Oracle High Performance Tuning for 9i and 10g

This is an excellent book for the new someone new to performance tuning. It gives very clear and simple explanation to the approach to PT. It is a good mix of technical scripts and verbose. The author is not too chatty neither he is boring. He brings out complex ideas in a simple way without too much of mathematical jargons. Definately recommended. Update ======= Well with all the tuning books available now... I would say this in not the top of the line performance book. Its good but if I could I would give 3.5 stars out of 5

In his book "Oracle High Performance Tuning for 9i and 10g", Mr Powell has provided a methodical framework for addressing a complex challenge by covering all three logical aspects - data model, SQL and physical - of tuning in highly readable and practical format. The difficulty in Oracle tuning stems from the fact that the process typically involves many skill sets - from data modeling to application development to database and network administration. In between, throw in the quintessential queueing theory, hardware advances, models in concrete, domain knowledge, etc. and it can really stretch both the depth and breadth of your team's or your capabilities and interests. Mr Powell was able to address most of these issues through invaluable pointers throughout the book and kept me interested to explore the pages. I was thus fortunate to find this book during the middle of a database migration project. Using it as a guide, I managed to put the principles (not heavy-duty theories) and working samples (yes! they worked beautifully) into action amid tight timelines. If you put in the time and effort to go through the chapters and examples, you will easily understand why I, who has for sometime stop buying IT books, consider this book as having one of the highest ROI in my library so far. Where I find useful, but not available, are the sample databases and perhaps the inclusion of graphical query paths in the samples to illustrate the design of SQL re-write. Overall, the book has offered a balanced, practical treatment of the subject in a concise, intelligent format. But above all and to me most important, it has been a pleasure to read. Thanks for the sharing and keep up the writing, Mr Powell!

Great examples, good explanations, worth the investment.As an author of Oracle books myself, I am hard to please. Mr. Powell has earned my respect with this book. He uses easy to follow examples and explanations throughout. At the same time, he does not over-simplify a complex topic. His work is based on solid research and experience in the field.

Database performance usually is a matter of concern to DBAs and programmers alike. This book covers nicely the issue from all points of view, and provides answers and "things to look at" which most probably will help you sorting out a performance problem.It is well written, helpful and very easy to follow. A must.

This is an extensive, even scholarly, book by Mr. Powell. He has obviously spent a great deal of effort to explain clearly and concisely some of the most important aspects of Oracle performance tuning. Some areas that I found especially interesting were his explanations of the various lock mechanisms in the Oracle engine. The book is also very extensively illustrated with examples of execution plans, and many SQL examples. Another area of great use is the explanation of Partitioning-an area that most of us find very confusing. Mr Powell wisely points out the advisability of developers getting the design right in the first place-preventative medicine, as it were. The book is also interspersed with explanations of 10g additions. For instance, he shows the improvements to the Wait Event interface starting with 10g. Toward the end of the book, Gavin illustrates how to use the interesting utility Statspack. All in all, a very nice exposition of a very tough subject.