Customer Reviews

Oracle SAP Administration (O'Reilly Oracle)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a much-needed book in the SAP marketplace, but in its current form, this edition isn't it. As an experienced R/3 administrator, hoping to expand my understanding of the R/3 - Oracle integration points, I bought this book with high hopes. The author lost a great deal of credibility in my eyes with the number of glaring errors when discussing R/3. It is obvious that no R/3 Basis Administrator was asked to review the text for accuracy. Based on the number of errors I discovered in the first few chapters on R/3, I couldn't trust that the remainder of the text would be correct, as the subject matter advanced to topics I had less expertise on (i.e. Oracle). I do not question the authors expertise with Oracle. I do question his ability to write a book that creeps outside his area of expertise without outside assistance.

I understand that this book is targeted towards Oracle DBAs who are pushed into an SAP environment where the world as they know it turns upside down, and not necessarily for SAP Basis Administrators looking to learn more Oracle skills. Still, I think this book could have been so much more for the author and SAP administrators worldwide.

It is still a much needed book in the SAP market, and I reluctantly recommend buying it, but only after visiting OReilly's web site for the errata.

I read this book primarily for its reorganization and tuning aspects. There were good ideas that nudged me in the right direction, but there was an unacceptable amount of technical incorrectness. The descriptions of how SAP stores data, many of the Oracle commands were in error. CLEAN IT UP!

The author has definately tried take advantage of the fact that SAP System Admin Documentation is not so thorough and extensive.
It is clear that he has never worked with SAP before. The book is full of mistakes that even a Basis Administrator with 6 months experience would know. For example, the author says that the SAP SID must be 3 characters long, must start with the letter S followed by any other 2 characters, with SAP being the exception, like we all know this is a load of hogwash. Save your money, because in my opinion the author's only intention is to make some money out of you, despite his dismal inexperience in SAP. I will never buy another book written by the author.

This book is a great supplement to the SAP documentation. The best part of this book is that it doesn't waste pages discussing the Oracle or SAP basics. It was very useful for me on my first SAP implementation. The scripts are also very useful. Overall, an outstanding book.

Very focused, well written book. In depth view of Oracle RDBMS and SAP integration and administration. These days who has the time to read manual after manual to find answers. A must have if you are an Oracle DBA supporting SAP or wanting to learn how to support SAP R/3. Highly recommend.

I have bought all of the SAP books, and this seems to be the only one that explains SAP in Plain English.

I am an Oracle DBA, and this book was exactly what I needed. I do not want 500 pages of SAP internals, I just needed the basic concepts of SAP and how they apply to Oracle. This book was just right in that regard.

I also found the tuning scripts to be great, especially the row re-sequencing information.

I found this book to be extremely helpful with my SAP/R3 and Oracle project. While the SAP material is light, this is outweighed by the valuable insights on using Oracle with SAP. The book does not appear to be intended as an SAP manual but has a focus for the Oracle DBA who must use SAP. The information was right on the mark and very useful. The scripts were wonderful. Overall, a great book and worth the money.

If you are the DBA or the person responsible for supporting SAP on an ORACLE database, this is a must read book. The book is filled with information that will help you hit the ground running. This book goes beyond the topic of SAP and covers Oracle concepts such as free lists that provide a foundation to better understand performance and tuning considerations. The examples provide sufficient implementation detail. The authors style of writing transforms the technical jargon into easy reading without losing the technical content. An easy to read reference manual.

If you are a knowledgeable Oracle DBA and you need to understand some more about R/3 running on Oracle then I totally recommend this book. If you are an experience R/3 basis consultant looking for some great tuning tips and advice on running an Oracle database on R/3 then again I recommend this book. If you neither know Oracle nor R/3 then don't buy it, it's not for beginners, have a look around are some bigger more weightier beginner volumes more suited to your needs.

After reading this book it is clearly obvious that the author Donald K. Burlenson, has a fantastic understanding of Oracle and Database Management, not just from a high level perspective but from someone who has real experience with countless real-life production systems. After reading this book you will definitely have a much better understanding of how to configure your Oracle system for best performance for R/3 ( thus avoiding trouble latter). Another strong point of this book, is the scripts and tools to monitor and identify problems, these are not so much simple tips and checks but the basics of a oracle management framework you can use implement to manage your real-life R/3 production system. After all, clear and controlled management (who, what, where, when) that identifies a true professional from the mediocre.

For criticism, Burlenson does not understand R/3 basis an well as well as he knows Oracle resulting in naEe statements about R/3 and some missed opportunities to deliver performance improvement for Oracle DB's particular with customized reporting (a area of BIG problems). Another chapter focussing on customizing ABAP (native SQL etc) for best oracle performance would be a worthy addition to this book. That's my opinion anyway!

Overall a great book well worth the cover price, easy and quick to read, offering real help and understanding. If you manage R/3 on Oracle, a great buy!

This book gave me a host of valuable information about the basic configuration of the SAP database for Oracle. As someone who was new to SAP, I did not have the time or the inclination to take an SAP course just to learn how to administer the Oracle database. I really liked the material, especially the SAP tuning tips for the DBA.