Oracle DBA Reference Library

The complete professional's resource for building, managing, and optimizing Oracle databases!

Oracle DBA Reference Library is an unparalleled practical resource for DBAs, database programmers, IT managers, and anyone who needs to make the most of Oracle database technology. It's three comprehensive, up-to-date books by world-class Oracle professionals, plus three CD-ROMs packed with tools and information, all for one great price!

Oracle and UNIX Performance Tuning shows exactly how to maximize Oracle performance by systematically tuning both the database and the underlying UNIX system. It reviews important UNIX kernel performance issues, and introduces fundamental techniques for tuning memory, processors, I/O, and SQL. You'll find new, detailed recommendations for tuning both decision support and transaction applications. The CD-ROM includes shell scripts for Solaris'®, HP-UX™, and Sequent platforms, a performance monitor, Oracle scripts, a parameter reference, and extensive Oracle white papers on tuning and performance.

Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning is the first Oracle tuning guide to focus on SQL code, the #1 reason Oracle applications perform below potential. Learn general SQL tuning guidelines, techniques for choosing execution plans, working with joins, searching for nulls and ranges, building indexes, and tracing execution. Discover how to use Oracle's parallel query facility for large-volume queries, and when to use PL/SQL. Review real-world examples of poorly tuned SQL, learn how to fix it, and benchmark the results on a wide range of hardware, from UNIX SMP hosts to laptops. The CD-ROM contains acomplete freeware Tuning Toolkit; plus trial versions of the SQLab tuning environment, Precise/SQL tuning suite, SQL Navigator development environment, and Personal Oracle for Windows.

Oracle Database Administration for UNIX Systems is a concise Oracle administration guide for UNIX platforms, ideal for DBAs at all levels of experience. It includes step-by-step installation and configuration instructions and a detailed overview of the Oracle architecture. It covers migration, upgrades, networking, security, data integrity, backup, recovery, and security; tuning, capacity planning, GUI tools, SQL, and more. You'll find specific tips for Oracle client/server environments and insight into Oracle's next-generation DBMS, Oracle8. The CD-ROM includes the powerful databaisition Process is not an isolated process that is limited solely to buying-task-related activities (e.g., issue RFP, review responses, choose the least expensive system, sign contract, issue P.O., take delivery). Rather, its scope is quite broad and complex. In addition to the actual buying task, the Acquisition process involves many people, addresses numerous and varied enterprise-wide issues, depends on several key factors, and lays the foundation upon which the ES's subsequent implementation rests. While some evidence of the success of the process is apparent by the end of the Acquisition process (satisfaction with and user buy-in of the final choice of ES, for example), final judgement on the success or failure of the process will only be rendered when the ES is in the midst of implementation and subsequent to that, rolled out into production. With the weight, then, of these consequences and their far-reaching effects, it is easy to see that a great deal depends on the quality and rigor with which the ES Acquisition Process is carried out.

Whether this book is looked upon as a "how to guide" or as a "starting point" for the buying process, it should help to reduce some of the uncertainty that is associated with these types of buying decisions. Unfortunately, for some who would have wished otherwise and were hoping to find it in this book, we do not advocate any particular packaged ES solution. That is not the intent of this book. While some would have wanted us to render our endorsement of certain tier-1 or tier-2 solutions as the best ones out there, we have purposefully refrained from doing so. We firmly believe that no one is in a position to advocate one solution over another, regardless of the claims in the marketplace. It would also be a highly evident about-face from the stance that we have taken in our book. Throughout the text, we return again and again to the position that an organization needs to choose a packaged ES solution based on its needs. Put another way, the organization will need to appropriately match its needs with the capabilities of the software. Finding the right fit is critical. So while the claims and marketing hype might spout "We're #1," it might in fact be #2 or #3 or #4, and so forth, that would be best suited to your organization's needs. But, who are we to say? We don't know your organization. Hence, if we were to endorse any one or only a few vendors, it would not only be contradictory to what we are advocating, but it would also be a disservice to the organizations that would have purchased a specific ES based on our recommendation. That is just the opposite of the service that we are trying to provide here.

This book has been written for a wide range of business professionals who are or will in some way be involved with ES:

1. For the business executives and senior decision makers who are or will be in the market for ES, whether for small, medium, or large-size companies, including:
   • CIOs
   • VPs of IT
   • IS/IT Directors and Managers
   • Department Managers
   • Project Managers
2. For the consultants, industry analysts, software vendors and their staff who are in some way connected with the sales of ES, as it provides an inside look into the buying cycle and the "contortions" that organizations go through when buying this type of technology.
3. For curricula either at the College or University level in Marketing, Information Systems/Technology, and Project Management.

We have been told that this book is a veritable treasure trove of information that will enable readers to grasp the complexities associated with buying these types of systems. We have enjoyed putting it together and we offer it to you in the hope that it will serve you well.

AcknowledgmentsHaving begun this book at the tail end of Jacques' dissertation, we were coasting on fumes of exhaustion. Our gratitude, therefore, goes to our editor at Prentice Hall, Tim Moore, for his encouragement to "just have fun" with the book and let our personalities show through. His advice became our much-needed second wind that enabled us to complete our book in a timely manner. We would like to express our thanks to Dr. David A. Spuler for his review of our initial manuscript. His comments and suggestions were greatly appreciated and helped to spur us on to digging out more "gems" for the book.Our thanks also go to the organizations that agreed to participate in the research project. The knowledge that was gained as a result of the cases helped to substantiate our own beliefs about the Enterprise Software (ES) Acquisition Process. Thanks are also extended to the many people behind the scenes at Prentice Hall who were involved in bringing our book to market. Our thanks and appreciation also go to Becky Norlin, Renee Johnson, and the child care providers at MTU Little Huskies in Houghton, MI. They provided such good daycare for our infant daughter, Genevieve, that we were able to work worry-free on our manuscript.Our thanks and kisses go to our baby daughter, Genevieve, for being such an adorable distraction to the stress and constraints inherent with trying to bring a book to press. We would also like to acknowledge each other's strengths and contributions. This book represents a veritable team effort between us, truly a coming together of minds, to the point where it is hard to distinguish where the input of one of us ends and the other begins. The spirit of oneness from which this book was conceived is a testament to our unity as a couple, our belief in and our commitment to each other, and our partnership in life and in love. Last but not least, our deepest gratitude must be extended to that greatest of all Sources that fed us and inspired us when we had no more left to give. Thank you, Father.