Re: DBA and certification questions?

        I know where you are coming from because I have been there. I got started as in database administration because I was running a project and didn't want my developers to spend time learning new skills and doing things other than what they were hired to do.

        In your shoes I would invest in two books (to start off with) DBA 101 by Theriault, Carmichael, and
Viscusis and the Oracle DBA Handbook by Loney (and if for 8i Theriault). DBA 101 will get you off the ground quickly and painlessly and keep you, and your database, out of trouble. Once you have the routine stuff down pat you can afford to take the time to really dig into the DBA Handbook.

        One other thing that I strongly recommend is that you have the company acquire a PC and that you install the same version(s) of Oracle that your product uses. Use this machine as your personal lab.  Do things like sinulate a media failure by deleting a database file and learn how to recover. Put a healthy set of tables and data on your lab machine and then experiment with the impact of varying different Oracle initialization perameters. You will quickly and, relatively, painlessly learn what you really need to know.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

On 7/21/00, 8:08:10 PM, gdas <gdas1NOgdSPAM_at_yahoo.com.invalid> wrote regarding Re: DBA and certification questions?:

> Rich, I agree with almost everything you've said. I guess I
> have a conception or a misconception (depending on how you see
> it) that Oracle DBAs, correction GOOD Oracle DBAs are a step
> ahead in terms of their knowledge of the guts of oracle.
 

> I agree with you that anyone working with relational databases,
> whatever their role: DBA, C/S developer, web-developer
> etc...should have a fundamental knowledge of Relational DB
> concepts. I wouldn't want anyone who didn't touching my
> database either.
 

> From reading your response, I am my own ideal DBA candidate. I
> have a solid understanding of all the fundamentals of relational
> theory. I know sql like the back of my hand. I'm proficient in
> PL/SQL. I've a strong aptitude for learning new things and am a
> self-starter.
 

> But my whole career (until now), I've been a database
> application developer. Now I'm in this small startup company
> have had to assume the dba role along with maintaining a my
> developer status.
 

> I know nothing about the internals of oracle. There's the
> logical/abstract layer and the physical storage on the disks.
> Oracle has a layer in between there where it's real guts are.
 

> Things like blocks, buffers, extents, sga, shared pool,
> initrans, maxextents, nextextents, pctincrease etc, etc... are
> things that are completely foreign to me...Yet from my (limited)
> knowledge and reading of documentation here and there, it seems
> like these are areas where alot of performance gains or
> degradations can be realized or by setting things up properly
> you can prevent problems from occurring later down the road.
 

> Shouldn't a DBA should have understanding of those concepts of
> oracle's internals? It's a much lower-level knowledge base than
> any application developer would ever have.
 

> I'm purely engaging in intelligent discussion here and not being
> argumentative. I really appreciate the input.
 

> Gavin

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Received on Sat Jul 22 2000 - 00:00:00 CDT