Master twelve must-use utilities to optimize the efficiency, management, and performance of your daily database tasks

* Optimize time-consuming tasks efficiently using the Oracle database utilities
* Perform data loads on the fly and replace the functionality of the old export and import utilities using Data Pump or SQL*Loader
* Boost database defenses with Oracle Wallet Manager and Security
* A handbook with lots of practical content with real-life scenarios

In Detail Does your database look complicated? Are you finding it difficult to interact with it? Database interaction is a part of the daily routine for all database professionals. Using Oracle Utilities the user can benefit from improved maintenance windows, optimized backups, faster data transfers, and more reliable security and in general can do more with the same time and resources.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel, just learn how to properly use the Oracle Utilities to achieve your goals. This is what this book is about; it covers topics oriented towards data management, session management, batch processing, massive deployment, troubleshooting, and how to make the most out of the frequently used DBA tools to improve your daily work.

Data management is one of the most frequently required tasks; doing a backup is a must-do task for any company. Data management includes several tasks such as data transfers, data uploading and downloading, reorganizing data, and data cloning, among many others. If people learn to use a tool and things appear to go well, few will question if their approach is optimal. Often it is only when maintenance windows start shrinking, due to the amount of data and business availability, that problems with any particular approach get identified. If people get used to the old export/import utilities to perform data management and if it works, they probably will consider the problem solved and will continue to use an obsolete tool. This book explores further possibilities and new tools. It makes the user question if his/her current environment is optimized and teaches how to adopt more optimized data management techniques focusing to the tools and the requirements most frequently seen in modern production environments.

What you will learn from this book?

* Improve performance and manageability using the advanced features of direct export/import utilities among different databases
* Optimize your maintenance windows related to data management tasks such as importing data from one database to another using Data Pump and SQL*Loader
* Perform more than just the ETL processes by taking advantage of the external tables feature
* Use Oracle Scheduler to specify maintenance windows, assign priorities, configure job classes and many more features, and take decisions based on the task outcome
* Get acquainted with all the possibilities the Oracle Universal Installer tool offers to make the installation task more efficient
* Execute effective database creations: not just default creations, but comprehensive database creations
* Configure and manage an ASM environment using DBCA
* Improve performance and reduce the impact of recovery manager database backups in production environments
* Increase the security in an Oracle environment, protect the backups, and manage certificates using Oracle Wallet Manager
* Perform installations in batch environments and manage your software updates related to Critical Patch Updates (CPU) or individual patches using OPatch

Approach

This book is written using a practical approach that guides you through different practical scenarios. It provides a brief introduction to the topics; this way you can quickly get to know the main features, start being productive with the tool, and grow with it at a fast pace. You won't have to spend too much time getting to the basics of the tool and can immediately progress towards the advanced tips.

Using this practical approach you don't have to spend valuable time trying to decipher arid reference manuals; you can easily set up the practical scenarios, and try to follow up the presentations. The images used in the book come from real scenarios, and the output is always explained so you can easily interpret what is being displayed on the screen after issuing the commands.

Who this book is written for?

This book is aimed at all Oracle professionals who interact with the database through the data and database utilities and are willing to optimize their interaction with it.

Entry-level users will get acquainted with the best practices to get their job done in a timely and efficient manner. Advanced users will find useful tips and How-Tos that will help them focus on getting the most out of the database utilities and fine-tune batch processing.