Preface

This manual provides reference information about Oracle8i's data warehousing capabilities.

Audience

This manual is written for database administrators, system administrators, and database application developers who need to deal with data warehouses.

Knowledge Assumed of the Reader

It is assumed that readers of this manual are familiar with relational database concepts, basic Oracle server concepts, and the operating system environment under which they are running Oracle.

Installation and Migration Information

This manual is not an installation or migration guide. If your primary interest is installation, refer to your operating-system-specific Oracle documentation. If your primary interest is database and application migration, refer to Oracle8i Migration.

Application Design Information

In addition to administrators, experienced users of Oracle and advanced database application designers will find information in this manual useful. However, database application developers should also refer to the Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals and to the documentation for the tool or language product they are using to develop Oracle database applications.

How Oracle8i Data Warehousing Guide Is Organized

This manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Data Warehousing Concepts"

This chapter contains an overview of data warehousing concepts.

Chapter 2, "Overview of Logical Design"

This chapter contains an explanation of how to do logical design.

Chapter 3, "Overview of Physical Design"

This chapter contains an explanation of how to do physical design.

Chapter 4, "Hardware and I/O"

This chapter describes some hardware and input/output issues.

Chapter 5, "Parallelism and Partitioning"

This chapter describes the basics of parallelism and partitioning in data warehouses.

Chapter 6, "Indexes"

This chapter describes how to use indexes in data warehouses.

Chapter 7, "Constraints"

This chapter describes some issues involving constraints.

Chapter 8, "Materialized Views"

This chapter describes how to use materialized views in data warehouses.

Chapter 9, "Dimensions"

This chapter describes how to use dimensions in data warehouses.

Chapter 10, "ETT Overview"

This chapter describes an overview of the ETT process.

Chapter 11, "Extraction"

This chapter describes issues involved with extraction.

Chapter 12, "Transportation"

This chapter describes issues involved with transporting data in data warehouses.

Chapter 13, "Transformation"

This chapter describes issues involved with transforming data in data warehouses.

Chapter 14, "Loading and Refreshing"

This chapter describes how to refresh in a data warehousing environment.

Chapter 15, "Summary Advisor"

This chapter describes how to use the Summary Advisor utility.

Chapter 16, "Schemas"

This chapter describes the schemas useful in data warehousing environments.

Chapter 17, "SQL for Analysis"

This chapter explains how to use analytic functions in data warehouses.

Chapter 18, "Tuning Parallel Execution"

This chapter describes how to tune data warehouses using parallel execution.

Chapter 19, "Query Rewrite"

This chapter describes using Query Rewrite.

Chapter 20, "Data Marts"

This chapter contains an introduction to Data Marts, and how they differ from warehouses.

Appendix A, "Glossary"

This chapter defines commonly used data warehousing terms.

Conventions Used in This Manual

The following sections describe the conventions used in this manual.

Text of the Manual

The text of this manual uses the following conventions.

UPPERCASE Characters

Uppercase text is used to call attention to command keywords, database object names, parameters, filenames, and so on.

For example, "After inserting the default value, Oracle checks the FOREIGN KEY integrity constraint defined on the DEPTNO column," or "If you create a private rollback segment, the name must be included in the ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS initialization parameter."

Italicized Characters

Italicized words within text are book titles or emphasized words.

Code Examples

Commands or statements of SQL, Oracle Enterprise Manager line mode (Server Manager), and SQL*Plus appear in a monospaced font.

For example:

INSERT INTO emp (empno, ename) VALUES (1000, 'SMITH'); 
ALTER TABLESPACE users ADD DATAFILE 'users2.ora' SIZE 50K; 

Example statements may include punctuation, such as commas or quotation marks. All punctuation in example statements is required. All example statements terminate with a semicolon (;). Depending on the application, a semicolon or other terminator may or may not be required to end a statement.

UPPERCASE in Code Examples

Uppercase words in example statements indicate the keywords within Oracle SQL. When you issue statements, however, keywords are not case sensitive.

lowercase in Code Examples

Lowercase words in example statements indicate words supplied only for the context of the example. For example, lowercase words may indicate the name of a table, column, or file.

Your Comments Are Welcome

We value and appreciate your comment as an Oracle user and reader of our manuals. As we write, revise, and evaluate our documentation, your opinions are the most important feedback we receive.

You can send comments and suggestions about this manual to the Information Development department at the following e-mail address:

infodev@us.oracle.com

If you prefer, you can send letters or faxes containing your comments to:

Server Technologies Documentation Manager

Oracle Corporation

500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA  94065

Fax: (650) 506-7228 Attn: Data Warehousing Guide