Re: Oracle DBA interview questions

In article <56qjvc$p4d_at_stc06.ctd.ornl.gov>, John Hough <q6y_at_ornl.gov> writes
>
>
>1. Have you ever installed an Oracle Release.
>
> If yes, what versions, operating systems. Explain what problems
> you encountered and how you went about solving them.
>
>What you are looking for here is confirmation that the person has good
>problem solving skills. If they installed anything other than Personal
>Oracle 7 and had no problems then I would wonder???
>
>2. Have you ever upgraded an Oracle Version
>
> If Yes, from what version to what version. What problems were
> encountered, how did you fix them.
>
>Again we are looking for experience and problem solving skills. Most of
>us that have upgraded a version have had some problem.
>
>3. Describe the types of oracle backups and generally when each would be
>used.
>
> hot, cold, export/import
>
>a general description here gives you a warm and fuzzy that they under
>stand how backup/recovery works.
>
>4. Have you ever had to recover a production database. If so how did
>you do it. If not I would have a trial scenario and ask how they would
>go about recovering.
>
>5. We have a instance that is "TOO SLOW" what would you do first to try
>to "FIX" this instance.
>
>Most tuning books suggest that you first look at tuning sql queries, but
>some general knowledge of v$ tables and how to check sga, shared pool,
>and db block buffers and use of utlbstat/utlestat would all be good
>indications that the prospect has some idea of how performance tuning is
>donw.
>
>I might even ask him as a followup what is his favorite Tuning Book. If
>he has one this is a good sign. If he doesn't he probably hasn't done
>much tuning.
>
>Sorry for the incomplete first post,
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>John Hough
>
Slightly off thread, sorry, but as a novice but enthusiastic DBA, I would be interested in recommendations for a tuning book. This seems to be the most difficult aspect on which to obtain information. We don't have too many problems tuning SQL, or the physical schema design, but good guidance on 'v$ tables and how to check sga, shared pool,db block buffers and use of utlbstat/utlestat' would be useful. We also find it difficult to guess what kind of hardware spec we'll need to run a given instance(s), and whether to allocate money to processor, memory or disk. (Every time we look it seems to be memory memory memory but I'm not sure it's as simple as that). Thanks in advance.

-- 
Paul Brewer