HELP - Oracle is kicking my ass!!!!!

Hi,

I'm the new DBA of an Oracle database system running on a DEC Alpha machine running Digital Unix. I have been using svrmgrm to do dba-like things, but I'm confused on a few things. My former experience was on Informix systems, which seem to be different in some ways.

First, I can view table spaces, and datafiles, and such, but I'm never prompted to select a database per se. Where is the database? I don't even know how many databases we have set up? It's a small lab here, and I think there's only one, but none of the tools have a selection called "SELECT DATABASE". If I did have two databases, how would they be specified?

How does one create a database not-by-hand. Is there some automatic method?

I'm confused here because with Informix, the first thing you do is select a database to work with. I understand that in oracle, that you have table spaces, and then you have datafile (*.dbf files) within those table spaces. I'm assuming that a database is composed of tablespaces. Is this true.

Bottom line, I'm hung up on where the database is (I know that sounds weird), how to view their properties, how to modify them or create them in the first place. The highest level abstraction in the SVRMGRM GUI seems to be the tablespace.

Thanks for any help you can give.

mike vandy
mike_at_bgl.psycha.upenn.edu Received on Wed Jul 09 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT