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My name is Darryl Hickson and I have been a Database Administrator for almost 20 years, primarily focusing on Oracle with some SQL Server mixed in for variety.  I started my DBA career with Sybase on Dec OpenVMS and quickly expanded into SQL Server and Oracle. Over the years, my focus has shifted to Oracle and I have had the opportunity to run Oracle versions 6.0 through 12.1 on multiple platforms including OpenVMS, Solaris, HP-UX, Windows and Red Hat Linux. I currently support Oracle versions 10.2 through 12.1 on Red Hat Linux, HP-UX and Windows.

My responsibilities at work cover database architecture, engineering, projects and operations. I am responsible for the physical database, supporting the developers who write custom code and the teams that support 3rd party applications. Beyond the core DBA functionality, my other areas of responsibility are Performance Tuning, RAC and Data Guard. Over the last few years I have been studying Oracle Database High Availability and Oracle’s Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) and expanding my tool set with RAC, Data Guard and Golden Gate. I am also huge proponent of automation and standardization. I continually look for ways to make our environment as efficient as possible.

What can you expect to see on this site? Information for all levels of DBAs through tips, techniques and step by step examples. I will also have information about some of the components that support the database.  I will touch on the operating system (Linux and Windows), storage, networking and Oracle Enterprise Manager (or Cloud Control if you prefer), just to name a few. They are all very important to the DBA because they are all pieces that make the database run! You don’t have to be an expert in these other areas, but you need to at least understand them at a basic level.

I have been fortunate that I have had several mentors and peers throughout my career that have helped to guide me to where I am today. I want to pay it forward to as many people as possible. Thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope to see you back soon.

Disclaimer – The opinions and statements expressed on this blog are mine alone and do not reflect my employer or any other parties. Any examples, demonstrations or code presented on this blog should be thoroughly evaluated and tested in your lab/sandbox or non-production environment.