What is this course about?

The guaranteed continuous operation of Oracle databases is a critical requirement of today's successful companies. The success of the database administrator is vital to ensuring the quality, integrity and availability of a company's data.

This course provides you with valuable experience performing the critical tasks of safeguarding and tuning Oracle databases. Through extensive hands-on exercises, you learn how to cope with a range of disasters and performance issues. Detailed aspects of server-side tuning are addressed, as well as hints on performing root cause analysis.

This course does not cover parallel server technologies (e.g., RAC) or its grid concepts. However, the course concentrates on the some of the major new features of Oracle Database 10g such as ADDM, ASM, LogMiner, and other 10g enhancements. The course concentrates on issues that DBAs most commonly face and the skills and techniques required to maintain an efficient and highly available system.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is designed for professionals who are or will be involved in the administration of an Oracle 10g database, including:

• Database administrators who have had experience administering Oracle databases and who need to learn how to backup, recover and tune Oracle databases
• Application or systems developers who are adopting the role of a DBA, or who are interested in the techniques used to properly safeguard and tune an Oracle RDBMS
• Systems administrators who are often not DBAs or at least the primary DBA, who want to learn how to maintain, service and optimise database resources to allow an Oracle RDBMS to run on their machines effectively

What background should I have?

This is not an introductory course. Oracle database management experience or knowledge equivalent to Course 594, Oracle^® Database 10g Administration: Hands-On, is required. Knowledge of SQL equivalent to Course 593, Hands-On Oracle^® Database 10g: Backup, Recovery and Server Tuning, is helpful but not required.

How are Oracle8i, Oracle9i and Oracle 10g different?

In general, Oracle Database 10 g is a superset of Oracle9i, which is a superset of Oracle8i, containing additional functionality across a wide spectrum. The basic architecture has not changed, and most of the skills required to administer each version effectively are essentially the same.

What version of Oracle is used?

This course is currently running on Oracle10g, Release 2 on the Windows platform.

Is this course useful if I'm working with an earlier version of Oracle?

This course covers the protection and tuning of Oracle 10g databases.

Does this course cover grid computing and RAC?

This course covers fundamental backup, recovery and tuning techniques applicable to all Oracle environments. Grid computing and RAC are specialized installations requiring skills and knowledge beyond the scope of this course.

Will it matter if I use Oracle on a different platform, such as UNIX or VMS?

No, most of the topics covered are not operating system-specific. However, issues that are affected by the operating system are highlighted and the differences noted.

How much time is spent on each topic?

What kinds of hands-on exercises are included?

Approximately 40% of class time is devoted to hands-on exercises. Hands-on exercises focus on safeguarding the database using backup and recovery techniques, troubleshooting contention, and performing basic and advanced server tuning tasks including the transportation of tablespaces from one database to another. You accomplish full recovery from a range of failures, including database recovery, tablespace recovery, and recovery from the loss of redo log and control files. You analyse redo logs with LogMiner to back out specific transactions and also tune the buffer cache, shared pool and PGA for optimal performance. Finally, you find the root cause for a particular contention issue, and resolve the underlying problem using new features of Database Control.

Why should I take this course instead of a course offered by Oracle?

Learning Tree is dedicated to helping accelerate the careers of our clients by providing them with world-class technology and management training. Our independence from Oracle (and every other vendor) allows us to give an unbiased view of what works and what does not. This course is objective in its approach, having been developed independently from Oracle by industry experts who bring their real-world experience to the classroom.

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

Other courses in the Oracle Databases curriculum that may be of interest include:

• 593, Oracle® Database 10g: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction offers a comprehensive introduction to the relational features of Oracle Database 10g.
• 493, Oracle® PL/SQL Programming: Hands-On provides useful background knowledge for this course, including extensive practical experience writing PL/SQL programs using Oracle8i, Oracle9i and Oracle 10g. However, PL/SQL programming experience is not required for Course 518.
• 234, Developing SQL Queries for Oracle® Databases: Hands-On offers the skills needed to write robust, reliable and efficient SQL queries for Oracle8i, Oracle9i and Oracle 10g.
• 492, Application Development and Tuning for Oracle® Databases: Hands-On , provides the knowledge and skills needed to create powerful and secure Oracle database applications and tune them for optimal performance.