Perl is a very powerful tool for Oracle database administrators, but too few DBAs realize how helpful Perl can be in managing, monitoring, and tuning Oracle9i, Oracle8i, and earlier databases. You don't need to be a Perl expert to reap the rewards of reading Perl for Oracle DBAs. The book explains what you need to know about Perl, profiles the best Perl open source applications available to DBAs, and provides the Perl DBA Toolkit, a comprehensive suite of ready-to-use scripts designed to ease the burden of Oracle database administration.
There are many books on Perl and many books on Oracle, but until now there have been no books dedicated to describing the relationship between these two popular technologies. Our aim is to bridge the gap between the world's leading data-processing language and the world's leading database. The Perl language was created with the goal of making "the easy things easy and the hard things possible." Oracle's ever-expanding purpose is to provide a complete database environment for the entire interconnected world. This mission makes Oracle a tough taskmaster — and thus an environment ideally suited to Perl, because being an Oracle database administrator is one of the toughest jobs around.
Oracle DBAs need enormous intelligence, infinite patience, and considerable courage. We think they also need Perl. The Perl open source language is a many-splendored thing; you can write scripts with it, develop GUIs with it, create web sites with it, generate XML with it — and you can probably hang your towels from it! Perl fills data warehouses and runs on virtually every operating system around. Perl is the toolkit without limitations, the salvation of your 24x7 lifestyle. If Gandalf the Wizard were to choose a scripting language, he would choose Perl.
Our mission in this book is to show you how Perl can revolutionize your life as an Oracle DBA.
