Using Oracle 8

Peter Kitson

ISBN : 0789719754

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Introduction

Using Oracle8 has task-oriented, easy-to-navigate tutorials and reference information presented in a logical progression from simple to complex tasks. It covers features of the program you use in your daily work. Examples are real life. You can work through the book lesson by lesson, or you can find specific information when you need to perform a job quickly.

Using Oracle8 is divided into nine parts:

• Part I, Building Your Oracle Database. Part I introduce you to relational databases in general and to the basic tools used to build and manage an Oracle8 database, whether you're creating a database from scratch or converting from an earlier release.
• Part II, Customizing Your Oracle Database. Part II shows you how to build the appropriate storage units for your database objects. It's here you also find out how to manage the shared structures required for Oracle to function in the multi-user environment, including redo log files, rollback segments, and temporary segments.
• Part III, Managing Data and Index Segments. Part III provides the details needed to build Oracle database tables and indexes, including information on sizing them and assigning appropriate physical characteristics and alternate structures. You find out about the logical and physical design of data and index information, including optional segment structures such as index-organized tables.
• Part IV, Managing Users and Database Security. Part IV explains how to create user ids and manage user access to the database and its objects. You are also introduced to methods for monitoring and controlling resource usage. The chapters in this section include detailed information on the new password-management features introduced in Oracle8.
• Part V, Backing Up Your Oracle Database. Part V covers the various options available for protecting your database contents against loss due to hardware failure. You learn how to restore data that's lost when failures occur. The chapters in this section also cover the Recovery Manager tools, introduced as part of Oracle8.
• Part VI, Tuning Your Database Applications. In Part VI you learn about the various tools and techniques that DBAs and application developers should consider when building and tuning applications. These include performance-analysis tools and various resource-saving design considerations such as indexes, clustering techniques, optimizer selection, and constraint management.
• Part VII, Tuning Your Database. Part VII addresses the issues related to gathering and analyzing performance information about your database. The chapters in this section include information on tools available for these tasks, as well as how to interpret various statistics available to you and how to respond to performance degradation caused by various factors.
• Part VIII, Using Additional Oracle Tools and Options. In Part VIII you learn about the various tools provided by Oracle as part of the base product that can help you manage your database and the data within it, plus network access between your applications and the database. This section also summarizes the features available with the products that you can optionally license for added functionality if needed, such as Oracle Parallel Server and the Object option.
• Additional information available at our Web site (www.mcp.com/info). Appendix A, 'Essential PL/SQL: Understanding Stored Procedures, Triggers, and Packages,' includes a comprehensive guide to the PL/SQL language and the database constructs you can build with it. Appendix B, 'What's New to Oracle8,' lists the Oracle8's new features for those of you who are familiar with earlier Oracle releases and just need to identify what changes you may want to study and implement in your own database. Appendix C, 'Installing Oracle8,' covers the basic steps you need to follow in order to install a new version of the database, whether you're upgrading from Oracle7 or installing Oracle8 directly.