Become an Efficient Oracle DBA by using command line tools such as sqlplus from day one of your career. Once proficient with sqlplus run circles around "GUI DBAs" accomplishing Oracle Database Administration tasks with ease. Many times GUI tool alone will not even 'cut it' which was clearly evident with APPS Profile Options script I wrote that eventually made it's way to Oracle Metalink.

The formula to become proficient with sqlplus is very simple - take the time to write sqlplus scripts as you go about doing your day-to-day operations. Overtime these scripts will build your own, powerful toolkit and that's where SQLDIR will come in handy.

What About Oracle Database Monitoring? Can it really be done using sqlplus scripts? With the help of the Unix Programming Environment and EVNT Framework it is not only possible it is also Free and the most Lightweight Solution available when it comes to Oracle Database Monitoring.

Each Oracle project carries a lot of detail information that you need to keep track of. And I am not talking about scheduling and project management tasks - I am referring to technical notes, scripts and documentation that we must sort through in order to complete an Oracle implementation successfully and efficiently. Over the years I've tried various methods to organize Project notes and files. There was nothing for us techies ... nothing with fixed font, no line wraps so you could just paste formatted code and not worry about it all being wrapped up by the editor.

Eventually I put an end to this problem once and for all. Since 2002 I have been using an online repository where I save all my notes, files and project related communication. It really helps to manage information overload. As an added benefit it allows me to host Oracle DBA Knowledge Base where I publish a subset of my notes.

About dbatoolz.com

DBAToolZ has been online since 01-Dec-1999 ... it all started as a place to keep increasing number of sql scripts at reach while I was on the road doing Oracle APPS implementations. Come to think of it ... this place is still serving the same purpose -- it's just gotten a bit bigger.

My name is Vitaliy Mogilevskiy -- I started working with ORACLE Products in 1996. In 1998 I was hired as an ORACLE Developer by a manufacturing plant that just implemented ORACLE APPS 10.7 SC (Smart Client) on ORACLE 7.2. In two months their "DBA" moved on to a better paying job and I had to immediately assume a DBA role. Unfortunately right before he quit he decided to make some "improvements" to the hardware "platform" we were running on - Windows NT ...

These improvements didn't agree very well with Oracle 7.2 and I was faced with my first database corruption in just 7 days after "becoming" a DBA. It was a very long and painful process to reinstall Oracle APPS 10.7 NCA on a new server, Export and Import corrupted database working 24x7 schedule knowing very little about any of this. I couldn't have done it without a help of a person who eventually played a big role in my Oracle future - Allan Kendal who was a consultant with Core Technology Group that I called after realizing the grave situation we were in. The rest as they say is history.