I am: Unix sysadmin. I need: Basic DBA skills

I am an experienced Unix system administrator. I need basic DBA skills to for rudimentary troubleshooting and manipulation of Oracle databases. How should I go about obtaining these skills?

Here's a list of my current skill set in regards to databases.
* I do not know much about databases, only VERY general concepts.

• I can use the SQLplus client and the basic structure of a SELECT statement, but it ends there.
• I can do a basic install of Oracle and heavily rely on instructions to start and stop a database.

Here's a list of skills I'm interested in having.
* A good conceptual understanding of databases and their elements.

• A basic understanding of how Oracle works and where it keeps the necessary files to databases, and how it generally interacts with those files.
• Basic maintenance skills for starting and stopping a database, and examining basic operating features of the database.
• Basic troubleshooting skills to assess general problems with a database, or at least to isolate an issue to a certain area or feature in an Oracle database.
• Basic backup and recovery methods.
• Basic creation and modification of database tables.

I am not interested in becoming a full time DBA, I just want the skills to do general assessment and handling of Oracle databases. Anything that exceeds these requirements will be handed to an experienced, full-time DBA.

I am not sure where to start, if there is a book I can look at that will get me on the right track, or if I should a training course or two.

I appreciate any helpful responses to this matter. Received on Mon Oct 01 2001 - 11:44:05 CDT