Pro Oracle Database 11g RAC on Linux [Kindle Edition]

The authors - Steve Shaw and Martin Bach - have accomplished the not-so-easy feat of writing a book that is as good, if not better than its preceding version.
The latter, "Pro Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux" appeared to be driven by a (justified) desire to be as thorough as possible by covering all components remotely or closely involved in setting up an Oracle RAC system, at the risk of sometimes not going deep enough or sometimes "loosing" the reader.
This book is more focused on topics closely related to the Installation and administration of RAC databases. Nevertheless, it appears to be more informative as it covers some topics more in-depth.

The desire to focus on the core aspects of RAC implementation and administration has led to some noticeable changes from the previous version.
The following chapters which were in the previous version have been removed:
- "Benchmarking Concepts"
- "Linux Administration"
- "Benchmarking Tools"
- "Installing and Configuring Enterprise Manager"
- "RAC Internals
- "Backup and Recovery"
- "Disaster Recovery"

While the absence of some chapters in this book in justified and understandable, the sections on RAC internals would have been a good supplement/background to the chapters on Performance monitoring and tuning. The chapters on Backup and Disaster Recovery also were not superfluous.

Chapters which were not in the previous version and are now featured in this one are:
-Virtualization (ch5): this chapter was about overdue, but the wait was worth it.
-Linux Performance Monitoring (ch13)
-Parallel Execution (ch14)
And of course the last chapter (15) on "Upgrading to Oracle 11gR2.
Chapter 8, "Clusterware" include a section on troubleshooting. Its added value cannot be stated enough as the information it contains is not as easily found from other sources.

More depth is given to certain areas.
ASM is an example, with sections of the chapter including: "ASM Terminology" , "ASM Concepts", "Understanding the ASM Header".

The new chapter on "Parallel Execution", as well as the two chapters on "Linux Performance Monitoring" and "Oracle Performance Monitoring" comprise what I dub the "Tuning and Optimization Section", which illustrate a justifiable emphasis on RAC performance. This departs from a less focused approach in the previous version of the book which -as I've already mentioned-included such sections as "Linux Administration".

Last but not least, one of the biggest improvements of this book is the better logical ordering of chapters than in its previous version
For example, the chapter on ASM comes after the one on "Linux Installation and Configuration" unlike in the previous version.
The authors follow a more logical flow of:
- OS installation and configuration,
- Grid Infrastructure,
- Clusterware,
- ASM,
- RDBMS.

In summary, while there are topics that I would have liked to see covered (again) in this book (Backup and Disaster Recovery (Data Guard), RAC Internals), the authors have produced a work of great quality and value. I therefore recommend this book to all DBAs and System Admins working on RAC systems, based on its following characteristics:
* More intuitive/Better logical ordering of chapters,
* More focus on topics closely related to RAC,
* Emphasis on performance monitoring and tuning,
* Thorough coverage of virtualization (finally),
* Clear and concise language.

Just when you start to think that no one book can "have it all" along comes Pro Oracle Database 11g RAC on Linux.

This book is a must-have resource for anyone working with RAC, especially those who are new to RAC. As promised by the author, this book assumes no prior knowledge of the subject.

The book discusses all areas that anyone needs to know to install and maintain 11g RAC databases in a Linux environment. You can guess that it discusses the obvious topics like, Installation, Configuration, Clusterware, ASM, etc. However, it also discusses very important ancillary topics like network bonding, for example..

There are sections on new 11g features and a great section on upgrading to 11g. But, my favorite is Chapter 12: Oracle Performance Monitoring. This chapter gives a great practical, realistic approach to performance monitoring.

I highly recommend this book to seasoned veterans as well as those new to Oracle RAC.

This volume is a excellent for those who need to manage a RAC environment. I am preparing to move a 10G RAC database to 11Gr2 and the authors included a chapter on this important topic. The chapter on Linux install and configuration provides an excellent base whether you are sysadmin or work with one. The complexity of RAC setup requires a broad knowledge of hardware and software topics and in this volume that range is covered with sufficient depth to do all one needs to do to run RAC. I am pleased to recommend this book for anyone managing RAC or moving into the RAC arena.