ISBN 0-9727513-5-1 ISBN 13 978-0972751353 Library of Congress Number: 2003105335 260 pages: Perfect Bind 9x7 Publication Date: June 2003 Shelving: Databases/Oracle Oracle In-Focus Series # 6

Oracle Utilities Using Hidden Programs, Import/Export, SQL Loader, oradebug, Dbverify, Tkprof and More by Dave Moore      Retail Price $27.95 /  £17.95  Order now and get immediate online access to the code depot! Only $19.95    (30% off)         Key Features   About the Author Reader Comments Table of Contents   Errata           Get the Oracle Tuning Pack Six for $79.95 - A $150.00 value Oracle Performance Troubleshooting $27.95 Oracle Replication $27.95 Oracle Wait Event Tuning $27.95 Oracle Disk I/O Tuning $27.95 Oracle 10g DBA Reference Poster $8.95 Oracle Silver Bullets $27.95

Written by one of the world's most widely-read DBAs and architect of the famous DBXray(tm) product by BMC Software, Dave Moore targets his substantial knowledge of Oracle internals at the Oracle supplied utilities. Intended for Senior Oracle professionals, these powerful utilities are hidden deep inside Oracle and Dave Moore can show you how to unleash the hidden power of these Oracle utilities. Targeted at seasoned Oracle professionals who need to perform powerful system-wide operating system internal operations on their Oracle databases, this book provides help on how to use the utilities provided with the Oracle database.  Explained are secrets for database migration with export/import and SQL*Loader utilities as well as OS utilities such as dbverify, orastack, and orakill.  Tuning utilities including tkprof and dbms_debug are described in detail in addition to monitoring utilities including dbms_alert and dbms_xplan. Also covered in the book are network and developer utilities. Deep inside the operating system executables there are many utilities are at the fingertips of Oracle professionals, but until now, there has been no advice on how to use these utilities. From tnsping.exe to dbv.exe to wrap.exe, Dave Moore describes each utility and has working examples in the online code depot. Your time savings from a single script is worth the price of this great book. This book is not for beginners. Targeted at senior Oracle DBAs and developers, this book should only be purchased by seasoned Oracle professionals who need to perform powerful system-wide operating system internal operations on their Oracle databases.

* Shows numerous undocumented utilities for Oracle experts. * Provides advanced Oracle DBA utilities tricks. * Explains secrets for database migration with export/import and SQL Loader utilities. * Explores OS utilities such as dbverify, orastack and maxmem. * Presents tuning utilities including tkprof and dbms_profiler. * Explains monitoring utilities including dbms_alert, dbverify, dbms_xplan. * Discusses utilities for developers including wrap, sqlj, dbms_debug and loadjava. * Describes Network utilities including tnsping, trcroute and tnslsnr.

About the Author:

Dave Moore

Dave Moore is a product architect at BMC Software, a leading supplier of database software tools. As the inventor of BMC's DBXray product, he has developed many products that assist Oracle DBAs and Developers. He has experience as a developer specializing in Oracle, Java and PL/SQL. He has presented at Oracle OpenWorld and is a frequent contributor to Oracle Professional and DBAZine.com.

Table of Contents:
 

Chapter 1 - Scripts Used in this Book   Environment Setup and Configuration             Database and Platforms             Java JBDC Driver   Chapter 2 - Oracle Utilities Defined   Definition of a Utility What is a Utility? Utility Locations             Methods of Discovery             Package Discovery             Binary Discovery             Other Things worth Discovering Package Utilities UNIX Utilities and Shell Scripts Windows Executables     Chapter 3 - Utilities for General Administration   Terminating Threads with orakill             Tips for Using orakill Viewing Errors with the oerr Utility             How oerr Works             oerr on Windows             Creating Custom Message Files             oerr Alternatives Memory Utilities Utilities for Starting and Stopping Databases             Auto Start on HP-UX and Solaris             Auto Start on AIX Starting and Stopping on Windows oraenv and coraenv Utilities Using orapwd to Connect Remotely as SYSDBA     Chapter 4 - Data Copy Utilities Export             Export Modes             Export Options             Parameter Files             Export Data Subsets             Maximizing Export Performance Import Options             Maximizing the Import Performance             The SQL*Plus copy Utility SQL*Loader             The Control File             The Log File             SQL*Loader Options             Maximizing SQL*Loader Performance             External Tables in 9i   Chapter 5 - Monitoring and Tuning   The dbms_alert Utility             How It Works             The dbms_alert_info Table             dbms_alert Methods             Practical Uses for dbms_alert The utl_smtp Utility The OEMCTL Utility             OMS Event Handlers             Modifying the Event Handler The dbms_xplan Utility The dbv Utility (Database Verify)             dbv Command Line Options             Executing dbv and Interpreting the Output             Executing dbv Against a Particular Segment             Automating dbv             Alternative Block Checking Mechanisms             Handling Corruption The dbms_repair Utility             Configuring the Environment                         Finding Corrupt Blocks             Repairing Corrupt Blocks             Rebuilding Freelists

Chapter 6 - Tracing Utilities   Formatting Trace Files with tkprof             Why, When tkprof?             Analyzing tkprof Results                   tkprof Command Line Options             Best Practices for Using tkprof Simple Tracing with autotrace Low Level tracing with oradebug             ORADEBUG Session tace’             ORADEBUG Dumps The Oracle Trace Utility             Starting Oracle Trace             Stopping Oracle Trace             Reporting Tracing Results             Loading Trace Data into the Database             Deleting Trace Data Trace Analyzer             How It Works             Executing Trace Analyzer             Better than tkprof?   Chapter 7 - Networking Utilities   Managing Listeners with lsnrctl Testing Connectivity Tracing Listener Connections Tracking Networks paths and Performance Chapter 8 - Utilities for Oracle Developers   PL/SQL Wrap Utility for Encryption             Best Practices for Using Wrap The dbms_profiler Utility             Installation             Starting a Profiling Session             Stopping a Profiling Session             Working with Captured Profiler Data             Useful Scripts             Best Practices for Using DBMS_PROFILER The dbms_debug Utility             Initializing a debug Session             Setting a Breakpoint             Synchronizing             Viewing and Modifying Variables The SQLJ Utility             Conclusion Loading and Dropping Java Objects Loading PL/SQL Server Pages             Executing the PSP from SQL*Plus             Executing the PSP through the Browser             Loadpsp command Line Options

Carol from Westport, CT says:
This book has provided invaluable help in giving clear, comprehensive advise for using the utilities of the Oracle database efficiently. I am indebted to Mr. Moore for his clear writing and practical, step-by-step directions. He has really found a niche that needed to be filled and did it in a most professional way. I would recommend this book to all those who work with this system and who are just feeling their way through some very complicated procedures. Take my word- this book will pay for itself many times over.

Christopher from Blackhawk, CA says:
This book is another in the series of technical volumes published by "Rampant Techpress," published by Don Burleson. The purpose of this book by Dave Moore is to explain to the reader the use of the various Oracle utilities. Some of these utilities are well-known, such as Tkprof; others are far more obscure-such as the Dbms_Profiler utility, or the PL/SQL Wrap Utility.

Mr. Moore succinctly illustrates how to use each utility. For example, in the section Dbms_Repair, he takes the reader through the following steps: Configuring the environment; Finding corrupt blocks; Repairing corrupt blocks, Rebuilding Freelists. Each topic includes a discussion of the purpose, as well as an example of how to accomplish the action.

One particularly interesting section is the discussion entitled "Dbms_Alert Utility." Mr. More gives a brief background on this tool, explains how it works, provides a sample Java program, provides a sample trigger test script, then shows a sample run display. Finally, he also illustrates the use of an associated database table.

As Mr. Moore explains in the Introduction, this is a PRACTICAL book-not just some theoretical treatise on approaches to performance tuning. He concisely explains the utilities that are available, with plenty of examples. I found the book easy to read, and the examples very clear.