Recommended Oracle Books for a MS SQL DBA?

[pabowen]

Greetings,

I am a Microsoft SQL DBA that deals with implementing new systems. My company recently has decided to port our products to Oracle. I have the duty of learning Oracle to begin rollout and testing of this new version of our software.

I am trying to find the best books on Oracle (version 8 or 9, don't really know the difference) and am looking for recommendations. My needs are to learn the administration of it, the differences between it and SQL 2000, and Oracles dialect of SQL.

What books does the collective recommend?

Thank You very much.
PBowen

 

[alexhu]

I would recommend the Concepts Manual as a start. Its free (!) at

http://technet.oracle.com/documentation/oracle9i.html

You will have to register on the site but it is free.

Go to Oracle9i Database Release 2 Documentation Library
and click 'view library'.

Browse the list of books and select CON from the grid

This manual shows you how Oracle works - Do not try to compare it to SQL Server - just read and accept that Oracle is done this way, otherwise you will get stuck very quickly into whys and wherefores

Alex

 

[markrem]

If you are starting a migration then you probably will be using 9i, not 8i. Huge differences, too numerous to mention here. I recommend the Oracle9i OCP study guides from Sybex. This is a boxed set of four books; the whole set usually sell for between $100 and $150 depending on how lucky you are. (You might be mostly interested in book 2.) This is a great set of books for anyone new to Oracle database administration, and a good desk reference for experienced DBAs too. Like all technical manuals there are mistakes, but unlike most books you can go to Sybex.com and print the erratta sheets.

 

[pabowen]

My conern with the Sybex books is the number of errors contained in them. I utilized their MCSE box set and it had so many errors I had to stop using them.

 

[jee]

My experience is that the manuals from Oracle are your best bet - and as said before they are free on the web at the Oracle Technet site (and others). If you want a real book you can hold in your hand, there are good books from Oracle Press/Osborne - "Oracle8 DBA Handbook", "Oracle9 DBA Handbook", for example.