Rating: 
Summary: Yawn
Review: If I had stopped at this book, I'd have never gotten interested in databases. Pick up Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta (there's a 2nd edition out now) and also SQL for Dummies by Allen Taylor. It's the best Dummies book ever done and Taylor is creative, thoughtful and not afraid to show it. Avoid the other TY books on SQL other than Forta's. Once you learn about SQL you can start getting into the particulars of Oracle, but not with these awful Oracle Press doorstops. Plus, with good SQL knowledge, the particular DBMS seems less important. I really don't care if it's DB2, Oracle, Sybase or SQL Server as long as I can talk to it. As for this book, yawn!
Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: If I had stopped at this book, I'd have never gotten interested in databases. Pick up Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta (there's a 2nd edition out now) and also SQL for Dummies by Allen Taylor. It's the best Dummies book ever done and Taylor is creative, thoughtful and not afraid to show it. Avoid the other TY books on SQL other than Forta's. Once you learn about SQL you can start getting into the particulars of Oracle, but not with these awful Oracle Press doorstops. Plus, with good SQL knowledge, the particular DBMS seems less important. I really don't care if it's DB2, Oracle, Sybase or SQL Server as long as I can talk to it. As for this book, yawn!
Rating: 
Summary: Essential how-to guide for the Oracle DBA
Review: If you're a new Oracle DBA and you need a thorough how-to guide and a concise reference, this is the book for you. The authors explain what you need to do in real-life DBA situations, and why. I teach Oracle database administration at the university level, and have found that this book is the best available for teaching my students how to be a successful Oracle DBA - and they don't need to sell the book back at the end of the semester!
Rating:
Summary: At last a book for beginners,Oracle DBA 101
Review: Of all the books on the market Oracle DBA101 helps the people who trully need help, the beginner. There are few books on the market that help the beginner get started on the right foot. Most books are geared toward the Oracle Guru and totally bypass the novice. Most authurs expect you to have years of experience, this is the only book on the market that helps you get started right, learning Oracle is no easy task and this book pulls no punches. I have read books that say they are for the beginner but leave you more confused and fustrated then when you started. Oracle DBA 101 is the only book on the market that will help you de-mystify the wonderful world of Oracle DBA. I have found the book to be worth it, it has personaly helped me on my way to becomming an Oracle DBA and I KNOW IT CAN HELP YOU! There is no doubt in my mind that this book will be the standerd that all Oracle DBA books will be judge on.
Rating:
Summary: DBA 101 is a great read !
Review: Oracle is not an easy product to master - You can not just read about the product - you need to understand and USE the commands that you read about and run the system. This is the first book that starts at the beginning and asks the user, why one wants to be a DBA and then goes on to layout what some of the job requires. The authors use enough detail to illustrate how commands are used, but the user ultimately must determine the "correct" command parameters that will be used. This does help the reader understand what the command and it's parameters really mean and do. You just can't cut and paste the commands. (See Oracle Scripts for this type of detail). The authors have made good use of basic examples as they attempt to explain how Oracle is structured and used. Users need an open mind to understand this - because it's not like other products. Each Oracle environment is unique and the DBA needs to know how to handle their environment and users. I don't think that this book is meant to be "a complete DBA reference". There are other more detailed books that do this. From the tasks identified, a DBA can easily create their own check list as to what duties they need to perform. I own over 30 Oracle Press and related Oracle books, DBA 101 is the first one to explain in laymans terms, why something is done. The book doesn't do the DBA job for me, but it helps me understand the job I must do - which is why Oracle DBAs are in great demand.
Rating: 
Summary: Concepts, not details
Review: This book explains Oracle concepts very clearly and conversationally. But it doesn't actually tell you how to *do* much. It tells you what some of the steps of creating a database are (for example), but not what the commands to do them are. It reminds you what parameters you need to set to appropriate values, but doesn't tell you how to determine what an appropriate value might be. Examples are erratic -- sometimes it gives you a script and doesn't show you what the output will be, or shows you a table and doesn't explain what it means. This might be a useful companion to a syntax-oriented class, or for a junior DBA who's been performing steps by rote for a few months and wants to understand what's really going on. It's a pleasant read, very friendly, uses lots of analogies (some of which are not really useful enough). But it will *not* help you get started actually doing Oracle DBA work, nor would it make a good reference book in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: really bad
Review: This book is horrible. For example, the section on imp and exp simply have a screen shot showing the output of "help=y". Great, thanks... I could have done that myself. How about going over some typical scenarios like backing up a tablespace and loading it to a test server? Want to see how full your tablespace is? You won't find anything about that in this book. Hmmm, maybe your archive logs are filling up your disk? Can you safely delete them? You won't find the answer here. There is a chapter on tuning the server. Why you'd put this in a "101" book is beyond me.
Rating:
Summary: confusing
Review: This book is very confusing for a first timer. I don't think the author put any real effort in to helping newbies learn Oracle. I am very disappointed with this book. Don't wast your money!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK FOR DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR
Review: This book is very useful if you are DBA intermediate/advance level. This book is not for starters. This book is an excellent reference book if used with Oracle8 Complete Reference. Very good source to learn Dictionary features in Oracle. I teach Oracle Application Development and DataBase Adminstration. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great way to learn ORACLE server from a DBA perspective
Review: This book was just what I was looking for. It provided concepts, terminology, and a little how-to. 500 pages was alot, but it is easy to read. Our team is small, with one DBA. I'm his backup and this book helped take the mystery out of Oracle server.
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