Sams Oracle DBA Survival Guide Oct 1995 ISBN 0672306816 pdf
C ONTENTS
Joseph B. Greene ORACLE DBA
®
SURVIVAL GUIDE
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE I came into this world knowing nothing. Therefore, this book is dedicated to all the people along the way who took the time to teach me something.
T ECHNICAL R EVIEWER Byron Pearce Mark Gokman
Dean Miller M ANAGING E DITOR
Cindy Morrow
M ARKETING M ANAGERRichard K. Swadley A CQUISITIONS M ANAGER
Greg Wiegand
D EVELOPMENT M ANAGERI N D E X E R Cheryl Dietsch P RESIDENT AND P UBLISHER
P R O O F R E A D I N G Nancy Price Brian-Kent Proffitt Erich Richter Susan D. Van Ness Paul Wilson
P AGE L AYOUT Louisa Klucznik Brian-Kent Proffitt Tina Trettin Susan Van Ness
P RODUCT ION T EAM S U P E R V I S O R Brad Chinn
B OOK D ESIGNER Alyssa Yesh
C OVER D ESIGN ER Tim Amrhein
F O R M A T T E R Frank Sinclair
T ECHNICAL E DIT C O O R D I N A T O R Lynette Quinn
E D I TO RI AL C O O RDI N ATO R Bill Whitmer
P RO D UCT IO N E D I TO R Nancy Albright
C
S OFT WARE D EVELOPMEN T S P E C I A L I S T Steve Flatt
D EVELOP MENT E DI TOR Todd Bumbalough
A CQUIS ITI ON S E DIT OR Rosemarie Graham
FIRST EDITION All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. For information, address Sams Publishing, 201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290. International Standard Book Number: 0-672-30681-6 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-67649 98 97 96 95 4 3 2 1 Interpretation of the printing code: the rightmost double-digit number is the year of the book’s printing; the rightmost single-digit, the number of the book’s printing. For example, a printing code of 95-1 shows that the first printing of the book occurred in 1995. Composed in New Century Schoolbook and MCPdigital by Macmillan Computer Publishing Printed in the United States of America All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
UBLISHING
P
AMS
S
BY
© 1995
OPYRIGHT
Gregg Bushyeager
C ONTENTS Overview
3
13
43
55
75
97
109
123
137
153
171
191
205
223
251
16 Choosing Products and the Environment for Your Oracle Database 261
17 Planning an Oracle Installation 277
18 Oracle Installations 295
19 Planning an Oracle Upgrade 311
20 Oracle Upgrades 321
P ART
IV D EVELOPING A D ATABASE A DMINISTRATION S CHEME
21 The Database Administration Scheme 329
22 Laying Out a Database 339
23 A Routine Maintenance Schedule 351
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE P ART
P ART
38 Troubleshooting Checklist 585
P ART
VIII S UPPORTING U SERS AND D EVELOPERS
39 Sound Database Object Design 593
40 Query Optimization 611
41 Keeping Current as a DBA 629
IX A DVANCED O RACLE T ECHNICAL F EATURES
36 Instance and Application Crashes 563
42 Rollback Segments 641
43 L oc ks 649
44 Parallel Processing Options 655
45 Packages, Procedures, and Triggers 663
46 Client-Server and Networking 673
47 Where To Next? 681
37 When the Database Is Too Slow 575
35 Space Problems 547
V T HE D AILY R OUTINE
S H EALTH
25 The “Typical” Day 383
26 User Account Maintenance 393
27 Tablespace Maintenance 409
28 Table and Index Maintenance 423
P ART
VI M ONITORING THE
D
ATABASE ’29 The Health of a Database 447
34 When Problems Occur 531
30 Routine Monitoring 457
31 Auditing 479
32 Tuning the Database 495
33 Looking Toward the Future 517
P ART
VII D EALING WITH P ROBLEMS
48 Oracle Workgroup Server and Oracle 7.2 687
C ONTENTS A PPENDIXES
A SQL Commands 695
B Glossary of Terms 701
C SQL*Plus Features 705
D SQL*DBA Features 711
E SQL*Loaders 715
F Import and Export 719
G Where to Get More Information 725 H Sample System Configuration Analyses 727
I The Disk Contents 731
Index 737
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE Contents
Introduction xviii
I T J O DBA
1
ART HE OB OF THE RACLE P
1 The World of a Database Administrator
3 The Concept of a Database Administrator ............................................ 7 Variety of Responsibilities ..................................................................... 8 Summary .............................................................................................. 11
2 The Database Administrator’s Job Description
13 Types of Database Administrator........................................................ 15 The Full-Time Database Administrator ......................................... 18 Developers Acting as Database Administrators............................. 23 Scientists, Engineers, and Other Users as DBAs .......................... 28
Database Administrator Tasks ............................................................ 32 Is the Database Secure Enough? ..................................................... 33 Does the Database Perform Well Enough? ..................................... 35 Is the Data Accurate? ...................................................................... 37 Is the Data Stored in a Logical and Accessible Manner? .............. 37
Interfacing with System Administrators and Other Support Staff ... 37 Understanding the Application Needs ................................................ 39 Summary .............................................................................................. 42
3 History and Development of Databases and Oracle
43 Computerized Data Storage ................................................................ 44 The First Databases ............................................................................. 46 Relational Databases ........................................................................... 48 Oracle’s History .................................................................................... 50 The Current Database Market ............................................................ 51 What Next? ........................................................................................... 52 Summary .............................................................................................. 53
4 Oracle and Its Environments
55 What Is Oracle? .................................................................................... 56 Alternative Architectures .................................................................... 57 Oracle Development Tools Versus the Database ................................ 61 Oracle Utilities ..................................................................................... 63 Third-Party Products ........................................................................... 66 Assembling the Parts into an Architecture ........................................ 69 Summary .............................................................................................. 73
C ONTENTS
5 The Tools of the Trade
75 The Basics: SQL*DBA .......................................................................... 78 The Next Generation: Oracle Server Manager ................................... 81 Personal Oracle7 for Microsoft Windows ............................................ 82 The Command-Line Interface: SQL*Plus ........................................... 88 Import and Export ................................................................................ 90 Loading Data from External Systems: SQL*Loader .......................... 91 Third-Party Products ........................................................................... 93 Locally Developed Tools ....................................................................... 93 Summary .............................................................................................. 93
II U H O W
95
ART NDERSTANDING OW RACLE ORKS P
6 How the Oracle RDBMS Works
97 Overview ............................................................................................... 98 The Oracle Processes.......................................................................... 101 Memory and Speed ............................................................................. 102 Disk Storage ....................................................................................... 104 Multiprocessing and Microsoft Windows Configurations ................ 106 Summary ............................................................................................ 107
7 Oracle Memory Structures 109 Overview ............................................................................................. 110 The System Global Area (SGA) ......................................................... 112 The Program Global Area (PGA) ....................................................... 117 User Work Spaces .............................................................................. 119 Summary ............................................................................................ 120
8 Oracle Files 123
File Locations ..................................................................................... 125 Data Files ........................................................................................... 127 Redo Log Files .................................................................................... 129 Archive Log Files ................................................................................ 131 Control Files ....................................................................................... 133 Initialization Files .............................................................................. 133 Log and Trace Files ............................................................................ 135 Summary ............................................................................................ 136
9 Oracle Processes 137
Overview ............................................................................................. 138 The System Monitor ........................................................................... 142 The Process Monitor ........................................................................... 144 The Database Writer .......................................................................... 144
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE
The Log Writer ................................................................................... 147 The Archiver ....................................................................................... 148 The Recoverer ..................................................................................... 148 The Lock Writer.................................................................................. 148 Dedicated Server Processes ............................................................... 149 Multi-Threaded Server Processes...................................................... 149 SQL*Net Listeners ............................................................................. 150 Parallel Query Processes ................................................................... 150 Oracle 7 for Microsoft Windows ......................................................... 151 Summary ............................................................................................ 151
10 Basic Oracle Database Objects 153 Overview of Storage and Access ........................................................ 154 Tables .................................................................................................. 159 Indexes ................................................................................................ 162 Views ................................................................................................... 164 Synonyms ............................................................................................ 166 Stored Procedures .............................................................................. 167 Clusters ............................................................................................... 168 Sequences ........................................................................................... 169 Summary ............................................................................................ 169
11 Oracle System Privileges 171 Overview of Oracle Privileges ............................................................ 172 Overview of System Privileges .......................................................... 176
The User Privileges ........................................................................ 178 The Developer Privileges ............................................................... 178 The “Any” Privileges ...................................................................... 180 The Database Maintenance Privileges ......................................... 185 The Monitoring Privilege ............................................................... 187
Typical Privilege Sets ......................................................................... 188 The “Any” Privilege Sets .................................................................... 189 Summary ............................................................................................ 190
12 Oracle Object Privileges 191 Overview ............................................................................................. 192 Object Privileges ................................................................................. 196 Using Dummy Object Owners ........................................................... 198 A Typical Privilege Scheme ............................................................... 199 Summary ............................................................................................ 203
13 Roles and Grants 205
Introduction to Grants ....................................................................... 206 Introduction to Roles (Version 7 Feature) ........................................ 209
C ONTENTS
A Typical Privilege Scheme ............................................................... 212 Use of Scripts to Capture Privilege Sets ........................................... 220 Summary ............................................................................................ 221
14 Backup and Recovery 223
The Importance of Backups ............................................................... 224 Overview of Oracle Backup Schemes ................................................ 225 Archive Log or No Archive Log .......................................................... 228 Cold Backups ...................................................................................... 229 Warm Backups ................................................................................... 236 Exports ................................................................................................ 238 Which Scheme to Choose ................................................................... 239 Rotating Backup Schemes ................................................................. 242 Automated Backup Schemes ............................................................. 245 What About Mirrored Disks? ............................................................. 247 Summary ............................................................................................ 248
P ART
III
I NSTALLING AND U PGRADING
THE O RACLE S OFTWARE 249
15 The Life Cycle of an Oracle Database 251 Product Selection ................................................................................ 254 Planning the Installation ................................................................... 255 Installation ......................................................................................... 256 When to Upgrade................................................................................ 257 Planning Upgrades ............................................................................. 258 Upgrading the Oracle Software ......................................................... 259 Summary ............................................................................................ 260
16 Choosing Products and the Environment 261 Getting All the Pieces......................................................................... 262 Host-Based and Server-Based Architectures.................................... 268 Client-Server Architectures ............................................................... 271 Dealing with Vendors ......................................................................... 274 Summary ............................................................................................ 276
17 Planning an Oracle Installation 277 Starting with Business Needs ........................................................... 279 The Installation and Configuration Guide ....................................... 281 The README File ............................................................................. 284 Oracle’s Recommended Layout .......................................................... 285 Calculating Data Space ...................................................................... 288 Memory Area Planning ...................................................................... 289 Process Planning ................................................................................ 289
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE
Developing Your Own Installation Plan ........................................... 290 Some Good Reviewers ........................................................................ 292 Summary ............................................................................................ 292
18 Oracle Installations 295
Overview ............................................................................................. 296 Starting with a System Backup ......................................................... 298 The Oracle Installer ........................................................................... 299 Installing the Oracle Application Software ...................................... 301 UNIX Installations ............................................................................. 303 Creating a Database with the Installer ............................................ 304 Dealing with Installation Problems .................................................. 305 Manually Creating a Database .......................................................... 307 Summary ............................................................................................ 309
19 Planning an Oracle Upgrade 311 Overview ............................................................................................. 312 Storing the New Software .................................................................. 314 The Importance of the README File ............................................... 314 Changes Needed in the Database ...................................................... 315 Other Factors to Consider .................................................................. 315 The Backout Plan ............................................................................... 317 Lining Up Support ............................................................................. 318 Summary ............................................................................................ 319
20 Oracle Upgrades 321
The Oracle Installer: To Use or Not? ................................................ 323 Another Backup Lecture .................................................................... 324 Loading and Linking the New Software ........................................... 324 Upgrading the Database .................................................................... 325 When Problems Occur ........................................................................ 325 Summary ............................................................................................ 326
P ART
IV D EVELOPING A D ATABASE A DMINISTRATION S CHEME 327
21 The Administration Scheme 329 What Is a DBA Scheme? .................................................................... 330 Technical Factors to Consider ........................................................... 333 Matching User Requirements ............................................................ 335 Preparing for the Future .................................................................... 336 Summary ............................................................................................ 338
22 Laying Out a Database 339 Overview ............................................................................................. 340 Data Files ........................................................................................... 341
C ONTENTS
Online Redo Log Files ........................................................................ 345 Archive Log Files ................................................................................ 346 The Configuration Process ................................................................. 346 Expansion of the Database ................................................................ 348 Summary ............................................................................................ 349
23 A Routine Maintenance Schedule 351 Overview ............................................................................................. 352 Starting with User and System Processing Schedules .................... 355 Types of Activities .............................................................................. 357 The Daily Schedule ............................................................................ 359 The Long-Term Schedule ................................................................... 360 Summary ............................................................................................ 361
24 Developing Scripts to Automate Tasks 363 Automation of DBA Tasks ................................................................. 365 SQL Scripts and System Scripts ....................................................... 367 Automatic Job Submission Utilities .................................................. 373 Developing and Testing Scripts ......................................................... 377 Monitoring the Results ...................................................................... 378 Summary ............................................................................................ 379
P ART
V T HE D AILY R OUTINE 381
25 The “Typical” Day 383
Scheduled Events ............................................................................... 386 Monitoring .......................................................................................... 386 User Support ...................................................................................... 387 Problems ............................................................................................. 388 If There Is Any Time Left .................................................................. 390 Summary ............................................................................................ 391
26 User Account Maintenance 393 User Maintenance and the Security Scheme .................................... 394 Using System Logon IDs for Access .................................................. 396 Adding New Users to the Database .................................................. 399 Changing User Access Rights ............................................................ 402 Deleting Users from the System ........................................................ 406 Temporarily Disabling Users............................................................. 407 Summary ............................................................................................ 408
27 Tablespace Maintenance 409 Care and Feeding of Tablespaces ...................................................... 410 Monitoring and Planning ................................................................... 416 Typical Problems and Their Solutions .............................................. 418
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE
28 Table and Index Maintenance 423 Care and Feeding of Tables and Indexes .......................................... 424 Monitoring Tables and Indexes ......................................................... 434 Typical Problems and Their Solutions .............................................. 436 Fragmentation .................................................................................... 442 Summary ............................................................................................ 443
VI M D ’ H 445
ART ONITORING THE ATABASE S EALTH P
29 The Health of a Database 447 What Is a “Healthy” Database? ......................................................... 448 Monitoring Programs ......................................................................... 451 Auditing .............................................................................................. 454 Tuning ................................................................................................. 455 Summary ............................................................................................ 455
30 Routine Monitoring 457
A Routine Monitoring Program ......................................................... 458 Scripts and Reports ............................................................................ 460
Utilization Monitoring ................................................................... 462 Tuning Monitoring ......................................................................... 465 Security Monitoring ....................................................................... 470 Configuration Monitoring .............................................................. 474
Third-Party Tools ............................................................................... 477 Summary ............................................................................................ 478
31 Auditing 479
Overview ............................................................................................. 480 Oracle Auditing Events ...................................................................... 483 Auditing and Performance ................................................................. 491 Auditing as Part of Security Monitoring ........................................... 491 Deciding What to Audit ..................................................................... 492 Summary ............................................................................................ 494
32 Tuning the Database 495
What Is Tuning? ................................................................................. 496 What Can You Control? ..................................................................... 498 Host Computer Indicators ................................................................. 504 Oracle Resource Contention .............................................................. 506 A Tuning Checklist ............................................................................. 513 Summary ............................................................................................ 514
33 Looking Toward the Future 517 Knowing Where the Database Is Going ............................................ 518 When More Is Needed ........................................................................ 522
C ONTENTS
Proving Your Case .............................................................................. 523 Summary ............................................................................................ 527
VII D P 529
ART EALING WITH ROBLEMS P
34 When Problems Occur 531
Routine Requests, Problems, and Real Problems ............................. 533 Classifying the Problem ..................................................................... 536 Resources to Identify the Problems ................................................... 539 Unknown Problems and Approaches ................................................ 541 Supporting Resources......................................................................... 542 The Ten Most Common Problems You’ll Face .................................. 543 Service Level Agreements .................................................................. 544 Summary ............................................................................................ 545
35 Space Problems 547
Identifying the True Problem ............................................................ 548 Cleaning Out Tablespaces ................................................................. 551 Expanding Tablespaces ...................................................................... 553 Compressing the Number of Extents ................................................ 555 Alternatives: Reducing Data Storage ................................................ 559 Keeping the Data Definition Language (DDL) ................................. 560 Summary ............................................................................................ 560
36 Instance and Application Crashes 563 Tracing the Problem ........................................................................... 564 Log Files Can Help ............................................................................. 566 Operating System Conflicts ............................................................... 569 Expanding Oracle Resources for Applications .................................. 570 Reducing Oracle Resources for Applications .................................... 571 When to Call Oracle ........................................................................... 571 Summary ............................................................................................ 573
37 When the Database Is Too Slow 575 When Is a Database Too Slow? .......................................................... 576 Managing User Expectations ............................................................ 578 Checking Tuning of the Database ..................................................... 579 Application Tuning ............................................................................. 580 When Additional Capacity Is Required............................................. 581 Summary ............................................................................................ 583
38 Troubleshooting Checklist 585 Summary ............................................................................................ 589
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE ART UPPORTING SERS AND EVELOPERS P
VIII S U D 591
39 Sound Database Object Design 593 Overview ............................................................................................. 594 Normalization and Table Design ....................................................... 597 Table Design Modifications for Decision Support ............................ 600 When and How to Use Indexes .......................................................... 601 Naming Conventions .......................................................................... 604 Summary Tables Versus Views ......................................................... 606 Sizing Tables ...................................................................................... 606 Sizing Indexes ..................................................................................... 609 Summary ............................................................................................ 610
40 Query Optimization 611
Factors Designers Can Control ......................................................... 613 The Rule-Based Optimizer ................................................................. 616 The Cost-Based Optimizer ................................................................. 617 Execution Plans .................................................................................. 619 Hints.................................................................................................... 622 Indexes ................................................................................................ 624 General Guidelines ............................................................................. 624 The Value of Experimentation .......................................................... 626 Summary ............................................................................................ 626
41 Keeping Current as a DBA 629 The Changing Environment .............................................................. 631 Training Vendors ................................................................................ 632 Books ................................................................................................... 634 A Test Instance ................................................................................... 635 The Internet ........................................................................................ 635 User Groups ........................................................................................ 637 Summary ............................................................................................ 638
IX A O T F 639
ART DVANCED RACLE ECHNICAL EATURES P
42 Rollback Segments 641
Introduction ........................................................................................ 642 Special Storage Considerations ......................................................... 644 Common and Confusing Error Messages .......................................... 645 Setting Up Rollback Segments .......................................................... 647 Summary ............................................................................................ 648
43 L oc ks 649
Overview ............................................................................................. 650 Types of Locks Applied....................................................................... 651
C ONTENTS
Freeing Locks ..................................................................................... 653 Determining When an Application is Waiting for a Lock to Release ........................................................................ 653 Summary ............................................................................................ 654
44 Parallel Processing Options 655 Types of Parallel Processing .............................................................. 657 When to Use Parallel Processing ....................................................... 658 Distributed Databases Versus Parallel Servers ............................... 658 Multi-Threaded Servers ..................................................................... 659 Asynchronous Database Writers ....................................................... 660 Parallel Query .................................................................................... 661 Parallel Recovery ................................................................................ 661 Summary ............................................................................................ 662
45 Packages, Procedures, and Triggers 663 Software Stored in the Database ....................................................... 664 The Object-Oriented World ................................................................ 666 Trigger Types and Uses ..................................................................... 667 Database Procedures .......................................................................... 668 Database Packages ............................................................................. 670 When to Use Packages, Procedures, and Triggers ........................... 671 Summary ............................................................................................ 671
46 Client-Server and Networking 673 What Is Client-Server? ....................................................................... 674 Typical Client-Server Architectures .................................................. 678 Tricks to Administering a Client-Server Database .......................... 679 Distributed Databases ....................................................................... 680 Summary ............................................................................................ 680
47 Where To Next? 681
The Oracle Environment ................................................................... 682 The DBA’s Job .................................................................................... 683 Tips to Make Life Easier .................................................................... 684 The Future .......................................................................................... 685
48 Oracle Workgroup Server and Oracle 7.2 687 First Impressions of the Workgroup Server Concept ....................... 688 Oracle 7.2 ............................................................................................ 690 Rumors and Gossip About Oracle 8 .................................................. 691 Summary ............................................................................................ 691
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE PPENDIXES A 693
A SQL Commands 695
Object Creation Commands ............................................................... 696 Object Modification Commands ......................................................... 698 Object Deletion Commands ............................................................... 699
B Glossary of Terms 701
C SQL*Plus Features 705
Calling SQL*Plus ............................................................................... 706 Output Formatting ............................................................................. 706 Working with SQL Files .................................................................... 708 SQL*Plus Versus SQL*DBA ............................................................. 709
D SQL*DBA Features 711
Command Line Versus Screen Mode ................................................ 712 Menu Interface ................................................................................... 712 Monitors .............................................................................................. 713 Killing User Sessions ......................................................................... 713 Oracle Server Manager ...................................................................... 713
E SQL*Loaders 715
Using Load Tables and Population Scripts ....................................... 716 Fixed Column Versus Delimited Formats ........................................ 716 An Example Control File ................................................................... 717 Useful Optional Parameters .............................................................. 717
F Import and Export 719
Command Line Versus Interactive ................................................... 720 Import Parameters ............................................................................. 720 Requirements for Running Import .................................................... 721 Oracle Export ...................................................................................... 721 An Export and Import Example ........................................................ 721
G Where to Get More Information 725 Conventional Addresses ..................................................................... 726 FTP Sites ............................................................................................ 726 World Wide Web Pages ...................................................................... 726 Newsgroups ........................................................................................ 726
H Sample System Configuration Analyses 727
I The Disk Contents 731
Index 737
C ONTENTS Preface
Some people lead highly focused careers. I’m not one of those people. Instead, I have tried a number of different jobs, appreciating a variety of assignments and learning new things. This was how I got into Oracle. I was working as a system architect and MIS planner when someone needed to have a database management system. I ordered the system and, because I had worked with Oracle a little before for a test, set up the system for them. Once I set it up, I wound up maintaining the system. Then a strange thing happened. People saw Oracle DBA work on my résumé and started to ask for my services. Even though I was qualified to perform a number of other tasks and had actually spent more time working in those areas, I received assignment after assignment as an Oracle DBA. Some of these assignments were extremely challenging, working on extremely large databases and integrating a wide variety of client-server products into the environments. Over time, I became very comfortable as an Oracle DBA. Then I saw a request on the Oracle Internet Newsgroup for authors to write books on Oracle. I had always wanted to write a book, so I jumped at the opportunity. Practical people want to write books to further their careers or get a publication on their resumes. I just wanted to try something new and perhaps spread the knowledge that I had been gaining through my consulting assignments. I had discovered that most of the places where I started up Oracle databases had similar questions and needs that were not addressed by the books provided with Oracle. Don’t get me wrong. I use the books that come with Oracle (electronic and hard copy) all the time. They are usually correct when you have a specific question on a specific technical topic, but often lack an overall feeling for the job of the DBA. They do a good job as an encyclopedia, but do not present the big picture. That is my goal for Oracle DBA Survival Guide. Writing this book was definitely a challenge. The folks at Sams (especially Rosemarie Graham, the acquisitions editor) were very tolerant of my schedule demands and I appreciate that.
One of the things that I found to be most interesting as an author is the large number of people who work on a book like this. There are a large number of people who work to acquire the books (in my case Rosemarie Graham), develop the book (Todd Bumbalough), perform technical editing (Byron Pearce and Mark Gokman), pull everything together (Nancy Albright), and perform all of the other services such as preparing graphics, typesetting, and so forth. (I don’t know these people’s names, but thank them anyway).
Finally, there are a large number of people who I would like to thank for contribu-
O RACLE DBA S URVIVAL G UIDE
and spurred me along all the way (by the way, Mom, I finished my book before you finished yours). I would like to thank all my bosses and co-workers at Booz Allen & Hamilton for the professional development that they provided me—special thanks to Ed Moore for teaching me to use graphics. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, and especially my wife Vicki, for being understanding about my not being around all those months while I was locked up in the study.
Oracle DBA Survival Guide does not replace the reference books. You still need to look at the Installation and Configuration Guide specific to your operating system and the version of Oracle when performing installations. There are a number of things that change all of the time and you need these specific references. Oracle DBA Survival Guide provides the overall concepts and some of the glue that enables you to know which functions you should be performing and why. Remember, the SQL Language Reference is always available to look up the exact syntax once you know what you are trying to do. I trust this book helps you get your job done more efficiently.
Introduction