Article:		Oracle on Windows
Subject:		Oracle on Windows book
Date:		2003-12-10 05:47:14
From:		gennick
Response to: Oracle on Windows book
DBA's don't always have the luxery of choosing their platform. Read the original post. The platform choice, Windows in this case, was made long before Chad came on the scene. There may even be some very good reasons why his company chose to use Windows. Whatever the case, he has to deal with the environment that's in place, and it's unlikely he can change it on a whim.

Showing messages 1 through 7 of 7.

• Oracle on Windows book
  2003-12-11 10:32:12  mhthomas [View]
  
  
  I think that O'Reilly has some of the best books available on Oracle. There is a need for a good book on Oracle on Windows, especially for Microsoft's servers, e.g. W2K AS, W2003 all versions, etc.
  
  The approach for this type of book would be interesting because it could focus on Oracle's requirements, from the perspective of what Oracle needs on a server, e.g. cpu, disk, memory, network, backup/recovery, or the perspective could focus on configuring a Windows server (MCSE like) with the MS features (AD, disk management, etc) useful to an Oracle server.
  
  I think both perspectives would be a lot for one book, but that would make a very interesting book.
  
  There are some interesting books already available with a host of 'tricks' for operating Oracle on Microsoft Windows. Some of the issues Richard mentioned are covered in this book:
  http://www.bookpool.com/.x/qpe3x64p6i/sm/0972751351
  
  Good luck.
  
• Oracle on Windows book
  2004-01-01 15:18:24  drak [View]
  
  
  O'Reilly did publish the following:
  
  Unix for Oracle DBAs
  http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/unixoracledbapr/
  
  So it perceived enough of a demand for Oracle DBAs to know enough about a *nix OS to purchase a mini-book.
  Start with the outline for that text.
  Add the mini-book "Oracle DBA Checklist".
  Add some sections from the mini-book on "Windows 2000 Commands Reference". Include use of utilities from the SysInternals website (like the Sale, Hart & Jesse text). Provide useful scripts that leverage the command line.
  Add a security section. This may be a problem, as O'Reilly doesn't have any *recent* texts on Oracle Security. This could actually help fill a hole in their lineup. Interesting. Get Pete Finnegan as a co-author. His text on Oracle Security from SANS press is excellent as an outline, but is limited in step-by-step methodology as to howto accomplish the objectives.
  Add in a section on configuring RAID 10 (skip RAID 5 entirely) volumes for direct attached storage, and mention a simple case of datafiles being stored on a single SAN mountpoint, backup sets being stored on a NAS.
  Add in a section covering shared server configuration for use with VPNs (sound familiar, Jonathan? :) ).
  Provide OS-specific scripts for hot backups and cloning, pruning or archived logs, including compression.
  Add a section on filesystem permissions configuration, such that the local or network backup jobs cannot possibly crash an active instance by locking files, simply because it does not have the permissions to do so.
  
  Call it "Effective System Administration for Oracle on Windows".
  
  
  IMHO, enough material on administering Oracle on Windows already exists in articles, papers and presentations available via the web. The question is, would there be enough demand for a single source text to cover windows administration in detail - and not covering OEM and non-platform specific items.
  
  I haven't attended an IOUG conference since April 2001, but at that conference an author presented on the topic of Oracle on Windows. You might find that by perusing various Oracle User groups websites that you may come across papers that cover this topic. I haven't belonged to IOUG for several years, and registration is required to access their articles.
  
  OTN and Metalink have docs that cover some windows-specific issues, but they tend to not be comprehensive.
  
  I did purchase the book by Hart, Sale and Jesse mentioned above. I did consider it to be too heavily into OEM, but very useful.
  
  this subject has appeared on comp.databases.oracle .server, and one frequent poster did mention the possibility of presenting on this topic at some upcoming relatively large Oracle User Group - it may have been UKOUG. I haven't seen his presentation or paper.
  
  Why I would want to buy such a text, is if it covered advanced topics like integrating MS Active Directory with OID (this being a frequent topic on the ORACLE-L list) in Standard Edition, not Enterprise Edition. But then its no longer catering to the beginner/intermediate audience.
  
  If it included a step-by-step checklist for securing the operating system (e.g. applying a security template from cis.org), scripts for performing backups (exp, hot, cold, arch and rman) with compression, scripts for grooming database alert and listener logs (on a mini-CDROM, perhaps?) and OS event logs, scripted non-managed standby database management, procedures for (remote) disaster recovery of databases - it might have enough appeal to hit a decent-sized audience as an advanced administration text. The theme could be "automation of administration so that you can move on to higher valued tasks that won't be outsourced".
  
  
  Ok, I'll admit that I've presented on some of those topics at several Oracle User Groups and have prepared a paper for internal consumption by my employer for Oracle 8.1.7. I haven't updated it for 9.2.
  
  The main problem that I see is that one book can't do it all. Some basic OS administration knowledge must be presumed for the book to not become just a windows administration beginner's guide, or network administration beginner's guide. So deciding exactly what to incorporate into such a book would be difficult.
  
  With the advent of the $5995 Oracle Standard One Edition license, there may be an increase in the demand for Oracle on Windows texts in the beginner to intermediate range. But if the text is targeted at that range, it will likely not be interesting to someone that already has Oracle DBA experience on *nix, but is now saddled with Oracle on win32 databases.
  
  To quote Jared Still off of the ORACLE-L list, "Just learn PERL".
  The most simple way to manage operating system specific issues may be to leverage a cross-platform tool to do it, and use the same tools on win32 as one would use on *nix.
  If learning PERL was that easy, I should have done it already, and not struggled at the win32 command line.
  But PERL won't cover everything.
  
  Jonathan, if you do decide to publish such a text, I'd be interested in reviewing it.
  
  Paul
  
• Oracle on Windows book
  2004-01-14 09:43:21  anonymous2 [View]
  
  
  Ok, I'll admit that I've presented on some of those topics at several Oracle User Groups and have prepared a paper for internal consumption by my employer for Oracle 8.1.7. I haven't updated it for 9.2.
  
• Oracle on Windows book
  2004-01-01 16:29:22  Jonathan Gennick | [View]
  
  
  Paul, would you shoot me an email, so I can get in touch with you? I'm at: jgennick@oreilly.com. Thanks.
• Oracle on Windows book
  2003-12-11 11:08:06  Jonathan Gennick | [View]
  
  
  Thanks. This is some useful feedback. I appreciate it.
• Oracle on Windows book
  2004-05-19 07:49:25  henrik_m [View]
  
  
  Agreed
  
  Henrik

• Oracle on Windows book
  2003-12-11 09:34:33  mhthomas [View]
  
  
  I agree we are often told what platform to use, e.g. and unknown version of Windows in this case.
  
  I hoped to amplify the comments of Richard by suggesting LINUX because its not really hard to setup, contrary to common opinion, FUD, 'the experts', etc., and does not cost anything for a LINUX license.
  
  I don't think we can assume anything about Chad's environment from his post. I might have been more serious about my post if Chad had mentioned what version, workstation or server, of Windows, e.g. 98, XP, NT4, W2K Server/AS, W2003/32, W2003/64, etc..
  
  Sorry if I offended anyone.