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In my previous job I was an Oracle DBA for about 5 years, and recentlry transitioned to a developer role at a different company. I've also had the pleasure of taking both Oracle's OCP and SQL exams as well. In my honest opinion I wouldn't jump right into trying to find material to study for the exams. I would build your knowledge base up first and work on the exams after. The exams aren't really that difficult and they don't prepare for the actual DBA role.

There are a lot of key characteristics to becoming a good DBA. You need to be able to work with people and translate your technical expertise into something that can often be consumed by non-technical folks. Another trait of a DBA is having a good understanding of the entire stack. You need to be comfortable in network, application, virtualization and other technologies. Approaching problems in the DBA capacity also requires a scientific approach. Before you make adjustments you need to gather the "facts" (statistics) and compare the data before and after to see if the problem is resolved. In the Oracle space there is a large tendency to just "tweak" a parameter and hope it works. There is no FAST = TRUE setting.

With that said you can find the root of all Oracle database documentation here: Tahiti. I recommend you start with the Oracle Concepts Guide. Luckily the version I linked you to was re-written for this version of the database. It is by far the best resource for understanding the Oracle database. I think it is far better than nearly all books out there. The only book I would use to supplement the Concepts Guide is: Expert Oracle Database Architecture: Oracle Database 9i, 10g, and 11g Programming Techniques and Solutions. I should note that this book was written by the same person, Tom Kyte, that wrote the Concepts Guide.

Once you've read the Concepts Guide you'll need to move into the specific database documentation, which there is a lot. The nice thing about the Concepts Guide is that it provides a documentation road map for DBAs. I've also found that if you can understand the material covered in the 2 Day DBA guide you should be well on your way to passing the exams.

Oracle also allows you to download and install the database for personal use and education. You can find that here. If you are more comfortable with Microsoft I recommend you work with the Windows version until you feel like venturing into an OS like Linux, Unix or Solaris. I was primarily an Oracle DBA on MS Windows, but a lot of shops run on some sort of Unix variant so you should be comfortable there. Download and install the software and start working through the 2 Day DBA guide.

Here are a few other resources:

• Oracle Technology Network Forums -- These are probably the most active Oracle forums and some of the best Oracle minds visit this on a daily basis. I happen to have the same user handle there as well. As long as you put together a well thought out question you'll get an answer in no time.
  
  
• AskTom -- This is a question and answer site by Tom Kyte. This is arguably the best non-documentation source of Oracle information. Learn to use this site, and I recommend reading it on a daily basis.
  
  I hope I've helped point you in the right direction. Just remember that being a DBA means you'll sometimes work a lot, but you'll be learning day in and day out. Try and enjoy the job and put any egos aside.
  
  Just remember the most important job a DBA has is to be able to restore a database :)

ohh "set things up" is a very very wide term. OBIEE can do a ton of stuff. First do you have a data warehouse? What is the source of your data? I can give you the basics. OBIEE uses a metadata repository its called and RPD this is the source of all queries. You pull metadata from your source and then build out the RPD through a physical -> Business -> Presentation layer. The Business layer can do quite a bit of work for you in terms of combining dimensions and joins but you want as much of a star schema as possible from the source. Read Kimballs book listed below to understand star schema and warehousing concepts.

Inside of the OBI admin tool there is also some user management, user management isa whole nother aspect. Are you using some ldap authentiacaiton or will you be managing users though obiee? There are USERS, GROUPS, & ROLES. This is another aspect to deal with.

There is also the EM web portal, Enterprise Manager from here you do other management of users and roles and the actual services. This is another thing, where is this hosted? Do you already have OBIEE 11g set up on a server? If so you will need access to that box to do services management. Also may need to modify config files here.

Then there is the actual reporting service, OBIEE uses dimensions and a fact to create charts, pivot tables etc. Here you will log into the web front end this would be accessed by going to http://servername:port/analytics From here you log in as your development user by default its weblogic i beileve. And here is where you would create dashboards etc.

This is just one aspect of the tool set, there is also BIP (bi publisher) used to develop reports from various sources by creating a template and filling the template out by using XML.

Oracle offers classes, which if your managment is throwing you into OBIEE they should be giving you at least 1 class. The report building stuff is easy enough to pick up, but if you are responsible for the management of the server, you need a class.. there is just so much to know about it.

I have worked in the RPD and reports/dashboard building side of things for 2 years. and im still learning stuff (usually the limitations of OBIEE). We have a whole nother TEAM(TEAM) of people who manage the databases and server side.

Resources:

Get a subscription to METALINK from oracle to issue service requests and look up bug fixes etc.

https://login.oracle.com/mysso/signon.jsp

Blogs:

http://www.rittmanmead.com/
http://gerardnico.com/

There are also youtube videos to explain simple stuff for setting up and RPD etc. You can also download an entire sample setup of OBIEE 11g from oracle.. its a huge download 50gb or something like that, but it has database, RPD, sample reports. all in a virtual machine. You can spend a week setting it up just to have examples to work from.

There is plenty of resources, but to give 1 generalized resource is difficult, you need to search for specific things you need to do. "Installing obiee11g on linux" "importing meta data into RPD"

If you need books on Data Warehousing and explanations of STAR schema and data denormalization I suggest reading up on kimball method:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Data-Warehouse-Toolkit-Dimensional/dp/1118530802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377213718&sr=8-1&keywords=kimball

and

Inmon

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Data-Warehouse-W-Inmon/dp/0764599445/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377213827&sr=8-2&keywords=inmon

They have different philosophies for data warehousing i personally subscribe to the Kimball method because it supports rapid development better.


I'd like you to know but not discourage you, this is a large undertaking for 1 person. We manage 2 RPD's and 2 sets of dashboards for a custom reporting application we also do the ETL and warehousing. The whole warehouse was set up by a team, then we moved in ETL is handled by another team of people and we have a team doing reporting, then there is management and functional. So building out an OBIEE implementation from the ground up doing warehousing is a huge undertaking. There is another team of people doing server management and upgrades, and migrations.

This is at least a 3 man job, with each person being specialized. Push for RPD traning, Server managment Traning, and dashboard design Training. Warehousing methods and ETL work is another story.

Yes you need to find the materials and book the exams yourself.

The materials generally consist of books which you read and practice examples from. If you are curious I can give you some recommendations however none of them are free.

This is a pretty good book for the first exam (half this book) and you can't get away with programming in PL/SQL without reading [this] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1449324452/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1417646086&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40)

Judging from the reviews, I wouldn't get that book if you've never interacted with a database before. Usually certification books will give you a broad overview of things, but they won't give you enough to actually learn the material.

I haven't read it, but Feuerstein's Oracle PL/SQL Programming gets a lot of good reviews. Get the 5th edition since you won't need the 12c features and it'll save you some money. I would also install a copy of Oracle XE on your computer.

http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-PL-SQL-Programming-Versions/dp/0596514468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463191484&sr=8-1&keywords=oracle+pl+sql+programming+5th+edition

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-technologies/express-edition/overview/index.html

Remember, the only way you'll learn is by doing it. But don't rush yourself either.

I've ordered this book on behalf of work. It teaches you both about the SQL exam and the DBA exam you need to get the OCA status.

My background: I'm an Oracle DBA for about 7 years now. Or at least, I see myself as this. At my previous company they did ERP (J.D. Edwards) and they wanted me to focus my studies on that, regardless of the fact that my day to day work was 60% dba and 40% ERP. And I liked the first better. Decided to switch jobs and I am now being encouraged in becoming an Oracle OCP in a year which I think should be pretty doable with my background.

I'm curious myself what online sources people find helpfull in their preparation for this exam. Sorry for stealing your thread a bit.

11g OCP here about to take my upgrade to 12c OCP exam. The Oracle Press books are fantastic. I would say the official exam guide with the Transcender practice exams are all you need.


Here and here are the exam guides and here is the practice exam pack. These are the 11g materials, so just look for their 12c equivalents. 12c is still sort of new and most big shops haven't implemented yet so they might not exist yet.


Do you have any background with SQL? If not, take some online courses to at least get a basic understanding, then read the Oracle Press SQL exam guide to learn about extensions such as DECODE.


Give yourself at least 3-4 weeks to read the entire exam guide, take the practice exams and study the answers to all the questions before taking the OCA exam.


Finally, what's your background with Oracle? Most of the stuff is pretty tough unless you have some experience. Do you have a reliable set up via Virtual Box or maybe a test environment at work that you can trash to learn the ins and outs?

When I was someone in your shoes this was the reference book I turned to the most. Well organized and concise and the examples help tremendously when you don't have a full grasp yet:

https://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Example-Prentice-Hall-Professional/dp/0133796787/ref=pd_sbs_14_2/134-9403149-3455627?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0133796787&pd_rd_r=d61725ff-9031-4568-91d7-d54ad1d18bc5&pd_rd_w=fGPtX&pd_rd_wg=XffFi&pf_rd_p=1c11b7ff-9ffb-4ba6-8036-be1b0afa79bb&pf_rd_r=KD12YH6XHC1RFFZ57E2D&psc=1&refRID=KD12YH6XHC1RFFZ57E2D

Beyond that becoming 'expert' has been nothing more than experience, day in and out...

I've never had the job, but I am currently learning about databases, Oracle specifically. If you asked this in a a few more months I could offer some realistic help. However, not to waste your time, here is a book that is written for someone in your position. I can't verify its usefulness, but I have read the first several chapters and from a lay perspective the author does seem to know what he is talking about.

The book on Amazon

This is a good book

http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-SQL-101-Christopher-Allen/dp/007212606X/ref=sr_1_1/188-1467723-2277721?ie=UTF8&qid=1374605285&sr=8-1&keywords=oracle+pl%2Fsql+101

I really like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514468/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

> The questions I am messing up on are the ones where it's asking me to pick 3 or 4 options on what a certain syntax, rule, or table structure can/can't do.

At the risk of sounding like an asshole... if you don't know the answers for these questions, you don't know the material well enough to pass. If there is a particular topic you're having trouble getting down, maybe we can help. I will say usually these types of questions are trying to focus on a particular function or piece of knowledge, so if you can determine what knowledge they are looking for by asking the question and examining the answers, you can sometimes narrow down which answers might be correct.

> all the Oracle "rules"

That would be the Oracle docs.

this book really helped me for this exam I think. It's everything you need to know for this exam condensed into a short book. It doesn't have every detail on all the functions, but tells you which ones you really need to know.

Start with "Concepts" and Tom Kyte Expert Oracle Database Architecture

If you do not know anything about Oracle as a DBA, its going to be really impossible to interview for any technical questions.

there is a book you can start with, Oracle for the SQL Server DBA.
http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Database-Administration-Microsoft-Server/dp/0071744312
it highlights the differences, so you at least know the terminology.

I'm not certain about free online offerings; I'd say take the course or buy the book.

Oracle Database: SQL and PL/SQL Fundamentals NEW

http://amzn.com/B00HSO0X0S

Disclaimer: I'm an Oracle employee. My opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Oracle or its affiliates.

I myself have read this one while preparing for OCP certification.

http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Database-Certification-All-In-One-Handbook/dp/0072257903/

Any OCA guide will give you necessary basics. Or you could read concepts from Oracle.

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e40540.pdf

It's quite difficult to guess what can be asked in interview as there are tons of different things DBA can do.