Oracle Exadata Expert's Handbook

An complete publication

If you are considering this book it should be obvious your workplace has Exadata or is committed to do so - I cannot imagine why the authors think it necessary to repeatedly exclaim how wonderful it is. Here's a summary: Cutting Edge, Massive, Ultrafast, Extreme Performance, Flagship, Leveraged Horsepower, Comprehensive, Extensible ... you get the idea. Read repeatedly, it gets pretty tiresome.As for content, it's 490 pages, so it's all in there somewhere. I thought the explanation of rman image copy backups was good, something we've not done at our shop. The section on Data Guard/Active Data Guard, in the context of a RAC'ed system, could use some work: needs more discussion of the pros and cons, to assist with the decision on whether this would provide sufficient value to be worth the additional cost and complexity. The section on the Exadata plug-in for OEM is, for me, probably the most useful section and one I'll probably refer back to most often. The chapter on architectural strategy I thought was too high-level to be useful. I did appreciate the realistic estimates for upgrades and patching, as well as providing good detail, in sequence, for this maintenance.Overall, I would give a moderate recommendation for this book. It can be helpful at times to have a non-oracle source for information.

Excellent product. Arrived before time.

This is a very comprehensive look at Exadata with many helpful commands, queries, graphs, and images. It starts out easy and becomes more advanced as you progress through the chapters. Most chapters stand by themselves - so you can learn different subjects at any pace, or even just leverage a query or two.- The first chapter assumes you don't know anything about Exadata and explains all of the components that make of different Exadata machines (including graphs comparing different machines).- The next two chapters discuss RAC on Exadata (includes many helpful RAC commands) and Exadata Storage Cells in depth including various CellCLI commands.- There is a chapter on the smart scan & using the flash cache with many helpful queries, comparison graphs, as well as initialization parameters.- There is a very detailed look at HCC (Hybrid Columnar Compression) with exactly how it is stored and how it works. It includes comparisons for various compression levels showing consistent gets vs. db block gets.- There is a chapter on 12c and Exadata (I wish this one was a bit longer) that includes some of the new features including pluggable databases.- There are chapters on Networking, Backup & Recovery, and Managing Exadata with OEM 12c (Cloud Control).- There is a very helpful chapter on migrating to Exadata and a detailed chapter on patching (careful).- There is a chapter on Tuning including queries to check and leverage the new features on Exadata as well as two advanced chapters on the Smart Flash Cache & Flash Configuration as well.- It finishes with Tools and Utilities that include different O/S commands and outputs, OEM 12c, and SQL queries and their outputs.Overall, if you are an Exadata beginner it will take you to the next level. If you are more advanced, it will fill in some of the gaps you may have in various areas and help you to become the expert. Well worth reading!