RE: Oracle Book Mal-practice...

You are correct in everything you say.

Let me add a "but".

One of the best ways to learn how to get out of tough situations is to put yourself into one.

Let's face it. Junior DBA's are going to make mistakes. That's what senior DBA's are for. To help them get out of a jam by forcing them to perform a 12 hour restore. And then showing them what their mistakes were.

You get burned once and you learn "never to do that again".

I'm not advocating putting something in print that is risky behavior. This author needs some strong feedback on that chapter showing them that they are suggesting risky behavior that might put a junior DBA in a tight situation.

By the way. Your books are awesome.

Tom

-----Original Message-----

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Robert Freeman Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:11 PM
To: Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: Oracle Book Mal-practice...

So, I'm reading a particular book tonight. I don't want to say which one it is at the moment because I know one of the authors and I want to make sure that this author did not write this chapter.

My question is, what constitutes Oracle Book Writing mal-practice (and I pray I've never committed it). Certainly mistakes crop up in books all the time, I'm as guilty as any writer of this. This chapter I'm reading though, in an effort to get the reader to doing something quickly, does not lay any foundation, skips critical steps and actually prompts them to do what I consider some very dangerous things.

It would be one thing if the book said, "Look, this is not the way you should do this in production." but it does not. In this chapter, a very junior DBA might well follow the instructions and, having successfully completed everything, think that they are done. The truth, a nasty truth, is that all they have done is taken some very big risks and they have some nasty gottya's coming down the pike.

In my mind, this isn't a simple mistake. This isn't an editorial mis-step. This is someone trying to make something seem easy and leaving out some very sailient instructions without any warning.

Very bothersome.... For your Junior DBA's all I can say is buyer beware. Get yourself a good mentor to go with all these books.

Cheers all and buyer beware...

RF

 Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press) Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press) Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now... Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Fri May 22 2009 - 07:59:47 CDT