I've worked on Oracle before, but I certainly wished I had this handy
book back then. It helped that I had an Oracle project to work on so I
could apply what I read. It was also helpful using the book as a
reference to troubleshoot during my project.
Assuming the reader has a solid understanding of database principles,
this text is a great tool to have handy in your shop. The focus of the
book is squarely on Oracle 7 and 8. Those looking for help with 8i and
above need to look elsewhere.
The book is a great companion to Oracle’s Metalink site and is not
intended on replacing any existing references. Any Oracle
troubleshooting should start with this companion to get a general
understanding of the issue with followup requiring other resources. In
terms of troubleshooting, I doubt many will find solutions in this text,
however it will provide some background and insight into most issues.
The text is written in a concise manner and does a good job in
explaining the many Oracle tools without being too wordy. An area I
found sorely lacking was the installation chapter which glossed over
options and made assumptions that did not always apply to real-world
situations. However to be fair, an accurate coverage of Oracle
installations and all the pitfalls would probably take several books.
The first part of the book serves it’s purpose in getting anyone with
some DBA knowledge up and running on Oracle. Practice is vital to
understanding the concepts explained in this section. I highly
recommend executing the queries and peeking into the INIT.ORA files when
necessary or else most of the concepts will escape you.
The second part of the book consists of DBA Reference chapters.
Particularly valuable is the SQL syntax and Oracle Data Dictionary
chapters. Again, very concise and does a good job of explaining the
subject without being confusing.
All in all, a useful book to have around, especially for those
supporting older Oracle installations. Relies heavily on other
resources, although it does help in navigating the Oracle course.
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Steve Rodolfich is a Software Developer / Systems Administrator for FGM,
Inc. [http://www.fgm.com] Steve has a BBA in Management Information
Systems and MBA from the University of Hawaii. He works with various
technogies developing 3-tier architecture solutions. The three greatest
joys in his life is his wife, daughter, and TiVo. Steve can be reached
at stever@fgm.com
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