Oracle Essentials, 5th Edition

Chapter 5. Managing Oracle

Many Oracle users are not fully aware of system and Oracle Database management activities that go on around them. But effective database and infrastructure management is vital to providing a reliable, available, and secure platform that delivers optimal performance. This chapter focuses on how Oracle can be managed to ensure these virtues for your environment.

Much of the management responsibility usually falls upon the database administrator (DBA). The DBA is typically responsible for the following management tasks:

• Installing and patching the database and options

• Creating tables and indexes

• Creating and managing tablespaces

• Managing control files, online redo logs, archived redo logs, job queues, and server processes

• Creating, monitoring, and tuning data-loading procedures

• Adding users and roles and implementing security procedures

• Implementing backup, recovery, information lifecycle management, and high availability plans

• Monitoring database performance and exceptions

• Reorganizing and tuning the database

• Troubleshooting database problems

• Coordinating with Oracle Global Customer Support

Where Oracle’s engineered systems such as the Oracle Exadata Database Machine are deployed, DBAs often take on other responsibilities such as operating system monitoring and patching, management of storage, and hardware monitoring and troubleshooting.

Particularly in smaller companies, DBAs are often called upon to take part in database schema design and security planning. DBAs in ...