Re: Exadata newbie question
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 12:32:28 +1000
Message-ID: <52D4A1BC.6090807_at_tpg.com.au>
I have only incidentally the chance to work with Exadata machines, mostly as "second opinion" to verify them before being taken into production. As such, I don't know whether the DMA would need much OS knowledge. In my travels, I found my knowledge and experience as a *NIX sysadmin invaluable in understanding what the cluster and it's component parts are doing. Do keep in mind that the "Machine" is in fact a complete subnet comprising several SUN servers and switches, mounted together in a rack and setup as a redundant hardware cluster. The DBA/DMA is usually required to manage the lot, as it presented as one machine, so hardware knowledge is a bonus.
I haven't read David's book (sorry, David...), but I found "Expert Oracle Exadata" by Kerry Osborne, Randy Johnson and Tanel Poder a very good starting point. It may be slightly outdated (describing the X2), but still good to understand the reasoning and principles that underlie the system.
"Oracle Exadata Recipies" by John Clarke is one that I've recently acquired, but had no chance to use it in earnest yet. It seem ok.
As Gleb Otochkin alluded, the standard setup is as a RAC. As such K. Gopalakrishnan's "Oracle Real Application Clusters Handbook" is also part of my library.
Hth,
Tony
On 14/01/14 02:35, David Fitzjarrell wrote:
> That depends on which role you are planning to assume -- one as a DBA or one as the newer DMA (Database Machine Adminsitrator):
>
> http://dfitzjarrell.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/to-dma-or-not-to-dma/
>
> I have found, through years of experience, that having a basic understanding of the SA tasks and the ability to undertake those tasks can make one a better DBA, although no formal requirement exists.
>
> I would recommend a book but I wrote it so I'll refrain from 'tooting my own horn'.
>
> David Fitzjarrell
> Primary author, "Oracle Exadata Survival Guide"
>
>
> On Monday, January 13, 2014 9:28 AM, Dba DBA <oracledbaquestions_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I have never used Exadata and neither has anyone on my team. From what I have been reading many of the exadata DBAs have quite a bit of SA knowledge as well. How much SA knowledge is required to exploit this? I work in a data center environment where we host DBs. There is a separate SA team. I have skimmed some of the docs and such.
>
> My understanding is that exadata is rather expensive so if our customers are going to request it they are going to expect us to fully exploit. I am trying to get an idea about what we have to learn to be able to meet customer expectations. The SAs are not going to be DBAs. Like most DBAs we know our way around unix. However, I know that some of you are DBA/SA crossovers.
>
> Any recommendation on resources other than the docs which is where I will start? I generally prefer recommendations on books before I buy. Do we need to gain more hardware knowledge as well? We currently support over 2000+ databases for many customers. This is a data center environment. Some of us focus on specific clients, but its not the same relationship that you have with a team in a 'project environment'
>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Tue Jan 14 2014 - 03:32:28 CET