Lesson 1

The Oracle enhancements have made the basic tasks of managing the size and location of database storage space more challenging. For example, you have always had to determine what size to make a tablespace, but now you must also determine how the space within the tablespace is to be managed (centrally or locally), whether the tablespace can be moved from one database to another, and more.

By the end of the module you will be able to:

1. Describe the purpose of tablespace management
2. Create locally managed tablespaces
3. Create transportable tablespaces
4. Describe new features for READ ONLY tablespaces
5. Identify the enhancements to the Database Resource Manager
6. Use the Database Resource Manager to limit resource usage

This module describes how to use the newest tablespace and resource management features of Oracle.
Many of these features are aimed at better use of storage space and faster retrieval of data. The next lesson answers the question, What is the purpose of tablespace management?

The purpose of tablespace management in Oracle is to ensure that the database's data is stored efficiently and effectively. Tablespace management includes a variety of tasks, such as:

1. Creating and dropping tablespaces: Tablespaces are logical storage units that contain database objects, such as tables, indexes, and materialized views. Creating and dropping tablespaces allows you to organize your database data in a way that makes it easy to manage and access.
2. Allocating and managing disk space: Tablespaces are allocated disk space when they are created. Tablespace management includes tasks such as monitoring disk space usage and adding or removing data files as needed.
3. Managing tablespace quotas: Tablespace quotas allow you to control how much disk space each user or schema can use. This can help to prevent users from filling up the database with data and can also improve performance by ensuring that users are not competing for the same disk space.
4. Monitoring and troubleshooting tablespace problems: Tablespace management also includes tasks such as monitoring tablespace performance and troubleshooting problems such as low disk space and data corruption.

Effective tablespace management can help to improve database performance, reliability, and security. It can also help to reduce the cost of database storage. Here are some of the specific benefits of effective tablespace management:

1. Improved performance: Tablespace management can help to improve database performance by:
   • Separating user data from data dictionary data to reduce I/O contention.
   • Placing frequently accessed data on faster disk drives.
   • Spreading data across multiple tablespaces to improve concurrency.
2. Increased reliability: Tablespace management can help to increase database reliability by:
   • Isolating problems to specific tablespaces.
   • Making it easier to back up and restore data.
   • Reducing the risk of data corruption.
3. Enhanced security: Tablespace management can help to enhance database security by:
   • Controlling access to tablespaces at the user or schema level.
   • Encrypting tablespace data.
   • Auditing tablespace activity.
4. Reduced storage costs: Tablespace management can help to reduce database storage costs by:
   • Compressing data.
   • Archiving infrequently accessed data.
   • Deleting unused data.

Overall, tablespace management is an important part of database administration. By effectively managing tablespaces, you can improve performance, reliability, security, and reduce storage costs.

Each database requires at least one (DBA) database administrator and an Oracle Database system can have many users.
Therefore, database administration is sometimes not a one-person job, but a job for a group of DBAs who share responsibility. A database administrator's responsibilities can include the following tasks:

1. Installing and upgrading the Oracle Database server and application tools
2. Allocating system storage and planning future storage requirements for the database system
3. Creating primary database storage structures (tablespaces) after application developers have designed an application
4. Creating primary objects (tables, views, indexes) once application developers have designed an application
5. Modifying the database structure, as necessary, from information given by application developers
6. Enrolling users and maintaining system security
7. Ensuring compliance with Oracle license agreements
8. Controlling and monitoring user access to the database
9. Monitoring and optimizing the performance of the database
10. Planning for backup and recovery of database information
11. Maintaining archived data on tape
12. Backing up and restoring the database
13. Contacting Oracle for technical support