There was a time when none of us had a clue what RDBMS stood for and when SQL statements were just gobbledygook (well ... some of them still are ...). The only difference is how long ago that time was...

• What happens during startup?
• Tablespaces etc.
• Taming users
• The mythical rollback segment
• 7 tricks for writing great DBA scripts
• All you ever wanted to know about exp/imp
• In search of a backup strategy
• Bringing Client & Server to talking terms
  A SQL*Net primer
• Stay tuned ...

New DBAs come to Oracle everyday, and we are sorry to have to tell newcomers that the later you come, the worse, because Oracle documentation and code have steadily increased in size over the years, which makes the learning curve steeper and steeper.

We're quite conscious that most young DBAs are usually thrown in at the deep end, and often have little other than 'on the job' training .
This is why we thought it might be useful to write a few simple and concise papers on a number of topics. Our purpose is not to provide courses, nor reference manuals - when you feel more confident with Oracle you will find a selection of good Oracle books in our bookstore, which are clearer than the raw Oracle documentation. The papers here are just friendly hints from old Oracle hands to freshmen. We hope you'll find them useful and not too boring. If you want us to write about specific topics, keeping in mind that this is for an audience of Oracle beginners, please e-mail Aunt Augusta. We won't pretend that we'll rush to write the papers, but it will make it easier for us to see what you really need - which isn't always easy to guess when you're experienced.

By the way, if you happen to be an experienced DBA who has landed here by mistake but has some interesting info to share somewhere in a drawer, your contribution may be appreciated by others.

Welcome to the club.