Oracle Essentials: Oracle Database 10g

This book is for people of all levels of Oracle experience and includes database administrators, system administrators, and application developers. Even though there is some introductory material that more experienced people might be tempted to skip over, it is probably best to go through the book from beginning to end just to make sure you don't miss some minute point of Oracle. It does not try to teach database theory, though. You need to be familiar with that in a general sense before you read this book. The main purpose of this fourth edition is to add information relevant to the newest release, Oracle Database 11g. Appendix A is handy in that it contains, in a condensed form, what is new for 11g. The book manage to concentrate on the most important Oracle issues and principles. It isn't possible to write one book that encompasses everything about Oracle, particularly syntax details, so you'll need to refer to Oracle documentation for complete details. The following is the table of contents of the book, which is currently not included in the product description: Chapter 1. Introducing Oracle Section 1.1. The Evolution of the Relational Database Section 1.2. The Oracle Database Family Section 1.3. Summary of Oracle Database Features Section 1.4. Database Application Development Features Section 1.5. Database Connection Features Section 1.6. Distributed Database Features Section 1.7. Data Movement Features Section 1.8. Database Performance Features Section 1.9. Database Management Features Section 1.10. Database Security Features Section 1.11. Oracle Development Tools Section 1.12. Embedded Databases Chapter 2. Oracle Architecture Section 2.1. Databases and Instances Section 2.2. Deploying Physical Components Section 2.3. Instance Memory and Processes Section 2.4. The Data Dictionary Chapter 3. Installing and Running Oracle Section 3.1. Installing Oracle Section 3.2. Creating a Database Section 3.3. Configuring Oracle Net Section 3.4. Starting Up the Database Section 3.5. Shutting Down the Database Section 3.6. Accessing a Database Section 3.7. Oracle at Work Chapter 4. Oracle Data Structures Section 4.1. Datatypes Section 4.2. Basic Data Structures Section 4.3. Additional Data Structures Section 4.4. Extended Logic for Data Section 4.5. Data Design Section 4.6. Constraints Section 4.7. Triggers Section 4.8. Query Optimization Section 4.9. Understanding the Execution Plan Section 4.10. SQL Advisors Section 4.11. Data Dictionary Tables Chapter 5. Managing Oracle Section 5.1. Manageability Features Section 5.2. Oracle Enterprise Manager Section 5.3. Fragmentation and Reorganization Section 5.4. Backup and Recovery Section 5.5. Working with Oracle Support Chapter 6. Oracle Security, Auditing, and Compliance Section 6.1. Security Section 6.2. Auditing Section 6.3. Compliance Chapter 7. Oracle Performance Section 7.1. Performance Tuning Basics Section 7.2. Oracle and Disk I/O Resources Sect

I've used a number of different database systems before, but never had the pleasure of working with Oracle's software. I installed a development version of 10g and was somewhat taken aback when the installer proudly announced "169 products installed." I glumly thought "Gee, hope the database server is in there somewhere." I picked up a copy of Oracle Essentials and found it to be an excellent introduction to Oracle. The book is short enough to read end-to-end, but it is packed with information about Oracle's architecture and most of those 169 products. The authors write lucidly, in an easily accessible style. Even though the book is eminently readable, it doesn't "talk down" to the reader, nor skimp on details. There is surprising depth in so short a book with such broad scope! As another reviewer mentioned, there is essentially nothing about SQL and PL/SQL in this book. That's okay with me - there are plenty of excellent texts on those two topics. Oracle Essentials claims it is "What you need to know about Oracle Database architecture and features." I agree completely!

I code databases for a living and use Oracle quite often. I picked this book to increase my knowledge on the oracle database partly out of curiosity. The book is refreshingly small (~300 pages) but make no mistake, this doesn't leave many essentials out. It doesn't cover SQL and PL/SQL though. It's a one trick pony which is very good at what it advertises i.e. good intro to database architecture and features

As with most O'Reilly books, Oracle Essentials is crammed full of information. The book is geared for DBA's, system admins and developers. The book assumes some general knowledge of databases, but most concepts are explained as they come up. For example, there are sidebars for normalization and RAID.The third edition is updated for Oracle 10g. Since the authors point out which features are specific to Oracle 8i, 9i and 10g, this book is just as useful for older versions of Oracle. For readers of previous editions, the book has an appendix directing the reader to the new 10g content.For developers, using Java with Oracle is explained. There are good sections on SQLJ, JDBC, EJBs and Java stored procedures. For DBA's and system admins, the book covers architecture, failover and deployment.The book uses a good mix of text, diagrams and examples. Many cutting-edge topics are explained with a non-platform specific background of the topic and examples. These topics include OLTP, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence and of course - Grid Computing.I found the list of major technologies to be extremely useful. Chapter 1 has a paragraph on Oracle features in the database, application server and standalone development tools. The rest of the book focuses on the database itself. This book covers almost everything you would want to know about Oracle and provides references for more detail on each topic. If you are only going to buy one Oracle book, this is the one to buy.

I approach each release of Oracle with trepidation simply because each release contains so many new features and with it a considerable amount of documentation.I think everyone who is considering Oracle 10g should definitely purchase Oracle Essentials - Oracle Database 10g. It succinctly gives the highlights of the database in general as well as specific new features in an easily digestable manner. It not only explains the parts and pieces of the database, but why and how they are used. This book is heaven sent for me. This compact book gives me everything I need to know in one terrific volume and encourages me to delve further in the specific areas I need to know.As for one of the authors, Bob Stackowiak, I have known him for many years and have always been impressed with his breadth of knowledge on the database. To recently discover that he is one of the authors of this book makes it all the more compelling to read.I highly recommend this book.