e-Business for the Oracle DBA

Megh Thakkar is the Director of Database Technologies at Quest Software. Previously, he worked as a technical specialist at Oracle Corporation. He holds a master's degree in computer science and a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering. Megh also holds several industry vendor certifications, including OCP, MCSE, Novell Certified ECNE, SCO UNIX ACE, and he is a Lotus Notes Certified Consultant. Voted as the best speaker at NSWOUG'2000 in Sydney, Australia, he is a frequent presenter at Oracle OpenWorld and various international Oracle User Groups. Megh is the author of e-Commerce Applications Using Oracle8i and Java from Scratch and Sams Teach Yourself Oracle8i on Windows NT in 24 Hours. He has also coauthored several books, such as Migrating to Oracle8i, Special Edition Using Oracle8/8i, Oracle8 Server Unleashed, C++ Unleashed, COBOL Unleashed, Oracle Certified DBA, and Using Oracle8. Megh is a renowned Oracle specialist who has performed _Oracle development, consulting, support, and DBA _functions worldwide over the past 12 years.

Introduction.


How This Book Is Organized.

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUES.

1. Challenges Facing an e-Business DBA.


E-volution of Business. e-Business Stages. Challenges of the iDBA. Understanding the e-Business Categories. Introduction to the Case Study: DOeBIZ Corporation. Summary.

2. Using Oracle for e-Business.


e-Business Reality Check. Oracle Architecture Review. Oracle's Strategy for the Web. From e-Commerce to m-Commerce. Business Case for e-Business@DOeBIZ.com. Understanding the Requirements of DOeBIZ.com. Summary.

II. PUTTING THE 'E' IN YOUR BUSINESS.

3. Capacity Planning, Architecture, and Design Issues.


Capacity Planning. Understanding the e-Business Requirements. Choosing an e-Business Architecture. Designing Your e-Business Site. Creating Database Environments. Summary.

4. Working with Application Developers.


Choosing the Right Tool for e-Business. Handling Change Management Issues During Development. Helping Developers Choose the Proper Language-PL/SQL or Java? Using XML Appropriately. Using XML for DOeBIZ.com. Choosing the Appropriate JDBC Driver. Summary.

III. DEALING WITH THE CRITICAL ISSUES.

5. Availability Issues.


Understanding the Challenge. Minimizing Outages and Downtime. Minimizing Planned Outages. Employing Useful Everyday Strategies for High Availability. Minimizing Unplanned Outages. Choosing an Appropriate Backup and Recovery Plan. Summary.

6. Performance Issues.


Understanding the System Components That Affect Performance. Tuning Processes with Performance Problems. Examining Contention in Oracle Structures. Using the Oracle Data Dictionary. Tuning the Operating System. Optimizing the Use of System Resources. Tuning SQL Statements. Examining Network Protocol Performance. Improving JDBC Performance. Summary.

7. Scalability Issues.


Understanding Scalability Challenges. Using Oracle Features for High Scalability. Using Derived Parameters Properly. Making DOeBIZ.com Scalable. Using Oracle Parallel Server (OPS). Ensuring Hardware Scalability. Planning for High Scalability. Tuning Queries for Scalability. Summary.

8. Security Issues.


Challenges in Securing an e-Business. Data Encryption. Running Applications in a Secure Environment. Working with Firewalls. Securing Three-Tier Systems. Using the Oracle Advanced Security Option (Oracle ASO). Authenticating Connections to DoeBIZ.com. Using Session Information to Secure Applications. Examining Definer Versus Invoker Rights. Working with System Administrators to Improve Security. Summary.

IV. DEPLOYING THE SYSTEM TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

9. Testing the System.


Challenges with Testing e-Business Systems. Choosing the Appropriate Testing Tools. Setting Up a Rigorous Quality Assurance (QA) Process. Stress/Load Testing. Testing Considerations for e-Businesses. Gathering Information with Web Performance Monitoring Tools. Benchmarking Web-Based Products. Usability Testing. Summary.

10. Deploying DOeBIZ.com.


Understanding the Deployment Challenge. Examining Deployment Strategies. Examining the Deployment Infrastructure. Summary.

V. APPENDIXES.

Appendix A. Promoting Your e-Business Web Site.


Promoting Your Site Using Search Engines and Web Directories. Promoting Your Site on Other Popular Web Sites. Promoting on Your Own Web Site. Other Sources of Promotion.

Appendix B. Oracle-Supplied Packages Useful to iDBAs.


Introduction to the Packages. DBMS_ALERT Package. DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO Package. DBMS_DDL Package. DBMS_JOB Package. DBMS_LOB Package. DBMS_OUTPUT Package. DBMS_PIPE Package. DBMS_SESSION Package. DBMS_SQL Package. DBMS_STATS Package. DBMS_TRACE Package. DBMS_UTILITY Package. UTL_FILE Package. UTL_HTTP Package.

Appendix C. Sample Project Plans.


Team Organization: Sample Job Responsibilities. Sample Top 10 Risk List. Sample Business Plan. Sample e-Roadmap. Sample Requirements Document. Sample Testing Plan. Reasons for Failure of e-Business Initiatives.

Index.