Re: SQL Server to Oracel

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Howard J. Rogers (hjr_at_dizwell.com)
Date: 06/24/04 

Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:52:26 +1000

"Oracle Newbie" <f93c0532@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2jv89kF14b92aU1@uni-berlin.de...
> I got a new Job where I have to handle Oracle databases on Linux. My
> previous experience is with Sql Server on Windows NT. I want to know how
> difficult will this shift be and what do I need to learn first and
quickly.
> How different is Oracle on Linux then Oracle on windows. What are the
major
> differences between Oracle and SQL Server. Any help, links will be
> appreciated.
>
> thx

There's really only one link to turn to at a time like this:
http://tahiti.oracle.com. Find the version you'll be dealing with, then
click on the list of books for that version, and then find the Concepts
guide. If you've got multiple versions, I'd suggest using the 9i links,
rather than 10g (unless of course your organisation is actually running
10g). 10g is significantly different, architecturally, from any prior Oracle
version, and a lot will mislead or confuse if you try and apply 10g
knowledge to 9i or 8i. Whereas 9i concepts are, pretty much, applicable to
8i most of the time, and 8i is almost 100% applicable to 8.0.

There is no difference between Oracle on any platform. Well, OK: Linux and
Unix are process-based operating systems, and Windows is a thread-based one,
so whereas you can actually *see* PMON, SMON, DBWn and the rest on a *nix
platform, you can't see the equivalent threads on Windows. But they're still
there alright, and still do the same jobs as their equivalent processes on
*nix. The only other major difference I can think of is that *nix does
shared memory allocations for the SGA via kernel parameters, and Windows
does it via the creation (and running, obviously) of a service for each
SGA/Instance. But that's minor stuff. 99% of what's in the concepts guide
will apply to both platforms without change.

There is no answer to the question 'what are the major differences between
Oracle and SQL Server'. Their very terminology is different (Oracle schema =
SQL Server database, for example). You might as well ask how different a
peach is from the Eiffel Tower. Both are rather beautiful, serve their
purposes well, and have little fundamentally in common except that they are
both made of atoms. Try not to compare the two products; just learn each on
their own terms. That means, for you, learning Oracle on its terms. You will
probably always be "infected" by a tendency to see things from a SQL Server
perspective, just as I look at SQL Server and scream in horror that it's not
Oracle. That's just inevitable. What separates the DBAs from the geeky
bigots is to be able to embrace those differences and accept them, rather
than see them as a reason to despise one or other product.

Other useful links: www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk and (though I'm biased)
www.dizwell.com

It would help to learn how to spell the product you'll now be working with,
too.

Regards
HJR

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