Oracle 24x7 Tips and Techniques (Paperback)

by Venkat S. Devraj (Author) "Imagine this: You are part of an operations team for a company that sells books over the Internet..." (more)
Key Phrases: database bounce, standby tables, file system buffers, Thu Jul, Server Manager, Advanced Replication (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Maintaining near-flawless database uptime is a source of anxiety for countless database administrators. In Oracle 24x7 Tips & Techniques, Venkat S. Devraj has compiled an unprecedented collection of guidelines and suggestions as a "working Oracle professional's book on high availability."

Although it is the author's aim to avoid detailed theory and focus on practical solutions to the problem, the early portions of the book contain some high-level topics such as defining your organization's exact uptime requirements and precisely characterizing what constitutes an emergency for your installation. These areas are often quickly glossed over in other guides, but the presentation here is precise and quite useful in striving for the holy grail of 24-hour uptime.

The meat of the book is a series of targeted techniques for architecting a truly reliable system. Devraj looks at it all--from hardware to operating systems to internal configurations of Oracle and wise maintenance procedures. He does an excellent job of putting each topic in perspective with explanations of exactly what impact each strategy will have.

There's a plethora of useful information here. However, it is decidedly aimed at seasoned Oracle professionals. New Oracle users and administrators may find themselves lost, but more expert Oracle jockeys will be grateful for this material. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: Hardware component selection, operating systems and network issues, application analysis, installation and configuration, upgrades, migrations, backup and recovery procedures, database maintenance, growth management, log interpretation, corruption identification, Oracle Parallel Server, advanced replication, and third-party solutions.

Product Description
Achieve 24x7 database uptime and expand your Oracle knowledge using the hundreds of tips and techniques provided in this unique reference.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1005 pages
• Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072119993
• ISBN-13: 978-0072119992
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #331,814 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Oracle DBA Book in Years, January 30, 2000

By	John R Smiley (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews

I have been an Oracle DBA for nearly 14 years and I read nearly all of the new books published on the subject. This book is the best I have read in years.

Even if you aren't striving to achieve true 24 x 7 operation, the configuration and performance tips alone are better than most of the advanced tuning books on the market today.

The author covers every major topic important to an Oracle DBA in great detail. He includes information that I have not found in any other source. The table of contents does not begin to describe the depth of information contained within the pages of the book.

The author also gives you the benefit of his real world field experience, describing what works, what does'nt, and why. He even provides case studies which guide the reader step-by-step through the process.

Have you ever wondered how to perform an Oracle upgrade or patch installation with little or no down time? Want to pinpoint which indexes need rebuilding instead of guessing? Want to be able to identify exactly which latch or enqueue is causing the trouble? Want to double or triple your income by becoming the smartest DBA on the block? Read this book.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every single chapter is highly recommended, February 21, 2000

By	Lillian Chesman (Birmingham, England) - See all my reviews

In today's world of "write a book in a month for the money", so many self-proclaimed "technical authors" seem to be making hay reengineering the user manuals. This book comes across as a refreshing change. The author claims to have spent a year writing it. And this time appears to have been really well spent. The book is meticulously researched and extremely well written. The topics covered are built well on top on one another. Each chapter is crucial in learning to maintain complete database uptime. At the same time, any individual chapter can be separately read. The first chapter that caught my fancy was chapter 13 (Interpreting the alert log and trace files). It dissects the alert log and systematically presents information that I have never seen before. examples: newer tracing options, tracing of PL/SQL code by dumping PL/SQL buffers, tracing ongoing sessions, detailed analysis of internal errors, etc. etc. Another real winner is chapter 14 on corruption. It provides end to end coverage on corruption. Every issue that comes to mind (and more) is presented there. The author has just not taken an Oracle-centric approach. He has gone behind the Oracle scenes and talks in detail about hardware, operating systems, and even the mysterious network. Information on triple mirroring and third-party replication such as EMC geo mirroring is unprecedented. My sincere advice: get your hands on this book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CONGRATS ORACLE PRESS - YOU HAVE ARRIVED FINALLY, December 4, 1999

By	Jason Fox (Jacksonville, Florida) - See all my reviews

Excellent book. This is the fiirst book I have seen from Oracle Press that goes byond the usual fluff. The author has somehow managed to provide vast breadth and incridible depth in several areas. Very impressive. One important aspect I found was, the focus is not just on availability, as the title might indicate. The author has given equal importance to performance, as well. Also, in several areas he/she has provided detailed info on how Oracle works internally, which is very useful for both developers and DBAs. Especially for folks like me, who do a bit of both. For example, I have not seen before ANY other book talk about such buffer cache and shared-pool internals, comprehensve methods to enhance DBWR performance, physical aspects of bitmap indexes and related advise, available but previously undocumented tracing options, several hardware architectures, detailed NETWORK/OS tuning, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on. I have just spend the last two weeks reading this book and still have quite a way to go. However from what I have seen this has been a great investment. I will look for more books from tuis author.