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Put simply, if you work with Oracle databases, this book will have something for you. DBAs will find a lot of useful scripts to extract performance statistics or security information from the database, perform backups or even create a completely new database. Application developers will welcome the scripts that will give them all the gory details of how their application is interacting with the database.

Most of the scripts are written as Operating System independent Oracle SQL and are compatible with both Oracle 7.3 and Oracle 8. There are also a few Unix shell scripts included to cover such tasks as database backup and recovery, system memory usage and so on.

As one might suspect, the book itself plays second fiddle to the CD-ROM, serving as little more than a paper index to the scripts. The CD-ROM contains the scripts four times to cope with the vagaries of DOS ad Unix. The contents of the CD are divided into two categories; those of use primarily for DBAs and those with a wider audience. Each category is further subdivided to allow the reader to quickly locate the desired script.

If you use or administer an Oracle database, this book will have something for you. For the newcomer, the scripts in this book will save you from repeating the mistakes of others. For the more experienced Oracle user, the scripts will provide a new and sometimes surprising insight into the inner workings of your database.