Today DBAs are expected to deploy and manage large databases with quality service and little to no downtime. The DBA’s main focus is on increasing productivity and eliminating idle redundancy throughout the enterprise. However, there is no magic set of best practices or hard and fast rules that DBAs need to follow, and this can make life difficult. But if DBAs follow some basic approaches and best practices, tasks can be performed more efficiently and effectively.

The world of IT is always evolving, but in every area there are stable, core concepts that anyone just setting out needed to know last year, needs to know this year, and will still need to know next year. The purpose of the Foundations series is to identify these concepts and present them in a way that gives you the strongest possible starting point, no matter what your endeavor.
Oracle Database Foundations provides essential knowledge about installing, configuring, maintaining, and querying Oracle 9i and 10g databases. What you learn here will benefit you in the short term, as you acquire and practice your skills, and in the long term, as you use them. Topics covered include:
— Basic relational database concepts — Reporting and querying using SQL*Plus and iSQL*Plus — Creating and maintaining a database — Managing user access and security — Understanding Oracle database functions — Using multiple tables in a query — Restricting, sorting, and grouping data — Optimizing database performance — Creating backups — Troubleshooting database errors

Application Express, or APEX, is one of the most innovative products to come out of Oracle in years. APEX is an application development framework for developing databasebacked applications. Its easy enough to get started in that power users can quit storing data in random spreadsheets and instead centralize their data in the powerful Oracle database, all without developer help. Developers arent left out, however. Those who choose to can go deep and leverage the full power and flexibility of Oracles database engine.

Toad for Oracle provides an effective and accurate way for people using the database, with any skill level to improve overall productivity.

Pro Oracle SQL unlocks the power of SQL in the Oracle Database—one of the most potent SQL implementations on the market today. To master it requires a three-pronged approach: learn the language features, learn the supporting features that Oracle provides to help use the language effectively, and learn to think and work in sets.

Extend and Customize Oracle E-Business Suite
Transform your Oracle E-Business Suite infrastructure to suit enterprise requirements using the comprehensive development methods in this Oracle Press guide. Oracle E-Business Suite Development & Extensibility Handbook lays out each tool alongside reusable code and step-by-step examples. Learn how to create multiorg objects, integrate Java and PL/SQL, design custom user interfaces, and use Oracle Application Framework and Oracle Workflow. This detailed volume also explains how to work with Oracle XML Gateway, publish dynamic business intelligence reports, and tune your configuration.

Design, implement, and maintain a distributed environment with Oracle Streams
Implement Oracle Streams to manage and coordinate the resources, information, and functions of a distributed system
Get to grips with in-depth explanations of the components that make up Oracle Streams, and how they work together
Learn design considerations that help identify and avoid Oracle Streams obstacles - before you get caught in them
Covers implementation steps with explanations of 'why' as well as 'how'

Solaris - An operating system SunOS with a desktop environment and some additional components. Solaris 10 supports more than 600 features and functions that make it efficient, secure and reliable operating system.