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

pel_at_spaceship.com (Paul Lange) wrote in message news:<6ea0366c.0110010844.5a563bec_at_posting.google.com>...
> 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?

Reading and doing, preferably with a helpful experienced DBA available!

>
> 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.

Get ahold of the Oracle Concepts manual. Look on your docs cd. Also, all the Oracle docs are available at otn.oracle.com, registration required, I believe.

> * Basic maintenance skills for starting and stopping a database, and
> examining basic operating features of the database.

Get one or more of the administration books such as by Ault or Loney.

> * 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.

Highly recommend the Oracle Press Tuning Oracle book by Corey etal. It is especially good for just sitting down and plowing through all the stuff. There is a troubleshooting book from Oracle Press, but I'm not sure how good it would be to _learn_ troubleshooting.

> * Basic backup and recovery methods.

Oracle Press Backup book by Velpuri. The docs are good too, but have too much stuff about RMAN and obscure things.

> * Basic creation and modification of database tables.

Do it!

>
> 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.

Register at metalink.oracle.com, and drill down to the dba scripts. There are many examples of how to do things like assess the general state of a db (some have come down from an obsolete collection called Tales From The Scrypt, so a search of TFTS can be interesting). You will need a customer support identifier to get started, See Your Database Administrator.

>
> 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.

Concepts manual, and if you are into linux go for the LCIS book with a cd for running oracle (probably want to use SUSE for that OS).

Training is ok, IF you can get someone else to pay for it, and are the sort to get a lot out of those things.

>
> I appreciate any helpful responses to this matter.

HTH Received on Tue Oct 02 2001 - 18:31:37 CDT