Oracle8 and Unix Performance Tuning

Rating:
Summary: An Just-OK book.
Review: Chapter 1-2 provides lengthy explanation about Unix performance tuning. From DBA's standpoint, I would suggest readers to work closely with SA instead of trying to play SA's role. Read them but do not apply your knowledge without SA by your side!

Chapter 3 is a good one.

The rest of the books can be skipped if you have read OCP's training material or Oracle8 Backup & Recovery and Performance Tuning.

Regarding SQL tuning, I would highly recommend Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning.

Rating:
Summary: good content, poor editing
Review: I bought this on the recommendation of two people with much more tuning experience than I have. They both said that it gave the most complete set of tuning advice and I defer to their judgement on that. The editing, however, is terrible.

Some sections only cover to Solaris 2.4, while others are updated to cover 2.6. The information in the section "Stripping on Sun" is five years old, with the author/editor covering the next generation of product in a new section. It looks like a slipshod update of the original book.

Rating:
Summary: good content, poor editing
Review: I bought this on the recommendation of two people with much more tuning experience than I have. They both said that it gave the most complete set of tuning advice and I defer to their judgement on that. The editing, however, is terrible.

Some sections only cover to Solaris 2.4, while others are updated to cover 2.6. The information in the section "Stripping on Sun" is five years old, with the author/editor covering the next generation of product in a new section. It looks like a slipshod update of the original book.

Rating:
Summary: Broad coverage, still objective. Excellent !
Review: Mr. Alomari managed to accomplish an extraordinary feat: presenting Oracle tuning in a concise, yet not superficial way. There are many originally undocumented (or poorly documented) features which are invaluable. A few topics, however, miss some explanation. But, all things considered, it is an excellent book. He addresses many issues that are really hard to find, especially on the interaction between UNIX and Oracle. When he says you cannot fix half of you car's engine, he is not exaggerating. In my consulting practice, I tend to see both many Oracle and many UNIX experts, but much work is poorly done because of this fragile knowledge by the two parties. This book may be an efficient tool for breaking that wall, and, believe me, it makes the difference. I only wonder why he did not cover other UNIXes like AIX and DIGITAL, which have a big market share...