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Rating: 
Summary: Best intro for the new DBA - will get you quickly started
Review: First, you need to know that this book is based on version 9i and is focused on the UNIX environment. If you're using Oracle 8i and have no immediate plans to upgrade you will find that the previous edition (ISBN 0595174485) to be more suitable.The ideal audience for this book is the new Oracle DBA or UNIX system administrators who have either inherited DBA responsibilities or who want to gain cross-functional skills. Experienced DBAs will find much of this book too basic, and may complain that it doesn't cover the full range of database administration topics. In my opinion the relatively narrow scope of this book is one of its strengths. Instead of overwhelming the new DBA with hundreds of pages it sticks to the essentials. Another point in its favor is that the author doesn't attempt to go into gory details about how things work (information that you can get from other books as your comfort level and self-confidence improve), but remains focused on what you need to do in order to effectively manage and support an Oracle 9i instance. While I liked the Getting Started and Some DBA tasks (Sections I and II) that start this book, I especially liked Section III, which covers tuning. This is the essence of what a DBA does, and the basics are well covered. This section also gives some excellent scripts that the new DBA will find invaluable. Section IV, is somewhat useful, but Section V is another favorite because it shows how to begin building your own set of tools, which is the hallmark of an experienced DBA. The scripts that are provided in this section are the foundation of database administration, and will spark ideas for additional and more specific scripts. The value is that you can learn much from what is provided. Each topic in this book is given a brief 2-3 pages, which makes it somewhat terse. In many cases you'll have to go to other books for deeper explanations, but at least you'll be quickly functional. If I had to choose a single book with which to get started this would be it. Of course you'll outgrow this as your skills and experience evolve, but it will get you started and does so using good practices and workable techniques.
Rating:
Summary: Best intro for the new DBA - will get you quickly started
Review: First, you need to know that this book is based on version 9i and is focused on the UNIX environment. If you're using Oracle 8i and have no immediate plans to upgrade you will find that the previous edition (ISBN 0595174485) to be more suitable. The ideal audience for this book is the new Oracle DBA or UNIX system administrators who have either inherited DBA responsibilities or who want to gain cross-functional skills. Experienced DBAs will find much of this book too basic, and may complain that it doesn't cover the full range of database administration topics. In my opinion the relatively narrow scope of this book is one of its strengths. Instead of overwhelming the new DBA with hundreds of pages it sticks to the essentials. Another point in its favor is that the author doesn't attempt to go into gory details about how things work (information that you can get from other books as your comfort level and self-confidence improve), but remains focused on what you need to do in order to effectively manage and support an Oracle 9i instance. While I liked the Getting Started and Some DBA tasks (Sections I and II) that start this book, I especially liked Section III, which covers tuning. This is the essence of what a DBA does, and the basics are well covered. This section also gives some excellent scripts that the new DBA will find invaluable. Section IV, is somewhat useful, but Section V is another favorite because it shows how to begin building your own set of tools, which is the hallmark of an experienced DBA. The scripts that are provided in this section are the foundation of database administration, and will spark ideas for additional and more specific scripts. The value is that you can learn much from what is provided. Each topic in this book is given a brief 2-3 pages, which makes it somewhat terse. In many cases you'll have to go to other books for deeper explanations, but at least you'll be quickly functional. If I had to choose a single book with which to get started this would be it. Of course you'll outgrow this as your skills and experience evolve, but it will get you started and does so using good practices and workable techniques.
Rating: 
Summary: Low quality.. plain and simple
Review: If you are used to books from oracle press,Wiley,Osborne or other publishers, This book is not readable at all..
Rating:
Summary: Excellent 'How to Guide'
Review: This book is an excellent Oracle how to guide. It is quick and to the point on several DBA topics. It keeps the theory to a minimum so as to be concise as possible. It is an excellent resource for a junior DBA.
I use this book a companion to my other Oracle books, and keep a copy within easy reach.
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