Certification advise, pls

Question

Hi,
Hope someone can advise me, i am looking to start studying in Oracle 10g OCA. But like the title suggests am new to oracle and sql. I have spent many years working as a wintel administrator. But would like to progress into DBA.
As alot of you on this site are experience in the world of oracle. Where should i start ? is it worth me learning Linux/Unix before i start learning oracle 10g ?.
Also is there a list of authorised partners i can take up my training.
Thank you for your help. Any other advise would be very helpful.
G

Answer 1

With Oracle I initially think people should start by learning a little SQL. I usually refer complete newbies to [http://www.w3schools.com] who have a few free online tutorials (and are certification safe).
You dont need to learn linux/unix for Oracle. Oracle runs perfectly well on Windows; and management of Oracle seems to be getting less and less OS dependent in many ways. And if you get a Oracle job it will probably be because the're looking for an experienced Wintel Administrator who knows something about Oracle. However perhaps you're feeling you need to look at linux too. If you do you may find he vi editor your main stumbing block ... though you can look at other editors as well. If your interested on a couple of books on linux then Linux Recipes for Oracle DBA's ISBN-13: 978-1430215752' okay if you can pick it up cheap enoughly (if you cant then dont) and LPIC-1: Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide: (Exams 101 and 102) 2nd edition - ISBN-13: 978-0470404836+ may be worth a consideration. But ther's plenty of other linux books that may suit better. I think the Ubuntu Distributions great fun BUT its not supported for Oracle and getting an Oracle Database to run on it can be difficult. For more serious stuff use Oracle Enterprise Linux or OpenSUSE. And consider running linux on a virtual machine on your server - eg sun virtualbox.
Back to Oracle. There's a great lightweight edition of Oracle called Oracle XE but its administration is fairly unqie and nonstandard so while great for developers and learnign SQL its not so good for Administrators.
The 2-day DBA training is worth a look here:
[http://www.oracle.com/technology/obe/2day_dba/index.html] or [http://www.oracle.com/pls/db112/homepage] or [http://www.oracle.com/pls/db102/homepage]
In terms of training Oracle are generally the best, so be sure to look at their offerings: [http://www.oracle.com/education]
All things certification are accessable from here: [http://www.oracle.com/education/certification]
Also be aware of the WDP program. This can provide training for some, though there have been reports of issues with its quality [http://workforce.oracle.com].
Be aware that if you progress to OCP you must have attended an authorized training course from an authorized provider.
Pleas also read forum sticky announcements posts at the top of the forum and if going for certificaiton [http://blogs.oracle.com/certification/2009/05/the_route_you_choose.html]
rgds -bigdelboy.As always, bigdelboy came with detailed explanations and useful informations :)