The Oracle database is one of the most popular in the world, and for good reason. It's compatible, scalable, portable, and capable of performing incredibly fast. The advantages Oracle holds over its competition come with a price, however--it's a highly complex database that's becoming more complex with every release. And this level of detail, of course, can begin to weigh on database administrators (DBAs). Fortunately, the Oracle DBA Pocket Guide from O'Reilly is on the case. This handy reference is designed to help administrators make more effective use of their time by presenting a compact summary of DBA tasks in an easy-to-use form. With this book by your side, you'll have instant access to the most important concepts, best practices, tips, and checklists. Key topics include architecture, installation, configuration, tuning, and backup/recovery. Everything that you absolutely must know to do your job well is right there at your fingertips. Moreover, the Oracle DBA Pocket Guide covers Oracle Database 9i, as well as its latest release, Oracle Database 10g. The first database designed for enterprising grid computing, Oracle Database 10g significantly reduces the cost of managing the IT environment with a simplified install, reduced configuration and management requirements, and automatic performance diagnosis and SQL tuning. The latest in O'Reilly's line of bestselling Oracle titles, this book is an invaluable companion for any database administrator--new or experienced--interested in reviewing core Oracle concepts at a glance.

Oracle designed its database products to be flexible and configurable so they would operate on a variety of hardware platforms, and they succeeded--Oracle software runs on more than seventy computer platforms, from mainframes to PC networks to handheld PDAs. The secret to this flexibility lies in the software's initialization parameters, whose numerous settings can be configured for top performance in countless environments. On the downside, however, improper settings can slow a system down; even grind it to a halt. And with so many parameters--which change from version to version of Oracle software--it's challenging for Oracle administrators to keep in mind the characteristics and optimal settings for each parameter.The Oracle Initialization Parameters Pocket Reference provides the crucial information you need to make key adjustments to your Oracle database. This concise guide is a mix of invaluable performance tips and a quick reference to Oracle's initialization parameters. The book describes each initialization parameter, indicates what category it's in--from auditing to multi-threaded server MTS--and whether it can be modified dynamically via the ALTER SESSION or ALTER SYSTEM command.In addition to the details about parameter characteristics and settings, you'll find performance tips, such as how the various parameters interact, and what the most advantageous settings are for different configurations. No other reference focuses exclusively on these initialization parameters--an absolute must for anyone working with an Oracle database.Presented in a handy, easy-to-use format, the Oracle Initialization Parameters Pocket Reference is a welcome alternative for anyone who's struggled to memorize the best configuration settings or gone back and forth to online resources, trying to figure out what works. O'Reilly's Pocket References put the information you need close at hand where you need it most. This guide will keep your Oracle databases operating at peak performance.

If you work with Oracle, then you don't need to be told that the data dictionary is large and complex, and grows larger with each new Oracle release. It's one of the basic elements of the Oracle database you interact with regularly, but the sheer number of tables and views makes it difficult to remember which view you need, much less the name of the specific column. Want to make it simpler? The Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference puts all the information you need right at your fingertips. Its handy and compact format lets you locate the table and view you need effortlessly without stopping to interrupt your work Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference gives DBAs and developers at any level quick and easy access to the data dictionary in Oracle's latest database, Oracle9i. This pocket-sized book provides a complete list of the most commonly used tables and views in the Oracle9i data dictionary, intelligently arranged for quick reference. It also includes column names and descriptions for each of the tables and views, as well as helpful tips, warnings, and usage examples.O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among developers and database administrators everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and want to check your facts quickly, the Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference is the book to have close by.

Introduced a quarter-century ago, the Oracle database remains the leading enterprise relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world. Oracle is a complex system, offering a myriad of products, languages, and tools. Frequent updates, releases, and editions complicate the ability of Oracle users to keep up with the huge amounts of frequently changing information about the database and its capabilities.The goal of Oracle in a Nutshell is to pull together the most essential information on Oracle architecture, syntax, and user interfaces. The content and format of this book, an admirable addition to O'Reilly's respected In-a-Nutshell line, combine to boil down vital Oracle commands, language constructs, parameters, and file formats in a succinct and highly accessible desktop reference. Oracle in a Nutshell covers the information that database administrators PL/SQL and Java developers, and system, network, and security administrators need as they manage Oracle databases and write code for these databases. It includes: Oracle Foundations--Overview of the Oracle architecture (memory structures and fundamental concepts), Oracle's various editions and packaging options, summary of the initialization file parameters and data dictionary views, and fundamentals of Oracle's concurrency scheme, security mechanisms (privileges, profiles, roles), and networking files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, DAP.ORA, NAMES.ORA, CMAN.ORA) and options. Oracle Languages--Syntax summary for SQL language statements, SQL function calls PL/SQL language statements and characteristics, PL/SQL built-in package headers, and Java (JDBC and SQLJ) interfaces to the Oracle database. Oracle Tools--Commands provided with SQLPlus, SQLLoader, Import and Export, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and other backup/recovery methods, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and various performance tuning tools (Explain Plan, TKPROF, AUTOTRACE, UTLBSTAT, UTLESTAT, Statspack). Appendixes--Summary of Oracle datatypes, operators, expressions, conditions, numeric and date formats, and resources for additional reading.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the heart of a relational database management system. It's the language used to query the database, to create new tables in the database, to update and delete database fields, and to set privileges in the database. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference is for everyone who needs to access an Oracle database using SQL--developers, DBAs, designers, and managers. SQL is based on research dating back to the late 1960s, but its first commercial release was in the RDBMS announced by the fledgling Oracle Corporation in 1979. Since that time, every other database vendor has adopted SQL, and ANSI and the ISO have made it a standard. Although vendors diverge in their extensions to SQL, the core language is standard across vendor boundaries. Despite SQL's long history and relative simplicity, few developers and database administrators are truly masters of SQL. The constant stream of vendor enhancements, the hard-won experience in tuning SQL for best performance, and the requirements of particular operational environments mean that there is always more to learn about SQL. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference delivers all the information needed to keep ahead of the learning curve on standard SQL and Oracle's extensions to it. This single, concise reference volume will hold its own against a stack of Oracle manuals and even yield insights and examples not available in those manuals. There are chapters on basic SQL elements (naming requirements, column types, pseudo-types, data conversion rules, operators); Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML); common language elements (constraints, storage clause, predicates); SQL functions; PL/SQL (including procedures, functions, and packages); SQL*Plus, and Oracle SQL optimization and tuning. The book covers Oracle 8 i, release 8.1.6.

Visit the catalog page for Oracle Database Administration: The Essential RefeVisit the errata page for Oracle Database Administration: The Essential RefeDownload the supplemental electronic content for Oracle Database Administration: The Essential Refe Oracle database administration requires a vast amount of information and an ability to perform a myriad of tasks--from installation to tuning to network troubleshooting to overall daily administration. Oracle provides many tools for performing these tasks; the trick is knowing what tool is right for the job, what commands you need to issue (and when), and what parameters and privileges you need to set. And, as every DBA knows, you need to know how do all this under pressure, while you face crisis after crisis. This book provides a concise reference to the enormous store of information an Oracle DBA needs every day (as well as what's needed only when disaster strikes). It's crammed full of quick-reference tables, task lists, and other summary material that both novice and expert DBAs will use time and time again. It covers the commands and operations new to Oracle8, but also provides Oracle7 information for sites still running earlier versions. Oracle Database Administration provides two types of material: DBA tasks--chapters summarizing how to perform critical DBA functions: installation, performance tuning, preventing data loss, networking, security and monitoring, auditing, query optimization, and the use of various Oracle tools and utilities DBA reference--chapters providing a quick reference to the Oracle instance and database, the initialization (INIT.ORA) parameters, the SQL statements commonly used by DBAs, the data dictionary tables, the system privileges and roles, and the SQLPlus, Export, Import, and SQLLoader syntax The book also includes a resource summary with references to additional books, Web sites, and other online and offline resources of special use to Oracle DBAs. Oracle Database Administration is the single essential reference you'll turn to again and again. If you must choose only one book to use at the office, keep at home, or carry to a site you're troubleshooting, this will be that book.