heard during the Oracle AI World in Singapore last week and it really caught my attention. It sounded simple but the idea behind it is quite powerful. So I thought it’s worth exploring a bit more! Normally, working with data and AI meant one thing, which is, moving data around. We would extract data from databases, send it to external tools or platforms, build machine learning models and then push the results back into the database. But this approach adds complexity, increases costs and introduces security risks. But now, Oracle is changing that model by bringing AI to where the data already is ! The concept of “Bring AI to Data” is straightforward but powerful. Instead of moving large volumes of data across systems, Oracle allows you to run AI and machine learning directly inside the database. This means that data do not have to leave its secure environment. This results faster processing, reduced data duplication, improved security ...

Performance tuning in Oracle Database often focuses on obvious areas like indexes, SQL rewrites etc. But some of the most impactful improvements can come from lesser known techniques. Here are 5 such tuning tricks that can make a real difference in production environments.   Use SQL Plan Baselines to Stabilize Performance Even properly tuned queries in Oracle Database can suddenly degrade when execution plans change due to statistics refreshes or system upgrades. Using SQL Plan Baselines helps maintain stable and efficient execution plans, preventing unexpected performance regressions especially in highly changing workloads. SELECT * FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES; So, don’t just capture baselines, but periodically change them to allow the optimizer to adopt better plans when appropriate. Use Automatic Indexing Automatic Indexing is a useful feature in Oracle Database that can improve performance with minimal effort.  It was introduced in Oracle Database 19c and enhance...

SQL injection is one of the most common security risks in database driven applications. Normally, protection is implemented in the application layer using input validation and parameterized queries. However this approach depends heavily on developers and code quality. The SQL Firewall feature in Oracle Database introduces a different approach by adding protection directly at the database layer. This allows the database itself to identify and block unauthorized or suspicious SQLs before they are executed. How SQL Firewall Works The SQL Firewall works by learning the normal SQL patterns used by an application and then allowing only those approved statements to run. Any new or unexpected SQL is treated as a potential threat and can be blocked. This is especially useful for production environments where code changes are difficult and applications that are exposed to the internet. By implementing security at the database level, organizations gain an additional defense layer without modi...

Today I'll discus on how we can build continuous data trust with Oracle GoldenGate Veridata 26c! As we accelerate towards hybrid and multi cloud architectures , one challenge keep coming up. That is "H ow do you trust your data across all these platforms?" With increasing data movement, replication, and transformation, even small changes can lead to major business risks. This is where Oracle GoldenGate Veridata 26c comes in handy! Rather than just validating data occasionally, the focus now is on continuous data trust . What is Veridata? It is a tool to compare data across different systems. It ensures source and target databases are in sync. It works during , Data migration, Replication setups, Ongoing operations. What’s new in Veridata 26c? 1. Support for Modern Architectures Built for hybrid, multi-cloud, and lakehouse environments with support for heterogeneous databases. 2. Continuous Data Validation Enables ongoing validation to detect data drift and inconsisten...

Modern cloud applications are moving toward serverless architectures because they reduce infrastructure management and allow developers to focus on code. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) provides a powerful serverless service called “Oracle Functions”. It allows developers to run code without managing servers. In this post, I’ll go through how to create a simple serverless API using Oracle Functions and expose it through an HTTP endpoint. Oracle Functions provides several advantages, No server management Automatic scaling Pay only for execution time Easy integration with other OCI services   The process of flow is as below, User sends an HTTP request OCI API Gateway triggers a Function Function processes the request Response is returned Lets see how to create a simple function. 1.       First create a function using the 'Fn Project CLI' supported by OCI. fn init --runtime python myhello-function cd myhello-function 2. ...