Customer Reviews

Oracle Database 11g : New Features for DBAs and Developers

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was very excited to get this book. I like to stay current on Oracle database product changes. There is a great deal of information here (I have the other New Features book from Freeman but have not read it yet).

I have found a few problems with the text (I'm still reading it to be honest). First, several of the examples have errors in the code and generated errors when I tried to run them.

One such case is on page 146. A SQL query demonstrated there has some two obvious SQL errors. Clearly it was not tested, because it could not have run without an error (it bombed on me).

Another example is on page 166 where we find dbms_scheduelr instead of dbms_scheduler. A typo, yes, but one easily caught if the examples were tested.

Another example is on page 165 with a call to dbms_scheduler.set_attribute which has a typo. There are others, but you get the idea. It would also be nice if the code was available online somewhere.

The bottom line is that it seems that at least part of this code was not tested.

It also seems that the authors wrote part of this book on the 11g beta. I ran into one problem with the discussion on invisible indexes. The book indicates that you can use hints to force the use of an invisible index. When I tried this, it did not work (this drove me crazy as I was wondering what I was doing wrong!). After some research I found out that this was true in the beta but was not true in the final production cut of Oracle. Another example of what I think is a beta leftover has to do with SQL Query Result Caching. When I was trying this feature I found I could not set result_cache_mode to AUTO as documented in the book (page 176). When I looked in the Oracle documentation I found that AUTO was not a supported value.

Another problem I have is that examples are incomplete. For example, on page 162 there is a discussion on lightweight jobs. The examples are incomplete. I had to go figure out how to create a program (I had not used the scheduler before to be honest) before I could create the lightweight job. I spent about an hour fiddling with this, because another thing not pointed out by the author (or clearly in the documentation to be honest) are the restrictions on lightweight jobs. I know it's a new features book, and maybe I should know the scheduler, but I think at least the examples should be self-contained if possible.

Another twist appears on page 329. The author talks about a new feature that will eliminate failed loads on external tables. The only problem is that he does not give us any detail on how to actually use this new feature. Instead we get an example of how to create a table in Oracle 10g and he moves on to other features.

In the end, 3 stars seems about right to me. A lot of work went into this book, and I think I learned quite a bit about 11g, but I question now some of what I learned based on problems I've run into. I'll be reading the Freeman book mentioned by another review, shortly. It should provide a good contrast and check and balance.

I selected this book because it's written by Alapati. I've read excellent books before by this author. Unluckily, this one is not among them.
I've finished reading the first three chapters and so far I found too many typing errors, errors in the code and unprecise statements. Obviously it was written in hurry.
All in all, this book does its purpose to me to learn Oracle 11g new features but I expected higher quality from Alapati and Apress.

Taking into account the shortcomings of this book detailed in previous reviews, I found that there were really no alternatives to read while travelling if I wanted to prepare for the 11g upgrade exam. The book is OK to read, but since I was on the road, I opted for the Kindle version. I found that there is a technical problem with doing this, as the illustrations that include text (screen shots, report illustrations) are nearly impossible to read on a Kindle! I believe that the text has been reviewed adequately in the previous posts, but I hadn't seen this warning before... so people can keep this in mind when in the same situation I was in and contemplate a Kindle version rather than the hard copy. Also, you don't (obviously) get the referenced CD with the Kindle.

For the most part it was a decent book and gave me a great overview of the new features in Oracle 11g. However there are quite a few typos and a bit of inaccurate information (result_cache_mode = AUTO is not valid/supported).

I wouldn't say this is a bad book - it's a nice read and contains the majority of the information. I am impressed by it being one of the first 11g books out. The authors put in a lot of hard work and I congratulate them.

This is an amazingly comprehensive and detailed book about the new features of the Oracle 11g edition. I'm very surprised that the authors could publish this big a book (over 600 pages) on just the new features of the Oracle 11g database so soon after Oracle Open World in November.

The book, as I said, is comprehensive in its coverage and does an excellent job of explaining all the DBA features PLUS all the major PL/SQL and other programming enhancements such as triggers etc. For someone like me, who has to perform both DBA and some development duties, the excellent coverage of both the DBA and the PL/SQL new features is really a big deal. In addition to lucidly explaining all the new features, the authors often tell you about how a certain feature works and what to watch for when implementing a new feature.

Several chapters such as Database Diagnosability, Backup and Recovery, ASM, Data Guard, Performance Management and Oracle Streams are top notch in their coverage and will help you advance your skills in these areas to the Oracle 11g level very quickly. I like the Application Development chapter as well for its clear explanation of the new features in that area. This saves me time and effort in reading the manuals to find out which are the truly useful new features. The chapter on installation and upgrading to 11g helped me chart my own database upgrade plans when the time comes.

The book is full of examples, code samples and a few screen shots to illustrate the important concepts in 11g. The fully worked out network enabled duplication example gave me confidence to try it and it worked like a charm!

I happily recommend this book by Alapati and Kim to both Oracle DBAs and Developers who are interested in learning about Oracle 11g. This is a thorough and competent treatment of all the new features in Oracle 11g that all of us need to know.

This is the first book I have read from Sam Alapati and Charles Kim. Coincidently or not, Sam is also the author of the "OCP Oracle Database 11g: New Features for Administrators Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-050)" book.
After completing this book I am very happy with what I have learned. The authors are very thorough in their coverage of the new features in 11g and do a good job of providing applicable real world examples.

Chapter 9 on ASM covered the new features well and Oracle has made some nice improvements. ASM is a growth area for Oracle and am looking forward to it becoming friendlier and easier to use. Moving files in and out of ASM has been made easier in Oracle 11g.

Chapter 11 on Application Development will be best utlized by developers or DBA's that are involved with development beyond the intermediate level. This chapter also introduces DBAs to APEX.

Chapter 12 is one of the most important chapters. This chapter focuses on Data Warehousing and includes the new partitioning features. The examples are easy to understand and are applicable to the real world. This chapter also does an excellent job on explaing Oracle's next generation LOBs called "Secure Files". This is a must read chapter.

If I could have added a chapter to this book it would be a chapter dedicated to RAC. Even though 11g does not bring too many new features to RAC it does have a few. For example the new features on parallel execution I do not think are mentioned. Their are also enhanced configuration assistants that can be better explained and can be found in a single place.

Overall this is an excellent book and for someone who is just starting to work with 11g this is the best place to start.

This is a good book with a lot of details and examples about new features in Oracle 11g.
Very comprehensive.

But there are so many errors!
I would add to the error list other two:
1) at page 404
the example call of md_backup is wrong, instead of :
"ASMCMD> md_backup -o asm_backup.mdb -g data,fra"
should be:
"ASMCMD> md_backup -b asm_backup.mdb -g data,fra"

2) at page 560 there is a LOGIC error, or confusion !!
The authors want to demonstrate that when using system partitioning, for DML commands INSERT and MERGE one has to use partition-aware syntax.That is correct.

But the example given is about the DDL MERGE PARTITION command and not about the usual DML MERGE !!!
" Like the insert command, the merge command must be performed with partition-aware syntax.Here's an example of alter table with the merge partition command: ..."

The book overall is good, my recommendation is BUY, it did help me pass the Oracle 11g upgrade OCP exam.

Thank you,
Cristian

This is the most detailed 11g book on the market. It has a ton of material on the new Oracle database. Sam Alapati and Charles Kim deliver an excellent reference on 11g.

These 11g enhancements are covered in the book.

Installation, Upgrading, and Managing Change
Database Diagnostics and Failure Repair
Database Administration
Performance Tuning and Management
Database Security
Backup and Recovery
Data Pump
Oracle Streams
Storage Management (Direct NFS and ASM enhancements)
Data Guard
Application Development
Data Warehousing

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about getting up to speed on Oracle 11g.

For LoveOracleBooks,

I see some of the errors you mention. You obviously went through the book. I tried the queries and they worked fine for me (after some minor editing). Any Oracle DBA should be able to figure it out. Still, the book was excellent for me. Sorry you are upset about a couple of typos (which isn't unusual with any technical book like this... especially with lots of examples). Still, I feel it's a really great book and the content within more than makes up for a couple of typos. There are literally tons of examples and the authors went out of their way to not just tell you how or why but to demonstrate how it's done. Many books don't go to such lengths. 99% of the examples work. The effort that clearly went into this books earns it 5 stars all the way.

I'd recommend this book for a DBA who already has experience administering Oracle 9i and 10g, and want to maintain his/her knowledge up-to-date. It focus on the main new features of Oracle 11g, and it's certaily worth buying it!

I own this book along with the other '11g new feauters' book written by Mr. Robert Freeman.

I started reading this one after finishing the Robert Freeman book. I think I wasted my time and money reading the first book.

This book is way better than Freeman book. This explains all the features with proper examples and codes. I felt like I am trying all the features myself while reading the book.

Great book.