appendix-b

Table of Contents

Appendix C
Getting In Touch With Other Oracle Professionals

While I ve been writing this book, I ve been perusing the Web frequently, looking for information about Oracle. Information about anything can be found on the Web, and Oracle is no exception. Keyword searches on oracle will turn up hundreds of hits. Here are some of the best resources that I ve found for getting the answers to Oracle questions.

Frequently Asked Questions And White Papers

There are several Web sites, both commercial and individual, that provide white papers and answers to Oracle questions. You ll probably want to bookmark at least one of these sites.

The Cobb Group has set up the Exploring Oracle Developer/2000 and Designer/2000 page (www.cobb.com/eod).

JCC s Oracle Home Page (www.jcc.com/oracle.html) has a search engine for Oracle7 topics, as well as links to other resources.

The Oracle FAQ Contents page (www.bf.rmit.edu.au/Oracle/contents.html) breaks down questions into several topics.

The Oracle User Resource (www.oracle-users.com) has several white papers available online.

Orapub of Earth (www.europa.com/~orapub) provides several online papers.

The RGS Oracle-PL/SQL-WWW interface page ( gserver.grads.vt.edu ) includes PL/SQL blocks to perform useful functions as well as some Java and Perl information.

Underground Oracle Frequently Asked Questions (www.onwe.co.za/frank/faq.htm) is an excellent online resource for searching through front-line wisdom and answers some very tough questions.

Most white papers available online use Adobe Acrobat format. The Adobe Acrobat reader is available at www.adobe.com.

Newsgroups

In the fall of 1996, the comp.databases.oracle newsgroup was split into the following newsgroups:

comp.databases.oracle.server deals with server- related issues.

comp.databases.oracle.tools deals with questions regarding the Designer/2000, Developer/2000, and other Oracle products other than the database server.

comp.databases.oracle. marketplace is an excellent place to go looking for a job, if you re an Oracle professional. This newsgroup also serves as a forum for third-party software developers to announce their products.

comp.databases.oracle.misc handles issues that don t belong in the other subgroups.

comp.databases.oracle remains in service as well, but is now lightly used.

These newsgroups are an excellent place to find information about specific Oracle-related topics. If you have access to Usenet newsgroups, do yourself a favor, and subscribe to one or more of these subgroups.

Oracle On Linux

Since 1995, Linux (a free version of Unix for x86 processors) has been gaining popularity. It was inevitable that these users would eventually want Oracle on their systems. Currently, Oracle has no plans to implement a Linux version (nor do I expect that to change). Still, Linux users press ahead by running Oracle for SCO Unix under Linux. There are a few Web pages that provide information about getting Oracle for SCO up and running under Linux.

Georg Rehfeld (www.wmd.de/wmd/staff/pauck/misc/oracle_on_linux.html) provides step-by-step instructions on setting up Oracle on a Linux box using SCO Unix drivers.

Christopher Browne (www.conline.com/~cbbrowne/rdbms.html) provides an overview of database management systems that run on Linux, including Oracle.

Oracle User Groups

The largest user group for Oracle products is the International Oracle Users Group (www.ioug.org). In addition to IOUG, there are many smaller user groups in specific geographical regions . The groups listed below are all within the U.S. and Canada.

The Calgary Oracle Users Group (www.dbcorp.ab.ca/coug) serves Oracle users in and around Calgary, in the Alberta province of Canada.

The Chicago Oracle Users Group (www.roman.com/coug) serves Oracle users in and around the city of Chicago.

The Gulf Coast Oracle Users Group (www.southwind.com/gcoug) is dedicated to serving Oracle users along the Gulf Coast in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and in the Florida Panhandle.

The Houston Oracle Users Group (www.cois.com/houg) serves users in and around the Houston area.

The Indiana Oracle Users Group (www.rtt.in.net/inoug) serves Oracle users in the state of Indiana.

The Johnstown Oracle Users Group ( homepage.third-wave.com/joug ) serves Oracle users in Cambria and Somerset counties of Pennsylvania.

The Mid-Atlantic Association of Oracle Professionals (www.maop.org) serves users centered around Washington, D.C.

The Mid-South Oracle Users Group, or MidSoug, (www.midsoug.org) serves Oracle users in Memphis and the adjacent areas of Mississippi and Arkansas.

The Midwest Oracle Users Group (www.moug.org) is dedicated to serving Oracle users in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

The New Jersey Oracle Users Group (www.mfgsys.com/njoug.htm) serves Oracle users in the state of New Jersey.

The New York Oracle Users Group (www.nyoug.org/nyoug) serves users of Oracle products in the New York Metropolitan area and holds at least four meetings each year.

The Northern California Oracle Users Group (www.nocoug.org) is dedicated to serving Oracle users in northern California.

The Northwest Oracle Users Group (www.ariscorp.com/nwoug) is dedicated to serving Oracle users in the Pacific Northwest. Links to several smaller regional groups are provided.

The Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group (www.rmoug.org) serves Oracle users in and around Colorado.

The San Diego Oracle Users Group (www.pubsvc.dsr.com/sdoug) serves Oracle users in San Diego.

The South Florida Oracle Users Group (www.ugn.com/sfoug1.htm) serves Oracle users in south Florida, notably the Naples/Ft. Myers area.

The St. Louis Oracle Users Group ( clearperception.com/sloug ) serves Oracle users in St. Louis and neighboring areas of Missouri and Illinois.

The Twin Cities Oracle Users Group (www.tcoug.org) serves Oracle users in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.

The Virginia Oracle Users Group (www.crtnet.com/voug) serves the users of Oracle products in the state of Virginia.

Many of these groups publish newsletters, some of which are available over the Web. Full details about the organization, including contact names and numbers , can be found on the Web page of each group.

This is not a complete list of regional user groups; it s merely a list of those who have established a Web presence at press time. A complete and more up-to-date listing of regional user groups can be found on the IOUG Web site.