Re: good way to bootstrap knowledge about oracle server side operation?

Strong suggestion - get a copy of the book "Oracle Essentials, Third Edition" (ref: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/oressentials3/)

I've often given copies to IT management and new clients who want to break into Oracle from a level of understanding similar to yours. It's a good introduction, fairly light weight, very understandable and (most important) provides a decent glossary of Oracle's terminology.

Once you've read that, the online documentation becomes quite accessible. In the Oracle docco, start at the Concepts manual in whatever version and technology you want to learn, then move to the 'administration guides' or the 'developer's guides', and finally (because they rarely make sense before) drill into the specific technology manuals.

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Hans Forbrich                           
Canada-wide Oracle training and consulting
mailto: Fuzzy.GreyBeard_at_gmail.com   
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