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Taming the "Beast SQL": Moving from Read-Side Hacks to Write-Side Integrity
In Part 1, I detailed how an unprimed Oracle Exadata Flash Cache after a weekend Disaster Recovery (DR) test spiked database latency from 40ms to 20 minutes, triggering connection timeouts and an emergency incident. Allowing the cache to warm organically over 12 hours stabilised the system. But waiting for hardware to warm was treating a symptom. The incident exposed the fragility of our core data layer: every user login executed a massive, runtime deduplication query across
martinladecky
3 days ago4 min read


The Anatomy of a High-Scale Outage & The Cold Cache Trap
At 8:45 AM on a Monday, an incident alert replaced our daily stand-up. Over 200 engineers, operations leads, and executives joined the emergency bridge. Production was halted: database CPU hit 90%, response times degraded from 40ms to over 20 minutes, and customers could not log in. Because banking platforms operate as critical national infrastructure, every minute of total unavailability triggers mandatory self-reporting to financial regulators like BaFin. The Incident: Fa
martinladecky
Aug 173 min read


Enhance your Codebase Integrity and Accountability by Verifying Commits
Our company recently upgraded Bitbucket, allowing us to sign our commits. This feature was introduced in September 2024, even though...
martinladecky
Nov 17, 20242 min read


Time in Oracle
Today, I will share my experience with time in our Oracle database. Surprisingly, it is very fluid and relative. Everything started with...
martinladecky
Jun 18, 20243 min read


Logs and Logging
Logging is more than technical issues such as log level or a logback configuration. They are also important but optional. I'll show you...
martinladecky
Mar 23, 20242 min read
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