8i will be around for a while
I am not a DBA (actually in Software Tech Support). The majority of our customers are of the Fortune 500 variety and at least a couple of them are still using 7.3.4 as a backend. I have yet to talk to any that are planning on going to 9i (many of them have only recently upgraded to 8.1.6 from 8.0, 8.1.5 etc, there are a few that have gone to 8.1.7). I think 8i will be in demand as a skill set for a while.
Has anybody taken the upgrade (9i) exam yet?
[Edited by bharris on 12-01-2001 at 10:39 PM]
Re: 8i will be around for a while
Quote:
Originally posted by bharris
I am not a DBA (actually in Software Tech Support). The majority of our customers are of the Fortune 500 variety and at least a couple of them are still using 7.3.4 as a backend. I have yet to talk to any that are planning on going to 9i (many of them have only recently upgraded to 8.1.6 from 8.0, 8.1.5 etc, there are a few that have gone to 8.1.7). I think 8i will be in demand as a skill set for a while.
Has anybody taken the upgrade (9i) exam yet?
[Edited by bharris on 12-01-2001 at 10:39 PM]
9i upgrade went into production yesterday. Somebody might have of course taken the beta-exam. As far as I remember only one person in this forum mentioned he tried the beta. I am studing now hard for the upgrade. I recently attended Oracle's ILT "9i: new features for DBAs" and I have been playing for some time with 9i. I must say 9i upgrade will not be easy. There is simply too much new stuff. I am still trying to assimilate/memorize/comprehend the new features of RMAN. There are so many new commands. Also, there is a lot of new stuff on SQL. The new features concerning undo segements and Oracle managed files are easy and understandable, although with practical value is 0 for good DBAs, that new stuff is for DBOs, DBBSs or developer DBAs. I still wonder how Oracle could not figure out that we should be able to create users with default index tablespace. In 9i, Larry & team have introduced default temp tablespace for the DB, which is good, but I would have prefered to have a default index tablespace. All my developers make there indexes in the default tablespace, although many times I have explained the proper way. I think many of you rebuild indexes in the index tablespaces too. There is a lot of additional new rubish in 9i, featues, just features. What I like most is probably the possibility to have different block sizes for different tablespaces. This is very usefull for my DBs.
But if I have to say what is really new and different in 9i compared to pre-9i version, there is no doubt: RAC! Cache fusion finally works the way it should work.
I will attend the 9i upgade after X-mas.
RE: Marketability of OCP8i after the track ends
Go for the 8i certification. I currently work for a company that has 7, 8i and 9i databases. Some of the new systems are being built using 9i, but most are still being built on 8i. Industry is very slow to upgrade due to reliability fears with new products. The 8i certification will be relevant for a long time after Oracle stop supporting it.
I've just passed the New Features 9i beta. It was a tough exam, 191 badly written questions in 3 hours. I think the production exam will be 56 questions in 1.5 hours. Much nicer!
9i has loads of new features. The upgrade exam is much harder than the 8i upgrade. My exam prep was quite extensive but the shear volume of stuff was quite daunting.
I wrote small articles on most of the subject areas. You can read them on my site:
http://www.oracle-base.com/Articles/9i/Articles9i.asp
I've not written articles on the last three sections of the syllabus as Oracle forgot to include them on the website before I sat my exam :)
Hope this helps.
Tim....