Oracle Core: Essential Internals for DBAs and Developers

Oracle Core: Essential Internals for DBAs and Developers by Jonathan Lewis provides just the essential information about Oracle Database internals that every database administrator needs for troubleshooting—no more, no less.

Oracle Database seems complex on the surface. However, its extensive feature set is really built upon a core infrastructure resulting from sound architectural decisions made very early on that have stood the test of time. This core infrastructure manages transactions and the ability to commit and roll back changes, protects the integrity of the database, enables backup and recovery, and allows for scalability to thousands of users all accessing the same data.

Most performance, backup, and recovery problems that database administrators face on a daily basis can easily be identified through understanding the essential core of Oracle Database architecture that Lewis describes in this book.

• Provides proven content from a world-renowned performance and troubleshooting expert
• Emphasizes the significance of internals knowledge to rapid identification of database performance problems
• Covers the core essentials and does not waste your time with esoterica

What you’ll learn

• Oracle's core architectural foundations
• How much overhead is reasonable
• How to recognize when you're doing too much work
• How to predict bottlenecks and why they will happen
• How to minimise contention and locking
• Why concurrency can slow things down significantly

Who this book is for

Oracle Core: Essential Internals for DBAs and Developers is aimed at database administrators ready to move beyond the beginning stage of doing work by rote towards the mastery stage, in which knowledge of what needs to be done comes not from a set of recipe-style instructions, but rather from the intimate knowledge and understanding of the system to be managed. Experienced database administrators will also find the book useful in solidifying their knowledge and filling in any missing pieces of the Oracle Database puzzle.

About the Author

Jonathan Lewis has been working in the information technology industry for nearly 25 years, and has been using the Oracle relational database management system for more than 20. For the past 16 years, he has worked as a freelance consultant, often spending only one or two days at a time with any client to address critical performance problems. He also advises on design and implementation problems, and on how to make best use of the most appropriate Oracle features for a given project. Jonathan is also renowned throughout the world for his tutorials and seminars about the Oracle database engine and how to make best use of it. Having visited 42 countries at last count, his exceptional ability has earned him an O1 visa from the United States, allowing him to do consultancy and lecture work there. Jonathan has written two books about Oracle (Practical Oracle8i, Addison-Wesley, 2000; Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals, Apress, 2005), and has contributed to two others (Oracle Insights, Apress, 2004; Oracle Database 10g New Features, Oracle Press, 2004). He also writes regularly for the UKOUG magazine, and occasionally for other publications around the world. In the limited amount of time he has leftover, Jonathan also publishes high-tech Oracle articles on his blog.