Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration From Novice to Professional

CHAPTER 15 THE BIG PICTURE AND THE TEN DELIVERABLES 351
Suggested SOPs
Here is a list of common database tasks. As we have proved, even everyday tasks such as
stopping and changing passwords can be nontrivial. If you don’t have the time to write
detailed SOPs, you should consider writing at least a few sentences on each topic.
1. Connecting to a database: This describes how the DBA connects to the database
to perform database administration activities. This SOP is invaluable in an emergency
when speed is critical or when the primary DBA is unavailable.
2. Starting a database: This describes how to start the database engine and associated
components such as ASM, Data Guard, and database applications.
3. Stopping a database: This describes how to stop the database engine and associated
components.
4. Backups and recovery: This describes how to perform an ad hoc backup and how
to recover the database from backups.
5. Removing archived redo logs: This describes what to do when the archived log destination
fills up.
6. Standby database maintenance: This describes how to fail over and fail back, as
well as how to re- create the standby database if it gets damaged.
7. Adding space: This describes the process for adding data files or increasing the size
of data files.
8. Health checks: This describes how to check the health of the database and of applications
that use the database.
9. Adding a user: This describes special procedures and security rules to be followed
when adding a user to a database; for example, specific privileges that might be
needed by users of particular applications.
10. Resetting a password: This describes special procedures to be followed when
performing password resets; for example, steps to prevent applications from malfunctioning.
11. Clearing a lock: This describes internal procedures to be followed when terminating
a process that is blocking other users.
12. Maintenance activities: This describes daily maintenance activities, such as investigation
of backup failures, review of the error log, and checking contents of trace files. It
also covers weekly maintenance activities such as regeneration of statistics, monthly
maintenance activities such as preparation for month- end batch processing, and
quarterly maintenance activities such as preparation for quarter- end processing.