Re: How relevant is the underlysing OS?

> My question is, how transferable is knowledge of Oracle to the various
> Operating Systems it runs on. For example, if I were to become a DBA and
> worked in an NT environment, would I be able to be a DBA in a Solaris or
> Linux environment? Or would I also have to intimately know the underlying
> OS?

Most things that a DBA will do are not OS dependant. SQL is a standard and as such, you will not have to "re-learn" how to do things on a different platform. But there are some things that are platform dependent. Such as installing Oracle onto a system.  

> Maybe another way of asking this is, Do I need to be a SysAdmin before I
> think of becoming a DBA? I have a PC/LAN background, so I have a lot to
> learn about midrange/mainframe OS's and Oracle itself.

I'm not a SysAdmin by any stretch of the imagination. But I've leared a lot about the OS's that my DB's run on just by having to support Oracle.  

> I think I'm afraid if I learned all the basics and was going to try and
> switch careers, I'd go to a place with my new NT-based Oracle skills, and
> they'd sit me down in front of a Unix console and I wouldn't even know how
> to log in.

If you want some easy Unix experience, why don't you get ahold of a copy of Linux. While Linux is different from Solaris or AIX or IRIX, you'll at least be able to get a chance to try some of the basics (such as moving/copying files, changing password, etc.)

HTH,
Brian Received on Tue Oct 26 1999 - 07:45:36 CDT