Every day, all around the world, DBAs are confronted with a multitude of issues dealing with the support of their database environments. This book discusses those issues as they relate to Oracle7, Oracle8 and Oracle8i, together with the strategies for dealing with the ongoing challenges.

I have worked with various relational databases for the last fifteen years. My first acquaintance with a database product started at my very first job as an application developer. The company, Eicher Goodearth Limited, a tractor manufacturer, used Micro Ingres Database, which ran on a BSD UNIX version on a Motorola 68000-based system. The use of vifred, qbe, and qbf tools was very resource-intensive for this small system that supported well over twelve users. I was involved in projects to develop applications for payroll, fixed deposit, shares, human resources, and a few others. Later on, when my boss at Eicher left and joined a company called NIIT, he made sure that I came along with him. At NIIT, which focused on education and consulting, I began developing courseware on UNIX and databases and later taught them nationwide. I finally started consulting on client/servers and on databases such as Oracle and Sybase. Following that I worked at HCL America where I was a consultant in the open systems area until I accepted my present position, where I have been working mainly on Oracle, Informix, and Sybase on UNIX and Windows NT environments. I have been mainly involved in benchmarking, performance and tuning, migrations, and capacity planning. I have also had the opportunity to run the fastest TPC-B benchmark and do a 2 terabyte Oracle benchmark.

This book is intended for readers with some knowledge of Oracle and a basic understanding of an operating system, such as Windows NT or UNIX. You can either go through the book in sequence, or choose any one of the chapters that might interest you. Each chapter includes a Quick Reference table at the beginning to help you locate the appropriate topic.

Unlike other books, all of the scripts in this book have been tested on a production release of the Oracle database, thus ensuring their quality. They were tested on Oracle 8.0.5 and Oracle 8.1.5 production releases.

DESCRIPTION

Databases are growing larger, and the use of distributed databases is on the rise. Oracle8i Database Administration addresses some of the most common yet complex issues that are faced by DBAs around the world.

Oracle has the largest market share in Database Management software and is the world's second largest software company. This book is designed for for Oracle Database administrators and others who are involved in planning, programming, administration, and implementation of Oracle8 Databases.

Although this book targets intermediate and advanced database administrators, it can also be an invaluable resource to entry-level DBAs, designers and developers, project managers, system administrators, data warehousing professionals or anyone interested in Oracle.

Oracle8i Database Administration uses a Q&A approach that provides in-depth technical solutions. The questions in this book have been compiled from many sources including Oracle forums, the Internet, and the author's personal experiences. The book also examines features that are new in Oracle8.

Translation rights for Oracle8i Database Administration have been granted for Brazil, Italy, and India. If you are interested in learning where to buy this book in a language other than English, please inquire at your local bookseller.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK...

"...it is much better than any Oracle Press book I've ever read. The answers are great at being very detailed...most of them go step-by-step through how to do something...unlike my experiences with the Oracle Press book. I highly recommend this to anyone who deals with Oracle on a regular basis."
--Billy Barron, Delphi Consultants, for JavaMUG

WHAT THE READERS SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK...

"The author has taken a radical new approach with this book, in that the solutions offered are taken from actual questions/problems faced by Oracle DBAs. The scripts included in the book make for compelling reading as well, and show practical solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing the Oracle DBA. Not just another techni-cal manual, but a real hands-on wealth of solutions. Great book!"
--Adrian Booth, Amazon.com Customer

"This book is outstanding! It provides factual information—posing a typical problem a DBA runs into and most importantly shows you how to solve this problem. I would highly recommend this book."
--Veronica Veroulis, Amazon.com Customer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

Noel Yuhanna is a Senior Database Consultant in a large multinational Corporation. He has over 15 years of experience in Oracle, Informix and Sybase databases. He has worked on very large, terabyte-sized databases and has helped several companies in database installation, capacity planning, performance, and tuning.