Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Oracle) [Paperback]

Iggy Fernandez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590599683 | ISBN-13: 978-1590599686 | Publication Date: February 18, 2009 | Edition: 1

Oracle Database is one of the most widely-used database systems in the world. It’s a complicated, many-faceted product. Aspiring database administrators often don’t know where to begin in learning it. Author Iggy Fernandez remembers that feeling very well. Today an administrator of multi-terabyte databases for some of the world’s largest corporations, Iggy got his start as an Oracle DBA by being unexpectedly thrown into the position, literally overnight. He knows what it’s like to be floundering in a sea of Oracle technology, not knowing in which direction to swim. This book, that he wrote, teaches readers to swim.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Iggy Fernandez is a database administrator with 12 years of experience. After finding himself suddenly thrust, literally overnight, from the world of C++ programming and into a junior database administrator position, Iggy has gone on to make a solid career out of working with Oracle. He is now a senior member of a DBA team providing 24x7 operational support for mission-critical, terabyte-sized databases belonging to one of the largest airlines in the world, one of the biggest electronics retailers in the world, and one of the biggest hotel chains in the world. Iggy likes to share his knowledge, and is a regular speaker and writer for the Northern California Oracle User Group.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (February 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599683
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599686
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Oracle
  • #55 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Database Management Systems

More About the Author

My name is Ignatius. Everyone calls me Iggy. My name means "fiery one" (the Latin word for fire is ignis and the Sanskrit word for fire is agni). I grew up in the same town as British rock star Freddie Mercury; that's your clue. I now live in Northern California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I have a rich history of working with Oracle Database in many capacities including Operations DBA, Development DBA, Performance Specialist, Lead DBA, Database Architect, and DBA Manager. I'm a RAC agnostic; I haven't drunk all the Kool-Aid yet. As regards Oracle Database 11g Release 2, all I have to say is that "whenever something reaches a state of perfection, i.e., where it becomes stable and very productive (in other words, saves time and money and effort), it will be replaced by something more chaotic" (Norgaard's First Law published in the Q2 2006 issue of the ODTUG Technical Journal).

I am the editor of the NoCOUG Journal and the author of Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration (Apress, 2009). I have a lot of opinions but am willing to change them when confronted with fresh facts. As the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his essay on self-reliance: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today."

I enjoy getting feedback. You can reach me at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a good entry level book, May 6, 2009

By 

Jose A. Campo "SQL DBA [MCTS on SQL2005 & 2008]" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Oracle) (Paperback)

Let me start my review saying that this one is a book that deserves some attention; we have a lot of options in terms of Oracle 11g books out there, but problem (like MS-SQL) is the inability for some authors, to express their knowledge in a coherent way. Being an Oracle "master" DBA does not mean you'll be a good author or viceversa.

I've had the opportunity to check this one on my local bookstore (I think I'll buy it, maybe) and spent some time drinking a cup of coffee and reading it ... so, here are my impressions.

What I like:

1. Very well organized: I believe you should start reading from very beginning to end, but author divided concepts very well so you can easily find information without the need of going back and forth or read initial chapters. Like any RDMS (MS-SQL, Oracle, etc), if you have a basic SQL language fundamentals and Os experience (Linux, Windows), material will be much much easier to understand
2. Plain english: I love when you can read an IT or SQL book and you do not need a "PhD" in order to understand. This book is easy to read and straight to the point.
3. Good price: I think that based on the content and other options, price on this one is something to take seriously.

What could be improved

1. Not in-depth coverage: Ironically, point 2 in "What I like" section leads to point 1 here. Good or bad thing depends of what you're looking for. I think that if reader is looking for a more in depth and comprehensive material, this book will not be a good choice. Is so straight to the point that clarifications or further explanations in sections like setup, are short.
2. Use of Windows as Testing environment: read my blog comment below with author about this. Is a topic which creates polemic. But being a DBA for one of the largest Computer companies in the world, I can tell that you won't get full Oracle power if you run it from Windows. So, learning how to setup or how Oracle runs on Linux is a must in today's job market. Yes, you can learn basic T-SQL administration running Oracle on top of Windows ... Yes, internal SQL statements operations won't change, but again, if you want to be different and get the full Oracle's advantage, why not test it on a Linux/Unix box? we got VMware, VirtualBox and others that will let you install Oracle with some tweaks (Red Hat like Linux systems are the only one supported by Oracle)
3. More pictures, please! Not in agreement with other review. I think that we won't find enough here; one or another pictures among chapters, but not enough in my opinion indeed. Oracle architecture is so complex that concepts get lost easily if you don't visualize them.

Overall, this is a good book for the entry level or MS-SQL DBA which is trying to catch Oracle concepts in a fast but good way but I would suggest to overlap ideas with a good Linux book like: Linux Recipes for Oracle DBAs, by Darl Kuhn or get a nice Linux cert book, like the most recent Sybex edition: LPIC-1: Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide: (Exams 101 and 102). Like I said before, if you master the Os portion of Oracle or MS-SQL, your troubleshooting skills get empowered also.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for a new Oracle DBA, May 17, 2009

By 

Sumit Sengupta (Avon, OH, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Oracle) (Paperback)

Having worked for a Fortune 50 company as an Oracle DBA for more than ten years, I have read many Oracle books. Apress usually publishes good quality books but where this one stands out is that it teaches a beginning Oracle DBA the tasks of Oracle database administration in a very orderly and precise manner. Go through the chapter list and you will realize that the book covers precisely what a beginning Oracle DBA does.

As a new Oracle DBA you have a choice: read the relevant portions of over 100 Oracle manuals or buy this book, get started on the job, and plan on further reading as you progress in your Oracle career.

The book is written in a platform-agnostic manner but provides instructions to install Oracle on your laptop and follow along. Every chapter ends with exercises and suggestions for further reading which are very helpful.

Part I Database Concepts

Chapter 1 Relational Database Management Systems
Chapter 2 SQL and PL/SQL
Chapter 3 Oracle Architecture

Part II Database Implementation

Chapter 4 Planning
Chapter 5 Software Installation
Chapter 6 Database Creation
Chapter 7 Physical Database Design
Chapter 8 User Management and Data Loading

Part III Database Support

Chapter 9 Taking Control
Chapter 10 Monitoring
Chapter 11 Fixing Problems
Chapter 12 Backups
Chapter 13 Recovery
Chapter 14 Database Maintenance
Chapter 15 The Big Picture and the Ten Deliverables

Part IV Database Tuning

Chapter 16 Instance Tuning
Chapter 17 SQL Tuning

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Writtern!, March 6, 2009

By 

C. W. Lawson "OracleMagician" (SF East Bay, California: United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Oracle) (Paperback)

Iggy Fernandez is a VERY good writer. I think you'll really appreciate the many insights on the process of being a good Oracle DBA.

This book is unique in that it covers many aspects of the PROCESS of Oracle database administration. It's not really a book of scripts. As Iggy says, this book is an introduction to key concepts, such as monitoring, backups, etc. Each chapter is well organized, with plenty of graphics to make it interesting.

Iggy has also provided many good references, so that the reader can continue researching.

A really fine book!