Welcome to michael-ramsey.com

This website has information and resources about current projects I am working on.  This is a personal website about me for my friends, family, or anyone who is interested.  My personal websites are kept simple and easy to use without the need for third party plug ins.  I prefer to create all temporary sites using a text editor to keep up my HTML skills.  This also allows me to log in from anywhere and make changes using the default text editor on every OS.  This website is under heavy construction.

Who am I?  My name is Michael Ramsey and I live in San Antonio Texas.  I have many interests and hobbies, however, most of them relate to computers and technology in some way.  My first computer was a Commodore 64 which I still own to this day.  I have come a long way, and now run a hybrid wired / wireless network of 10+ computers in my home for the fun of it.  At least half of the systems are quad+ boot.  Most people would consider this torture since there are around 19 operating systems to manage at any given time, not including several test vmware systems that are always running.  My preferred OS of choice is Windows 2000 / 2003 Server.  In addition several of my systems are running Red Hat 9 and Fedora versions of Linux.  I would rather use DOS from a damaged floppy than the user hostile, Crayola looking, Windows XP.  That is just a my personal opinion.  Unfortunately, I do have to use Windows XP a lot, and I know its peculiarities.  Windows XP = Xtra Problems.  Well, XP Pro isn't too bad.

Anyway, I just graduated from San Antonio College with a perfect 4.0 GPA.  I also have a Bachelor's degree from UTSA.  It was very hard to maintain that performance level and never slip up, especially with difficult programming classes in Java and Advanced PL/SQL.  The degree I earned was an AAS in Computer Databases.  Oracle 9i / 10g was the database used throughout the degree plan.  Specifically, I was formally trained to be an Oracle DBA and also an Oracle Developer using tools such as Oracle ERD, Forms, Reports, and Oracle HTML DB just to name a few.  We did everything the hard way using command line instructions on a remote Linux server.  We also used the Oracle Enterprise Manager in Windows 2000, which was a piece of cake compared to command line in Linux.  I am glad to have learned the hard way.  You get a much better understanding of what is going on with the file system and the Oracle architecture.  This command line experience came in handy later on during a job when we lost access to the "NEW" web based OEM in Oracle 10g due to some port issues on the server.

In addition, I have also been trained by the head Oracle DBA for a multi billion dollar corporation located here in San Antonio.  One of the highlights of this training involved learning a trick that allows you to recover from data loss or damage to data on an ACTIVE database by reintegrating the good data WITHOUT taking the database down to recover from a previous backup.  Recovery from a previous backup would result in downtime of the database.  Here is just a summary of the basic idea.  The technique involves letting the current active database continue to run and collect new data.  A second standby database that has been mirroring the first (delayed) will apply archive logs to re-insert the good data.  There is much more to it, but you get the idea.  This can be done without the need for expensive 3rd party products like Vision Quest Live Standby which can set you back $100,000.  I will be adding a tutorial / demonstration of this technique soon.

My current "self taught" professional training focus is on technologies designed to save larger organizations millions of dollars.  Some of these technologies such as Microsoft SMS (System Management Server), Oracle HTML DB, and the use of VMWare can significantly reduce the number of "manpower" hours required to perform specific tasks.  In addition, I am studying technologies designed to provide high availability for mission critical applications.  These technologies include Microsoft Cluster Server, Oracle Real Application Clusters and Oracle 10g grid. (see the vmware projects for training section)

Several different personal projects are always being conducted simultaneously.  Some of the projects have been documented and will be posted soon.  Other projects may have been documented, but they are not finished yet.  You can click on each link to the left to learn or read a summary about each project.