Book Image

OCA Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration I: A Real-World Certification Guide

Book Image

OCA Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration I: A Real-World Certification Guide

Overview of this book

Oracle Database Server is the most widely used relational database in the world today. This book gives you the essential skills to master the fundamentals of Oracle database administration and prepares you for Oracle DBA certification."OCA Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration I: A Real-World Certification Guide" prepares you to master the fundamentals of Oracle database administration using an example driven method that is easy to understand. The real world examples will prepare you to face the daily challenges of being a database administrator.Starting with the essentials of why databases are important in today's information technology world and how they work, you are then guided through a full, customized installation of the Oracle software and creating your own personal database. We then examine fundamental concepts of Oracle, including architecture, storage structures, security, performance tuning, networking, and instance management. Finally, we take an in-depth look at some of the most important concepts in the daily life of an Oracle DBA - backup, recovery, and data migration."OCA Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration I: A Real-World Certification Guide" provides you with the skills you need in order to become a successful Oracle DBA, both for certification and real life tasks.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
OCA Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration I: A Real-World Certification Guide
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.packtpub.com
Preface
Index

Examining the Oracle instance


As we mentioned before, the Oracle instance is composed of the necessary processes and memory structures required to operate the Oracle kernel. The instance is the first thing invoked when the database is started.

Recognizing the primary Oracle processes

The first components of the Oracle instance that we will examine are the Oracle background processes. These processes run in the background of the operating system and are not interacted with directly. Each process is highly specialized and has a specific function in the overall operation of the Oracle kernel. While these processes accomplish the same functions regardless of the host operating system, their implementation is significantly different. On Unix-based systems, owing to Unix's multiprocess architecture, each Oracle process runs as a separate operating system process. Thus, we can actually see the processes themselves from within the operating system.

For instance, we can use the ps command on Linux...