PL/SQL, Oracle's powerful procedural language, has been the cornerstone of Oracle application development for nearly 15 years. Although primarily a tool for developers, PL/SQL has also become an essential tool for database administration, as DBAs take increasing responsibility for site performance and as the lines between developers and DBAs blur.

Until now, there has not been a book focused squarely on the language topics of special concern to DBAs Oracle PL/SQL for DBAs fills the gap. Covering the latest Oracle version, Oracle Database 10g Release 2 and packed with code and usage examples, it contains:

• A quick tour of the PL/SQL language, providing enough basic information about language fundamentals to get DBAs up and running

• Extensive coverage of security topics for DBAs: Encryption (including both traditional methods and Oracle's new Transparent Data Encryption, TDE); Row-Level Security (RLS), Fine-Grained Auditing (FGA); and random value generation

• Methods for DBAs to improve query and database performance with cursors and table functions

• Coverage of Oracle scheduling, which allows jobs such as database monitoring and statistics gathering to be scheduled for regular execution

Using Oracle's built-in packages (DBMS_CRYPTO, DBMS_RLS, DBMS_FGA, DBMS_RANDOM, DBMS_SCHEDULING) as a base, the book describes ways of building on top of these packages to suit particular organizational needs. Authors are Arup Nanda, Oracle Magazine 2003 DBA of the Year, and Steven Feuerstein, the world's foremost PL/SQL expert and coauthor of the classic reference, Oracle PL/SQL Programming.

DBAs who have not yet discovered how helpful PL/SQL can be will find this book a superb introduction to the language and its special database administration features. Even if you have used PL/SQL for years, you'll find the detailed coverage in this book to be an invaluable resource.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 6 Ratings

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! - 2006-08-19
Reviewer Rating:
Are you a developer or database administrator? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Arup Nanda and Steven Feuerstein, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that allows you to take advantage of the PL/SQL-based functionality in the Oracle database that is the most critical for DBAs.

Nanda and Steven Feuerstein, begin by providing a whirlwind tour of the PL/SQL language, touching on all of the topics DBAs will need to become familiar with--from the basics of the PL/SQL block structure, identifier construction, and program data declarations, to the use of control and error-handling statements, to the construction of procedures, functions, packages, and triggers in PL/SQL. Then, the authors describe PL/SQL cursors and how you can improve database performance by taking advantage of such features as cursor reuse, cursor soft-parsing and soft-closing, and various characteristics of implicit cursors. Next, they explore the use of functions that can be used as data sources for queries and that are used frequently in Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) operations. The authors then explain how you can use Oracle's tools to build basic encryption and key management systems to protect sensitive data. They continue to explain how you can define policies on database tables so that you can restrict which rows particular users can see or change in those tables. Then, the authors show you how you can extend traditional Oracle auditing to capture both database changes and queries. Next, they discuss situations in which you may need to generate values. Finally, they describe the use of the DBMS_SCHEDULER package in scheduling jobs to be performed at regular intervals.

This most excellent book is here to help you get your job done. More importantly, this book is focused squarely on the language topics of special concern to DBAs.

Great Resource for Oracle DBAs - 2006-07-27
Reviewer Rating:
It's no surprise that learning Oracle is one of the most challenging things to do for any person that works in the IT field. This massive database application has a long and storied history, becoming one of the de facto standards for storing database on massive scales. A huge chunk of the web is stored on Oracle systems, and it's a system that keeps growing and expanding over time.

With the complexity involved, it's nice that a book like this has been written so that DBAs can quickly get their feet wet with Oracle and learn the ins and outs in an efficient manner. At a size of 400+ pages, this is a nice guide to learn the basics of becoming an experienced Oracle DBA. Containing 8 chapters that cover the basics, this book covers Oracle up to Database 10g Release 2. It's up to date, written well, and a perfect companion resource on any DBAs desk.

**** RECOMMENDED

Must have for 10g DBA's - 2006-01-24
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a must have for DBA's!

It highlights so many of the powerful features and functionality of the Oracle Database, encapsulated within the PL/SQL language, that the first 5 chapters is worth the entire cost of the book!
(Especially Chapter 3 - Table Functions!)

Not only is this a must have for DBA's, it should also be required reading for PL/SQL developers, data warehouse developers and database architects alike.

top shelf - 2008-07-25
Reviewer Rating:
I'm a working DBA but my exposure to PL/SQL has been light. This book not only teaches how to write the code but introduces better ways to perform typical tasks. Easily worth the money.

Excellent text - 2009-03-04
Reviewer Rating:
While I'm still in the rather lenghty 1st chapter, I can state this book is just what I needed. More readable and helpful than the documentation, with enough detail for the DBA and occasional programmer.

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