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Contents Listing

Preface xi
I. Getting Started With Design 1
1. Introduction 3
What Is Design? 3
A Case Study 4
Looking at Alternative Methods and Approaches 15
Planning the Design Phase 18
Design Tasks 20
2. Why Is Design So Important for Oracle? 35
Designing for Specific Architectures 35
Designing for Performance 39
Other Design Considerations 42
Designing for Oracle7 44
Introducing Oracle8 58
3. Data Modeling 60
Types of Models 61
What Is Data Modeling? 62
Entity Relationship Diagrams 65
Quality-Assuring the Conceptual Information Model 69
Entity Life Histories and Data Flow Diagrams 92
Data-Driven Design and Meta Models 96
II. Designing the Database 99
4. Deciding When to Denormalize 101
Denormalization: What, Why, and When? 101
Methods of Implementing Denormalization 105
Other Types of Denormalization 107
5. Choosing Datatypes and Nulls 113
Available Datatypes 114
Numeric Data 115
Date and Time (Temporal) Data 117
String Data 119
Unstructured Data and BLOBs 122
Other Datatypes 123
Null Values 125
6. Choosing Keys and Indexes 131
Primary Keys 132
Other Keys 141
Indexes: An Overview 143
Index Types and Indexing Techniques 147
7. Dealing with Temporal Data 164
The Problem with Temporal Data 164
Design Issues for Temporal Databases 168
Temporal Data: A Summary 189
8. Loading and Unloading Data 191
Dealing with External Systems 191
Data Compatibility Issues 194
Data Migration Steps 201
Data Transformation 203
File Formats 207
Ordering, Recovery, and Commit Frequency 208
Using SQL*Loader 209
Oracle7 to Oracle7: a Special Case 211
Outbound Data 213
9. Deciding on Object Placement and Storage 215
Specifying Object Placement 215
Sizing 218
Specifying Storage Parameters 220
Creating Scripts 223
Implementation Planning 223
10. Safeguarding Your Data 225
Archiving 226
Auditing 233
Security 243
Backup 255
III. Designing for Specific Architectures 265
11. Designing for Client/Server 267
Why Client/Server? 268
What Is Client/Server? 269
What Kind of Hardware? 270
Basic Design Issues for Client/Server 272
Designing for Client/Server 273
SQL*Net Basics 276
Anatomy of a SQL Statement 277
Cutting in the Middle Man 280
Special Design Considerations 282
12. Designing for Distributed Databases 299
When Should You Use Distributed Databases? 299
Evolution of Oracle Support for Data Distribution 300
Selecting a Data Distribution Strategy 312
Example Scenarios 328
Using Distributed Database for Fallback 332
Other Design Considerations 332
Data Distribution Summary 333
13. Designing for Data Warehouses 335
Why Data Warehouses? 335
What Is a Data Warehouse? 337
Design Issues for Data Warehouses 347
Extracting and Loading the Data 358
Meta Data 364
Transformation Types and Methods 364
Retrieving the Data via Data Mining and OLAP Tools 367
14. Designing for Parallel Processing 369
Why Do We Need Parallelism? 370
Designing to Achieve Parallelism 375
Parallel Query Option (PQO) 380
Oracle Parallel Server (OPS) 384
IV. Designing the Code Modules 391
15. Introduction to Code Design 393
Analysis Deliverables 394
Mapping Functions to Modules 397
Don't Forget the System Modules 399
Source and Version Control 402
Template Code 405
Designing for Testing 406
CASE Products in Run Unit Design 407
16. Determining Where to Locate the Processing 410
Data Rules vs. Process Rules vs. Interface Rules 410
Logic Placement 416
Locking Issues 418
How Does This Relate to Three-Tier Architectures? 420
17. Metrics, Prototypes, and Specifications 423
Developing Design and Build Metrics for Modules 423
Banishing Megamodules 425
Shall We Prototype? 428
Where are my Specs? Guidelines for Module Specifications 433
Specifying Screens and Reports 435
Specifying Batch Processes 436
18. Locking 437
Locking Strategies 437
Deadlocks 440
Serializability 441
Other Design Issues 442
19. Selecting the Toolset 446
Types of Tools 446
Which Selection Criteria Are Important? 447
Client/Server Tools 448
Designing for the World Wide Web 451
20. Designing Screens, Reports, Batch Programs, and More 453
Designing Screens 453
Designing Reports 456
Designing Batch Programs 458
Error Handling 468
Navigation 469
Online Help 471
V. Appendixes 475
A. Off-the-Shelf Packages 477
Evaluating a Package 478
Does It Fit? 479
Can It Be Tailored? 483
The Big Data Model Issue 485
B. Tricks of the Trade 487
Fixing Those Mutating Tables 487
Dealing with the Millennium Date Problem: An Oracle Perspective 495
Providing User Extensibility 503
Index 513