Expert Oracle Practices: Oracle Database Administration from the Oak Table

David M. Abercrombie said
I found the first Oak Table book, "Oracle Insights, Tales of the Oak Table" to be inspirational, practical, and fun to read. That was a very rare combination, so I eagerly read this new book as soon as it became available. Also, since the authors are all very active contributors to the Oracle community, I was very interested in what they would write in this collaborative forum. I was not disappointed!

This book covers a wide variety of critically important topics. Each chapter author is a recognized expert in their field, and each chapter is infused with practical, real-world experience. Each chapter includes illustrative and informative examples. The topics cover a very wide range: design, troubleshooting, monitoring, tuning, firefighting, very large databases, running on Windows, cloud computing, and security. Most of the chapters are technical, but plenty of organizational and collaborative advice is also included. Although it is unlikely that your work spans all of these topics, you will certainly find direct and immediate benefit from one or more of the chapters. Reading the other chapters is an excellent and easy way to broaden your outlook and improve your skills.

A book like this, written independently by sixteen authors, with each chapter addressing a different topic, has a real potential to be scattered and incoherent. This book does not fall prey to that danger. Instead, this book has a very coherent and cohesive flavor, probably due to the shared vision of the Oak Table Network. What seems to bind these authors together is a scientific spirit, grounded in empirical, verifiable, real-world experience. Also, these authors are all very active contributors to the Oracle community, so they know how to collaborate, explain, and educate. Moreover, they do this with a sense of fun and adventure! This spirit of joyful sharing, combined with practical expert advice, sets this book apart. It is required reading for all serious DBAs.