where to start with Oracle?

[splitzer]

Hi,
I'm planning on learning Oracle 11g. I do have some SQL experience. I know Oracle provides non-production version of their product, so i can get started with that. I think the free edition is the express edition, but just want to confirm.

Few questions:
1. Which 11g edition is for non-production use (free version)?
2. Any good authors recommanded or books for starter?

I'm planning on learning oracle database this month, since its probably the only chance i'll get in upcoming months. Any other information for starter would be helpful.

Thanks!

[usachrisk]

Hi Splitzer,

I don't think Oracle has released an express edition of Oracle 11g yet, or if they're planning to. Oracle 10g Express Edition isn't "non-production" either, it's just not for applications or organizations that need a huge database or plan on excessive use. It's limited in the size (4 or 5 gigs) and the amount of RAM it will use (1 or 2 gigs?). You can download it here: http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof.../xe/index.html - you may need an Oracle account (Free).

My thought for "where to start" has always been to jump right in Build a test database, use some of the sample "Scott" databases that seem to be all over the place. I can't really recommend any great books, one's I have are all pretty dull and just mainly reference books for when I'm not quite sure how to use a command.

[splitzer]

So, the express edition is free, and we can use it for production use, thats good. I'll surely download it and get things started.

One more question, do you think when i install oracle 10g express edition, do i need a seperate computer for it? Will it slow my computer drastically? I do have SQL Server 2005 installed, on the same computer.

Hi Splitzer,

I don't think Oracle has released an express edition of Oracle 11g yet, or if they're planning to. Oracle 10g Express Edition isn't "non-production" either, it's just not for applications or organizations that need a huge database or plan on excessive use. It's limited in the size (4 or 5 gigs) and the amount of RAM it will use (1 or 2 gigs?). You can download it here: http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof.../xe/index.html - you may need an Oracle account (Free).

My thought for "where to start" has always been to jump right in Build a test database, use some of the sample "Scott" databases that seem to be all over the place. I can't really recommend any great books, one's I have are all pretty dull and just mainly reference books for when I'm not quite sure how to use a command.

[usachrisk]

So, the express edition is free, and we can use it for production use, thats good. I'll surely download it and get things started.

Make sure to read any license agreements - there may be exclusions I originally downloaded it just to play with it, and now I use it for testing (we have a production environment managed elsewhere). I recall reading that you could bundle it with your apps and deploy just like folks used package up MSDE with their apps to have small databases on workstations.

One more question, do you think when i install oracle 10g express edition, do i need a seperate computer for it? Will it slow my computer drastically? I do have SQL Server 2005 installed, on the same computer.

Depends on your computer. I have a dual core laptop with 2gb of RAM and a 2.3ghz processor. I run Oracle 10g Express, MS SQL 2005 Express, and ColdFusion MX 7 (which runs JRUN as well). On top of those, I run my day to day production and development apps (Office, Eclipse, Firefox, Query Analyzer). Every now and again stuff starts crawling, but it's probably because I never reboot. Sometimes when I'm doing something intensive, I'll stop the Oracle and MSSQL services - I just created a batch file that starts and stops them.

[splitzer]

Yea, i have pretty much the same configuration and softwares as yours .

Also, once we make the oracle database, is it easy to deploy to production environment compared to sql server? I know sql server is broadly used on by hosting companies, but is oracle hosting easy to find? I tried looking, its kind of expensive, i know it should be, because its purely for larger and heavier databases.

Depends on your computer. I have a dual core laptop with 2gb of RAM and a 2.3ghz processor. I run Oracle 10g Express, MS SQL 2005 Express, and ColdFusion MX 7 (which runs JRUN as well). On top of those, I run my day to day production and development apps (Office, Eclipse, Firefox, Query Analyzer). Every now and again stuff starts crawling, but it's probably because I never reboot. Sometimes when I'm doing something intensive, I'll stop the Oracle and MSSQL services - I just created a batch file that starts and stops them.

[usachrisk]

I've never seen a hosting environment with Oracle listed as a service. I haven't looked either. Oracle is certainly more expensive than something like MySQL (I imagine, I've never priced out enterprise MySQL configurations).

As far as deploying into production, I wrote a script that basically uses the IMP and EXP tools that come with the Oracle Client to move data from my production environment and replace my DEV environment, and I save SQL files of my DEV changes that I want to move into PROD and then execute them manually.

[splitzer]

usachrisk, thanks for the information. I would be able to get started from next week. Thank you!