Re: Are these too harsh ?

"Connor McDonald" <connor_mcdonald_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:9h7vqi$t8h$1_at_news.chatlink.com...
> I'm currently assisting in the interviewing for a DBA - the company is not
> looking for an "Einstein", but also not a junior, just someone who can do
> the job adequately. I was asked to come up with a list of DBA questions,
 so
> I produced a set that was created for exactly the same purpose at a
 previous
> site. But so far, no one has explained more than about 60% to an
 acceptable
> degree.
>
> So I'm looking for impartial opinions - are the following questions too
 hard
> ?
>
> Ta
> Connor
>
> - What are the various shutdown modes for the database?
> - Describe the basic mechanics of how hot backup works?
> - Besides the overhead of copying the files to disk/tape, what other
> performance issues are relevant during a hot backup, namely, why do many
> sites try to keep the time spent in backup mode to a minimum?
> - If I need to export a single 40G table, but only have 5 separate file
> system, each of only 10G, for the export file - what measures could you
> take?
> - What is the standby database feature and how does it work?
> - List the steps that Oracle goes through at database startup
> - What is the difference between a latch and a lock? Give an example of
 use
> of each
> - What is "spinning" as it pertains to a latch?
> - What are the positives and negatives of a large database block size on
> indexes?
> - What is the Oracle log buffer? Describe how Oracle uses latches as
> information is written into the log buffer
> - What is a function-based index and where could it be used?
> - What is the 8i feature "Native Dynamic SQL"?
> - What is a locally managed tablespace and list some benefits
> - How do I allow end-user queries against a standby database without
> damaging its ability to act as a standby?
> - What are the significant features of "analytic functions" available from
> 8.1.6 onwards ?
> - What does the "explain plan" command do
> - On a Unix machine, you see an oracle process using all of the CPU.
> Assuming it is due to a poorly written SQL, describe how to determine the
> SQL that is causing the problem, starting with the Unix process ID.
> - How would you determine the amount of I/O occurring on each datafile in
> the database ? If a great deal of this is occurring on the TEMP
 tablespace
> what is the likely cause ?
> - Describe the three buffer pools (available in 8.0 and 8i) and their uses
 ?
> - List the pros and cons of using bind variables
> - You issue 'select count(*) from my_table;' and it takes a tremendously
> long time, but then return no rows. What could be causing this ?
> - Describe the common RAID levels used for Oracle databases and how they
> typically pertain to performance
> - Describe how you would determine whether an index requires rebuilding ?
> - What are the advantages of creating code using packages over standalone
> PL/SQL procedures
> - Describe how and why a PL/SQL module could be defined as an autonomous
> transaction
> - Your database contains a view, which joins two tables. It is possible
 to
> insert, update, and delete rows from this view. - Describe two ways of
> implementing this.
> - What is an inline view?
>
> --
> ==============================
> Connor McDonald
>
> http://www.oracledba.co.uk
>
> "Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue..."
>
>

No they don't seem *tremendously* difficult to me, however I noticed that your last three questions are more geared towards a development role rather than a traditional DBA role (I don't wish to start a thread on DBA competancies here!), I do however personally know some DBAs who don't know that much about development aspects of Oracle, which is no fault of the DBA rather a product of the environment they are working in.

If however these are the sort of things that you would require your DBA to know to be able to work for you, then of course you're perfectly justified in asking these things.

John. Received on Mon Jun 25 2001 - 14:00:47 CDT