We are entering into the DBA 2.0 era or I should say we have already entered quite deeply into it! And in this era, there is more and more penetration of graphical interfaced tools. Enterprise Manager (EM) from Oracle has evolved a lot in the last few years. The biggest change in EM came when it became web based from 10g onwards and was divided into two categories, Database Console( DBC) the free version and Grid Console(GC) , the paid and full blown version! Where DBC helps managing a single instance very well, there are limitations in it and the ability to manage one instance per console is the biggest one! GC completes that limitation and offers much more than just managing database! With so many goodies in GC, it becomes a deep topic which needs good mentoring to be done about it. Yes, there is a massive wealth of information in Oracle documentation about the subject, but if there is something which explains things in a more organized manner, I guess, that would make things much easier! And luckily Debu Panda ( here is the link to his personal site ) and Arvind Maheshwari has given us just that only with their book, Middleware Management with Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control 10g R5 which is released via Packt Publishing.

The book covers to a great depth the concepts of GC and how it works. After building up the base, the authors move us to the usage of GC which includes its installing it and further more, the deployment of Application Server and Weblogic Server. Going further enlightens us with various techniques and best practices of deployments using GC. There is an ample amount of information about the installation as well. The book covers the details in a well versed manner and the language chosen by authors is also very simple and easy to understand which makes it valued addition to the list of those oracle books, which one must have for a regular reference! Over all, a good write up and a recommended one!