Oracle on Windows - O'Reilly Media

I love O'Reilly books. I've taught myself Perl, Unix, VI, and Oracle with your books.

I just took a new job and now I have to learn Oracle on Windows. So I go to find an O'Reilly book to help me, only to discover O'Reilly does not have any Oracle books for Windows.

Thanks for writing in with your question. I'm one of two editors here at O'Reilly who focus on Oracle titles. We've asked ourselves the same question several times: Why don't we publish a book about Oracle on Windows? We've also wondered many times about Oracle on Linux.

Every time we consider a platform-specific book on Oracle, we struggle with the fact that once you get past the initial installation and configuration, Oracle is pretty much the same across all platforms. Oracle does a very good job at insulating you from the underlying operating-system. In fact, one author we know considers Oracle to be the ultimate cross-platform development environment.

Some years back, I picked up a copy of an Oracle on Windows title from another publisher. As I leafed through the book, I discovered that much of it was really an "Introduction to Oracle" disguised as an Oracle on Windows title. The authors tended to show the use of the Enterprise Manager GUI (which ran on Windows) rather than SQL statements to create and manage database objects, and I do recall one chapter on Windows-specific tuning issues, but otherwise the book was nothing more than a tutorial in disguise. That's not the type of Oracle book I want O'Reilly to publish.

If there really is a good Oracle on Windows book to be written, or perhaps Oracle on Linux would be a better choice today, I wish someone would propose it. I have yet to see a good vision for a platform-specific Oracle title that doesn't rehash many of Oracle's platform-independent features. We're certainly open to publishing an Oracle on Windows (or on Linux) book, so long as the content lives up to the promise in its title.

Thanks again for writing in with your question. I'll be in touch to ask more about what you're doing. Perhaps I can recommend some useful books after all. Let me also point you to Jared Still's Oracle-L email list. It's one of the best places I know to post questions about Oracle (even on Windows!) and get answers. To subscribe, send an email to ListGuru@fatcity.com with the words SUBSCRIBE ORACLE-L in the message body. Fair warning: it's a high-volume list.

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Showing messages 1 through 11 of 11.

Oracle on Windows book
2003-11-23 05:14:30 2304 [Reply | View]

Jonathan,

Oracle is pretty much the same on all platforms. However I had some trouble with:

1. Windows OS limits (e.g. 4 GB file size limit with W2K Workstation)
2. oradim to create services
3. OS monitoring (perfmon vs. sar)
4. perl and shell scripts (I had to lern perl win32, �)
5. MS-Cluster

I don�t know if that enough for a book.

Regards Richard

Oracle on Windows book
2003-12-09 21:11:43 mhthomas [Reply | View]

Johnathon, et al.,

Resist being assimilated by MS. :-)

I wrote instructions (unpublished) for Oracle 9.2.0.4 on RH9 that take less than three hours to complete (guaranteed). E.g.,

Step 1: Insert first RH9 LINUX install CDROM.
...
Final Step: Log in iSQL*Plus over SSL from any browser client, as scott/tiger.

Why would you wish to use windows, anyway? Richard only begins to explain the trouble with windows, in my opinion.

PS: My 'really old' installation instructions web site was referenced on page 359 of O'Reilly's, Oracle & Open Source by Duncan and Hull. The new instructions are much better.

Good luck.

Oracle on Windows book
2003-12-10 05:47:14 Jonathan Gennick | [Reply | View]

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.

Oracle on Windows book
2003-12-11 09:34:33 mhthomas [Reply | 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.

Oracle on Windows book
2003-12-11 10:32:12 mhthomas [Reply | 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
2003-12-11 11:08:06 Jonathan Gennick | [Reply | View]

Thanks. This is some useful feedback. I appreciate it.

Oracle on Windows book
2004-05-19 07:49:25 henrik_m [Reply | View]

Agreed

Henrik

Oracle on Windows book
2004-01-01 15:18:24 drak [Reply | 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
2004-01-01 16:29:22 Jonathan Gennick | [Reply | 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
2004-01-14 09:43:21 anonymous2 [Reply | 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.

great Oracle on Windows book
2003-11-23 17:44:24 vainst1k [Reply | View]

title: Oracle9i for Windows(R) 2000 Tips & Techniques

authors: Scott Jesse, Matthew Hart, Mike Sale, Michael Mueller (Illustrator), Michael P. Sale ...these are Oracle Support's top Windows people

ISBN: 0072194626

this is really, really good. Explains everything about oradim (a Windows-only instance config utility), TAF (a Windows-only HA option), the essential capactity to use > 2 GB of RAM on Windows, the interesting (but ultimately performace-wise worthless) capactity to use > 4GB of RAM on Windows, all kindsa stuff. Buy that.