Gaadha wrote on Amazon

I am very happy the way this book is written. It’s very concise but covers all the major topics that an Oracle programmer needs to know.One thing that specifically interests me is that each chapter is very small..so you really feel like completing a chapter!Great Work!!!

As companies are cutting back on training and trying to do more with less I expect we’re going to start to see more interest in tech books again, especially ones like this that help you do more with less!

Check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

Oracle EMEA has launched a pilot Web 2.0 program where a character called ‘The Oracle Node” can do a search on the entire OTN website for content you are interested in. This was created and aimed at developers to help encourage registration and downloads on OTN.

The program has a strong web 2.0 aspect with details about the Node on many of the networking websites. Since this is a pilot program, we thought you might be interested in getting involved with the project by suggesting new sources of information, building up and spreading of the Node virally. We welcome your feedback, suggestions and ideas you may have to help improve the Node.

Go ahead, click through and form your own opinion… All I can say is what the hell is Oracle thinking? If you can stomach the orbiting pod long enough to navigate to the end of one of these paths you’ll be faced with a sliding wall of nausea which may somehow contain some relevant information, but with no discernible organization.

I have come up with two acceptable explanations… Someone at Oracle just finished a class on Flash and needed a project, or someone at Oracle just finished a study on motion sickness and needed a project.

You can grow a beautiful garden out of a pile of shit, but it’s hard to see anything fertile about iamthenode.com at this point.

Excellent presentation
If you are working on Oracle products, you know problems can get complex and the internet will have million possible solutions, but if you are looking for just one that works you should own this book.

Thanks a lot Srinivas! This comment hits on one of the reasons I wrote the book: to give a coherent but concise treatment of shell scripting for Oracle while giving plenty of usable scripts to get people started quickly!

It’s been said that the database administrator (DBA) has three basic tasks. In decreasing order of importance, they are: protect the data, protect the data, and protect the data.

Although data integrity is clearly the #1 job (who cares if the database is available or fast if the data isn’t good), the DBA has many other jobs as well. Here’s a list of the actual tasks that a DBA performs. (Some duties are common to all DBAs, and others are only required in some database environments.)

Check out the full article where Bob goes on to touch on all the major areas of the typical DBA job including backup and recovery, security, upgrades, tuning and troubleshooting. If you’re looking for a job description for a DBA this is a very good one.

$ i=107
$ if [ $i -gt 100 ]
> then
> echo "Wow, i got all the way up to $i"
> else
> echo "i is only up to $i"
> fi
Wow, i got all the way up to 107
$ i=22
$ if [ $i -gt 100 ]
> then
> echo "Wow, i got all the way up to $i"
> else
> echo "i is only up to $i"
> fi
i is only up to 22

Here we see a simple if statement. When executed the expression within the brackets is evaluated to either true or false. If the expression is found to be true the commands after the then will be executed, otherwise the commands after the else are executed.

The expression shown here is the greater than expression (>). The symbols we typically use for greater than and less than have specific significance in the UNIX shell, so to compare values we use -gt for greater than and -lt for less than. Comparisons can also be made between strings of text. More information about comparing text and numbers can be found in my book.

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

A. Tucker “Rat” writes:

Oracle administrators of all levels will find benefit in this book. The author has put together the basics in shell scripting and OS fundamentals in aid of maintaining and monitoring scalable production Oracle environments. Each example is easy to read and follow and leaves the reader with room to explore and extrapolate on their own with little effort. A great lookup source for old timers and “must have” for newbies.

I highly recommend this book
-Rat

Thanks for the great review Rat!

Check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

$ env
TERM=vt102
SHELL=/bin/bash
SSH_CLIENT=192.168.2.1 54620 22
OLDPWD=/export/home/oracle
SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/1
USER=oracle
MAIL=/var/mail//oracle
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/etc:.
PWD=/u01
TZ=US/Eastern
PS1=$
SHLVL=1
HOME=/export/home/oracle
LOGNAME=oracle
SSH_CONNECTION=192.168.2.1 54620 192.168.2.100 22
_=/usr/bin/env

These are some of the default variables provided by the system. As Oracle users we’re also familiar with shell variables such as $ORACLE_HOME and $ORACLE_SID.

While most of the environmental variables in the output above are set by the system, variables like $ORACLE_HOME need to be set by the user. In the bourne and bash shells, environmental variables are set by giving the variable name, the equal sign (=) and then the value the variable should be set to. The variable must then be exported with the export command so it can become available to subsequent commands.

$ ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/Db_1
$ export ORACLE_HOME
$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/u01/app/oracle/product/10gR2/db_1

When setting variables you simply use the variable name; however, as we see in the above example we use the $ prefix to retrieve the value of a variable. You may also see the variable definition followed by the export on the same line separated by a semicolon. The semicolon marks the end of the first command allowing the commands to be executed as if they were on separate lines.

These exported environmental variables typically affect how UNIX and Linux behave or how other commands run. Though not a rule, environmental variable names are typically all uppercase. Lowercase variable names are typically used for local shell variables that are only needed in the current session or script. Local shell variables need not be exported.

$ day=Monday
$ echo $day
Monday

It’s important to remember that shell variables are specific to a session, not a user. That means if you change the environment variables in one session it will not have any effect on other active sessions.

Beyond the familiar Oracle related shell variables we’ll be using shell variables for storing date information, file and directory names, passwords and much more.

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

Jolly writes:

Great book!

A well written book. A great way to learn shell scripting. Relevant and useful examples throughout the book (downloadable code).

Thanks for the review Jolly!

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

To find out what shell you are currently using we can use the echo command:

$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

In this command we are using the echo command to examine the value of the environment variable $SHELL. This variable was set by the system when we started this command line session and shows the full path to the shell we were assigned at login. Here are some common shells you might see:

• /bin/sh – Bourne shell
• /bin/bash – Bourne Again shell
• /bin/csh – C shell
• /bin/ksh – Korn shell
• /bin/tcsh – TC shell
• /bin/zsh – Z shell

Shell binaries are also commonly found in the /usr/local/bin directory. Consult your system administrator if you’re having trouble finding your shell binaries.

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!

Prashant wrote:

This book has helped me impress my colleagues and boss..I originally browsed through it at Border’s (and found myself sitting on the ground with a notepad scrambling to copy as much as possible)..of course, then I realized I had to have it, so I bought it online..I knew the publisher was a trustworthy source because I’m always using Don Burleson’s DBA tips online.. this author’s approach is easy-to-follow and concise; yet it’s a thorough guide that is like a catalyst for your own creativity…it has made me look forward to extracting the power of the shell.

It’s a lot better than parsing through thick UNIX encyclopedias or cycling through fragmented online material..as an OCP 10g/9i DBA, I still feel like there are not enough practical day-to-day guides like this one for junior/mid/senior-level administrators, since over half our work is directly/indirectly connected to the shell.

Thanks for the great review Prashant! After all the work that goes into a book like this it’s great to know that it’s helping people. That’s what it’s all about, after all.

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!