5 comments about Oracle Performance Troubleshooting: With Dictionary Internals SQL & Tuning Scripts (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. This book is chock-full of the kind of everyday information I need to get ,and keep, my databases running at peak performance. Schumacher took all the guesswork out of my home-grown scripts by providing the very one's I had been in search of. When it comes to Oracle tuning, this is the first book I'll open.



2. I admit that I don't fully understand Oracle tuning, but this books has made my life easier. This author clearly explaines the problem and them shows working scripts that I was able to run on my own system. The code was easy to run and, aling with the explainations, I have been able to troubleshoot sevral performance problems. I also like the price. At half the cost of other Oracle tuning books, this was a good value. I have not yet read it cover-t-cover, but I plan to, so I can start to understand the whole picture.



3. This book is clear and easy to read.

   I did have some problems getting to the source code. But a simple e-mail to Rampant TechPress (the publisher) took care of that in less than a day.

   Overall the book is good for a beginner just starting to learn about tuning.

   For more experience DBA's this is more of a review and a reminder of basic performance tuning.

   I was disappointed in that I was looking for more insight on what to do after you find the problems.




4. I was happy to see a book on Oracle troubleshooting because I have been in trouble before and had no scripts to run to detect poblems or troubleshoot the Oracle problem. After downloading the scripts I now have an arsenal of tools to run whenwher I have problems.

   The text itself is easy to read and clear, and Schumacher has done an excellent job in explaining the concepts and troubleshooting areas. I highly recommend this text for Oracle DBA's who need to keep their systems running during emergencies and who lack troubleshooting experience.




5. This book is another in the series of technical volumes published by "Rampant Techpress," published by Don Burleson. The purpose of this book by Robin Schumacher is to suggest and illustrate a robust, comprehensive performance tuning methodology.

   With this methodology in hand, the author then provide examples and scripts to show how this works in practice. Robin points out the importance of proactively monitoring a database, and modeling database performance. He shows the difference between two key ways to approach performance tuning: Ratio based versus Bottleneck Analysis. Each have their place, he shows.

   For instance, he notes that Ratios are good for getting a quick "bird's eye" view of the performance. He correctly cautions the reader, in the section entitled "The Dangers of Blanket Ratios," about overly simplistic reliance on simple ratios.

   I found the discussion of the V$Sql_Plan view especially helpful. I admit that I have not used this in my own performance troubleshooting. After reading this book, I see that I have really missed out on a powerful tactic! Robin shows how to use this view to best effect. He includes numerous scripts, which are available from the Rampant website (I successfully downloaded all the scripts without a hitch).

   For example, in the script "9iCartSql" Robin shows how easy it is to find completed queries that used Cartesian Products as part of the execution plan. He points out that this could be an indication of improper join syntax. In another script, he shows how to get a list of the exact SQL that caused scans of large tables. In another example, he introduces the new view V$Sql_Plan Statistics, and illustrates a way to obtain the exact statistics for each step in the execution plan for all SQL executed on the instance.

   Do you get the idea? A lot of good ideas, along with the exact scripts to use. All in all, an impressive volume to add to your DBA "Tool Kit." I found the discussions clear and to the point, and intend to use many of the the numerous, practical scripts provided with this book.

   As Mr Schumacher points out in Chapter 1, "The IT consultants who make the really big money are the ones who can take a lethargic system and quickly turn it into one that runs as fast as greased lightning." Thank you, Robin, for heading us in the right direction!

2 comments about Oracle RAC & Grid Tuning with Solid-state Disk: Expert Secrets for High Performance Clustered Grid Computing (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. I got this book as a vendors prize at Oracleworld and I was suprized to learn that SSD is not just a flash in the pan. I do not recommend hardware, but I had great success with this approach. Since I did not pay for my copy I wanted to give back, so I highly recommend this one as a worthwhile read.



2. Solid-state Disk for OLTP application using Oracle as database server give us breath taking releave.

No comments about Siebel CRM 100 Success Secrets - 100 most asked questions on Siebel Customer Relationship Management Applications covering Oracle enterprise CRM, On Demand software and Business Intelligence.

1 comments about Big Shots, Business the Dell Way: 10 Secrets of the World's Best Computer Business.

1. The ten secrets of success of Dell Computer Corporation, as described by the author in this book, are: mass customize; get rid of inventory; love your suppliers; but love your employees even more; be direct; you are your customers; never stop improving; think and act global; stay true to your talents.
   
   What I liked most in this book is the chapter about the employees and Michael Dell's relationships with them. The chapter describes that Michael Dell sees himself in a partnership with his employees, one built on bringing the very best to the team. His goal is to hire those not only with the competences to fill current jobs but also with the potential to fill jobs in the future as the company grows. Michael Dell sees his long-term attitude towards hiring as an additional competitive advantage of Dell Computer, a part of its value chain. It is so responsible for Dell Computer's culture of excellence that Michael Dell takes an active role in meeting with job candidates, including summer interns, to determine if they have the capacity to understand company's strategy and if they can help that strategy evolve. In essence, Michael Dell recruits for succession, and in fact at Dell succession planning is institutionalized, each manager being responsible for finding and developing his or her own successor.
   
   The other chapters were little bit tedious for me.
   
   I can recommend "The world is flat" by Thomas L. Friedman in addition to this book. "The world is flat" also have a lot of information about Dell Computer and its strategy, but in a more detailed and vivid way. If you have read "The world is flat" first, you may even skip "Business the Dell Way".

5 comments about The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams.

1. This was one of the best Silly Valley stories I've read yet. Kaplan does a very good job offering a historical and chronological storyline that educates the reader while holding interest. Hence an educational book that also happens to be very unique and authentic.



2. "The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams" is a well written description of Silicon Valley at it's peak. It describes the culture of the valley during the nineties. It is an interesting peek into the a world of driven software developers and venture capitalists and everyone else in their galaxies. It focuses on companies and names we've all heard of: Apple, Oracle, Netscape, Microsoft, Intel, and many more. For anyone in the technology industry, this book is a good window onto the 90s - pre dotcom mania.



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. For anyone interested in the culture of Silcion Valley it is a must read. Yes, as other reviewers pointed out it jumps around quite a bit. Both in terms of pace and interest. However, taken as a whole it provides exciting stories of busines, personal flare, finance, and technology. A good read for anyone with at least a vague interest in the subject matter.



4. I believe this is the only book I have ever literally thrown across the room. Where to begin describing its offensiveness? Let's see....It purports to be about Silicon Valley (I think)and yet completely misses the point of the place. Silicon Valley did not become the place it did because wealthy VCs attended charity events and had breakfast at Buck's. It was a great deal of study and hard work that got us here -- topics clearly far beyond Kaplan's breezy competence.
   
   People who admire Paris Hilton will probably like this book, too. It's pitched to her level.



5. "The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley Of Dreams" by David A. Kaplan is amazing. It tells of so many amazing stories of how technology has advanced so far, and of the people and companies that helped it happen. One great story is how MS-DOS beat out the CP/M operating system in the early days of computing. Another intriguing story told in this book is the rise and fall of Netscape, which was, at one point in time, the world's leading web browser software, and had an amazing history with its stock price. There is also a very interesting chapter in this book about the "KT Fund" which is now a prestigious and very successful investment fund that has many very wealthy people investing in it, such as Bill Gates, Steve Wozniac, Paul Allens, and more. A good read, though a little fast because you cannot put it down! Overall, I recommend this book strongly.

5 comments about Oracle Job Scheduling: Creating Robust Task Management with dbms_job and Oracle 10g dbms_scheduler (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. Managing jobs in Oracle 9i and below was a pretty straight forward process; start the job queue processes and submit a PL/SQL Block using dbms_job. If you wanted any level of detail you had to wrap the dbms_job functionality around a package and some other tables. Job scheduling was basic and it generally worked. Any complicated scheduling or interaction with the OS and you were out of luck and had to revert to cron.
   
   I'm not sure what I expected when I started reading Oracle Job Scheduling, by Dr. Tim Hall, a few days ago. I've got a decent handle on dbms_job and have used it extensively for all sorts of maintenance tasks. How different could job scheduling in 10g be? Believe me, it's different.
   
   Dr. Hall explains how the new dbms_scheduler packages works and the details of each call. In addition he explains in detail how the new INTERVAL type works and gives very through examples. Chapter 4 is by far the most valuable chapter as it explain four different methods to schedule dependant jobs. The examples in this chapter are an extension of Tims experience in the real-world implementing solutions. Later on, the book explains about how to monitor the new scheduler and how to view the job logs.
   
   I've got to admit I breezed over the sections on OEM and OS Scheduling. I don't use OEM and there's nothing I really need to know about cron.
   
   This book was a good read. Don't get me wrong, it's no A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs and Me. It's a technical book through and through. I would definitely recommend it if you are planning on using the Oracle job scheduler to implement complex business schedules.
   
   Oh, and by about the third time I saw:
   -- ****************************************************
   -- Copyright 2005 by Rampant TechPress
   -- This script is free for non-commercial purposes
   -- with no warranties. Use at your own risk.
   --
   -- To license this script for a commercial purpose,
   (...)-- ****************************************************
   
   I was ready to barf.



2. Tim Hall is the brains behind http://www.oracle-base.com and has produced more tips and explanations over the years than most in the Oracle community.
   
   This book is his first and covers the small but really rather crucial area of scheduling systems administration tasks using the Oracle schedulers.
   
   The book does a good job of covering the capabilities of the scheduler and does come with some ready worked scripts. The combination of the two of these should ensure that by the time you have worked through the examples you are able to schedule your own tasks reliably and effectively.
   
   I was somewhat distracted by the cartoons that introduce each chapter and by the repeated printing of the same legal disclaimer at the top of each example script. In places two the writing style was clear but rather ponderous - reading more like a manual than an addition to the manual set.
   
   Overall then the book does what it sets out to do, but in places both the writing and , presumably, house style detracted from the content.



3. This book has pretty good examples of using the scheduler package. It dealt with the time-based scheduling very well. However, Oracle 10gR2 has event-based scheduling also which is a very powerful feature and which is what more people will be interested in. Hopefully, there will be a new revision to this book pretty soon incorporating event-based scheduling.



4. I bought this book after browsing the DBMS_SCHEDULER sections of the 10.2 manuals. I didn't find anything that wasn't already better explained in the manuals. A lot of DBMS_SCHEDULER functionality was missing (e.g. creating job chains).



5. In answer to some previous reviews, the book was written against 8i, 9i and 10gR1. The book was finished and with the publishers before the release of 10g Release 2, so it doesn't contain event based scheduling.
   
   The scheduler updates in 10gR2 are explained on my website.
   
   Cheers
   
   Tim...
   PS. I rated this post to match the current average rating, so as not to affect the overall rating of this product :)

No comments about Oracle Workflow Handbook.

5 comments about Expert Oracle9i Database Administration.

1. I just got this book from the library and I decided to read through it before I buy. I think I will buy a copy of it. The book touched pretty much all the areas of Oracle 9i. It is a book to have on your desk as key reference. I will recommend this book to new DBA. The author did a pretty good job. The book seems too big but very useful. I give 4 stars.



2. I am a MS SQL DBA learning Oracle and this was the first book I read after going through the Oracle's official curriculum. Here are my thoughts.

   1)This book is definitely not for the beginners. I highly recommend you start with a more basic book that gives you an overview of Oracle. Oracle tools are highly unintuitive and using them can be a frustrating experience especially for MS SQL DBAs *smirk*. Learning to just to connect to an Oracle database is a learning experience that will take knowledge on how Oracle's network and security function.

   2)If you already have a working knowledge on how to operate an Oracle database, this book will no doubt provide a more solid foundation for your knowledge (except RAC). I particularly found its chapters on RMAN and IMPORT/EXPORT utilties particularly helpful.

   3)Perhaps the best part of this book is that it encompasses what the author believes is the most essential knowledge to becoming a highly competent Oracle DBA. The book does not try to be a reference for every Oracle topic. Instead, the author has smartly picked the most important information needed and presented them in a readable format.

   4)My only issue with this book is that it is wordy. The book is 1200 pages long and it could easily have been 1000 pages or fewer.




3. This is a great book. All Oracle people must have this.



4. It covers majority of the database topics and is a very useful reference.



5. An excellent book covering all essential DBA topics for Oracle 9i Administration. Explained very well covering In-depth details, Illustrations and examples makes this book invaluable. I use it as a true source of reference and I will strongly recommend this book.

5 comments about The Art and Science of Oracle Performance Tuning.

1. Great book,nice and easy to follow approach,fine life examples.

   Among other things the author very intelligently also reiterates

   the importance of a good self image and the importance of a

   good relationship to co-workers in a very casual,realistic and

   non intrusive manner




2. The technical Oracle performance tuning section doesn't start until Chapter 5. The first 94 pages of the book is spent on topics such as "Maintain a Healthy Skepticism","Blame should be Avoided","The Cost of a Poor Working Relationship", and "The Universal Law of Reciprocity". Although the author's advice on these matters is sound, the first 94 pages clearly does not provide what the users are looking for.
   
   The crown jewel of this book is its technical explaination of wait events. Its explaination of v$SQL, v$system_event, v$session_event, and V$Session_wait tables is well worth your money and your time. If you do not know of these tables, then do yourself and your Oracle users a great service and buy this book and master its contents. You will not regret it.
   
   The weakspot of this book is in the resolution of Oracle's slow performance. Although the book provides strong hints that most Oracle issues can be resolved with better indexing and index hints, the book does not emphasize it as much as it should. It also doesn't provide a whole lot of suggestions on how to optimize the SGA.



3. This book is a great place to start to learn about performance tuning for Oracle. The book covers the different type of performance tuning methods in a neutral and matter of fact manner. I like the candidness of the author and the fact that he does not push or suggest one method is better than any other. Use this book to start to understand the different methods then move on to more in depth books on a particular performance tuning method. Take a moment and look at the Table of Contents



4. Lawson gives the Oracle DBA many useful ideas on customising your Oracle database. He pretty much assumes you already possess a reasonable background in Oracle. There is no wasted space on elementary SQL or Oracle tasks.
   
   Perhaps the key chapters are 7, "Oracle Pathologist" and 8, "Analysing SQL Bottlenecks". Later chapters add important refinements. But if you are in search of quick gains, chapters 7 and 8 could be the most fruitful. The ideas in those might not have to involve a major overhaul of your architecture.



5. This is not a highly technical Oracle book but it does demonstrate how many of the Oracle features rely on intuition instead of science. It is not the kind of book that you will refer to later, but it is an excellent one time read

5 comments about Under the Radar: Starting Your Internet Business without Venture Capital.

1. I am one of the featured case studies in "Under the Radar," so you could say I'm biased. That said, I *really* wish this book had been available when I started my first Internet company. It has lots of great "from the trenches" advice, from developing your strategy to recruiting the right people to courting investors to designing your web site to... you get the picture.

   The only quibble I have is at the very end, when the author suggests that technology and statistics may open up the investment pool to "Under the Radar" companies by allowing investors to better manage risk (i.e. make investment decision on more than just "gut feel"). That may be so, but his examples -- a computer that can beat the world's best Othello player, automated underwriting of consumer loans -- are less than persuasive because they deal with relatively simple problem sets (winning a game based on probability, making a loan based on a few easily defined credit characteristics). The profile of a successful startup contains many, many hard-to-quantify attributes (including luck) and they are often mutually exclusive. For example, as an investor do you look for a charismatic CEO like Steve Jobs or a reclusive techno-genius like Seymour Cray? The answer is both. I suspect we're a long way away from a reasonably reliable system for predicting startup success. (Witness the stock market, where the majority of professional fund managers fail to outperform the averages even though they have a wealth of data and modeling technologies at their disposal.)

   But this is just a quibble, and an irrelevant one at that. The focus of this book is how to start a successful business, not picking winners and losers. Whether you're already on your third Internet business or just thinking about making the leap for the first time, this book is a must read.




2. Arnold Kling is right on.

   The examples and suggestions provide business guideposts to starting and growing an innovative company on the Internet. Under the radar is that vast space of million and multi-million dollar niches that don't qualify for the VC or IPO. This is the space where we can do well for others, make money, and not get trampled by the elephants. The area that Arnold Kling describes is even riper since the dot com bubble broke.

   Buy this book for the chapter about the economics of VC financing alone. It is a clear short demonstration of why VC financing is unsuitable for the majority of startups (and perhaps is a quick way ruin a good thing).

   Get some experience without having to live through it all.




3. Twenty-five case studies of businesses that started without venture capital on the Internet, how they grew and what sorts of problems they ran into along the way.(Case no. 19 is about MSEN, the ISP I was involved in in 1991-1995, and I was interviewed for the book.) A well-researched book on lots of issues facing the small internet business, made even more relevant by the drying up of venture capital.



4. This book should be titled - "I got lucky with a web site in the '90s"

   His title suggests that he has insight into how one could use true bootstrap techniques to get a company started. Yet, in one of his ten or fifeteen bullets about how to start a business successfully, he discusses the topic "when to line up funding". How under the radar is that?!

   I would have been more impressed to learn that Mr Kling understood and articulated how to start a business using founding customers or how he worked the corporate banking system to gain access to lines of credit. I think Homefair was a great idea, but 99% of most net businesses today can not be started that cheaply. Same goes for the dozens of Web Design Firms he cites as success stories (Most were bought by companies like IXL, USWeb (Which became MarchFirst), Homestore and where all know where these have ended up.

   I could continue about the lack of flow or organization in the book itself but I feel the description of lack of useful content is plenty for this review. I was truly disappointed with this book.




5. As a business owner, I am quite pleased with the information I was able to extract from this book.

   It will not make you rich overnight, but it will explain patiently the unique challenges of starting and operating an Internet-based business.

   Not all ideas are VC-worthy and this book describes the basic VC premises.

   The case studies are quite in-depth and definitely will help you avoid same mistakes. The author does not shy away from early failures and fatal choices of wrong business partners.

   In short, you'll enjoy the book and learn many things. I highly recommend it to any enterpreneur.