Database built from scratch
Deliverable: An Oracle instance installed and configured from nothing on Linux, with a listener, tablespaces, users and roles, documented so another administrator could reproduce it.
Course
Oracle Database Administration (DBA)
Database administration taught by doing the frightening parts on purpose — you will lose a database and restore it, because that is the skill the job is actually paid for.
- Duration: 5 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: intermediate
What you will be able to do
- Explain Oracle architecture — instance, database, memory and background processes
- Install, configure and start a database instance correctly
- Manage users, roles, privileges and quotas
- Manage tablespaces, datafiles and storage growth
- Take backups with RMAN and restore from them under pressure
- Diagnose a slow query using execution plans and statistics
Who this course is for
- Graduates in any discipline with basic SQL knowledge
- Support and operations staff moving into database roles
- Developers who want to understand what the database is doing
- Comfortable with a command line
Syllabus
6 modules · 5 months
Module 1. Architecture
- Instance versus database, and why the distinction matters
- SGA, PGA and the memory structures
- Background processes and what each one does
- Startup, shutdown and the stages in between
Module 2. Installation and configuration
- Installing on Linux and the prerequisites that catch people
- Creating a database and the initialisation parameters
- Listener, network configuration and connecting from elsewhere
- Control files, redo logs and the parameter file
Module 3. Storage management
- Tablespaces, datafiles and segments
- Extents, blocks and space usage
- Undo and temporary tablespaces
- Growth monitoring and adding space before you run out
Module 4. Users and security
- Users, profiles and password policy
- Privileges, roles and least privilege in practice
- Auditing and who did what
- Common security mistakes in production databases
Module 5. Backup and recovery
- Backup strategy and what the business can actually tolerate losing
- RMAN configuration, full and incremental backups
- Complete recovery, and recovering a single datafile
- Point-in-time recovery and Data Pump exports
Module 6. Performance
- Reading an execution plan
- Indexes, statistics and the optimiser
- AWR reports and finding the expensive statement
- Locking, blocking and diagnosing a hung session
Tools and technologies you will use
- Oracle Database
- SQL*Plus and SQL Developer
- RMAN
- Data Pump
- AWR and Enterprise Manager
- Linux command line
Projects you will build
Disaster recovery drill
Deliverable: A database deliberately damaged — a datafile deleted with the instance running — then fully recovered with RMAN, with the recovery steps and elapsed time written up.
Point-in-time recovery
Deliverable: A wrongly executed update recovered to the moment before it ran, demonstrating that the correct data is back and the erroneous change is gone.
Tuning report
Deliverable: A slow statement identified from an AWR report, its execution plan analysed, an index or rewrite applied, and the before and after timings recorded.
Where this course can take you
- Oracle DBA
- Database Administrator
- Database Support Engineer
- Production Support Analyst
- Data Engineer
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 5 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Lab access is provided; Oracle's own certification exams, if you choose to take them, are paid to Oracle separately.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
You will lose a database on purpose
Roughly halfway through, a datafile gets deleted while the instance is running, and you get it back.
Then it happens again, differently. Then you recover to the moment before a bad update. By the end you will have restored a database four times, and the fourth will be unremarkable.
That is the entire point. A backup nobody has ever restored is not a backup, it is a hope, and the difference between a good DBA and a bad one shows up on exactly one day a year.
Architecture before commands
It is possible to memorise a startup sequence without knowing what starts.
That works until something fails partway and the error refers to a control file or a redo log you have never thought about. So the first module is instance, memory structures and background processes — the mental model — and the commands come afterwards and make sense because of it.
Performance is a diagnosis, not a checklist
Most “tuning” advice on the internet is a list of parameters to change.
Real tuning is finding which statement is expensive, reading its execution plan, understanding why the optimiser chose that path, and changing one thing. The last project requires exactly that, with timings before and after, because a change without a measurement is a guess.
Being honest about the certificate
This is a Samyak certificate. Oracle’s certifications are booked and paid for with Oracle directly, and no institute can issue them on Oracle’s behalf.
We will tell you what those exams cover and roughly what they cost if you want that route. What this course gives you is the practical ability, which is what the interview actually tests.
Questions
Oracle Database Administration (DBA) — frequently asked questions
Do I need to be a programmer to become a DBA?
No, but you need SQL and comfort at a command line. DBA work is closer to operations and infrastructure than to development — you are responsible for a system staying available, recoverable and fast. Support engineers and operations staff often make the move successfully without a development background.
Why does the course make me destroy a database?
Because a backup you have never restored is not a backup, it is a hope. The entire value of a DBA on the worst day of the year is calm, practised recovery. Doing it for the first time during a real outage, with people standing behind you, is how careers end. Doing it four times in a classroom is how they do not.
Is Oracle still relevant with PostgreSQL and cloud databases around?
In Indian banking, telecom, government and large enterprise, Oracle estates are extensive and are not going anywhere quickly. The skills also transfer — architecture, backup strategy, recovery and tuning are conceptually similar across engines. It is a stable specialisation rather than a fashionable one.
Is this the official Oracle certification?
No. This is training, and the certificate is issued by Samyak. Oracle's own certification is booked and paid for through Oracle directly. We will explain what those exams cover if you want to pursue them, but no private institute can award them.
Enquire about Oracle Database Administration (DBA)
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- SQL and Databases
SQL taught against a database big enough that a bad query is noticeably slow, because toy datasets hide performance entirely and performance is half of what the job tests.
- DevOps
The toolchain taught around the goal it serves — shipping small changes safely and often — rather than as a list of products to name on a CV.
- AWS Cloud Computing
AWS taught by building and breaking infrastructure rather than by memorising service names, ending with an architecture you have deployed, secured, costed and can defend.
- Big Data with Hadoop and Spark
Distributed data processing taught with judgement — Hadoop, Spark and pipeline design, plus the far more common case where a single machine would have been the right answer.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.