1. Overview
Oracle Database is a relational database management system developed by Oracle Corporation. It is one of the most widely used database systems in the world and is known for its reliability, scalability, and security.
Oracle Database is designed to manage large amounts of data in an efficient and secure manner. It supports various data types, including numeric, character, and date/time data, and provides tools for managing, storing, and retrieving data. The database uses a schema-based approach for data organization and provides a variety of indexing options for efficient data access.
2. Version of Oracle Database
Oracle Corporation has released several versions of Oracle Database over the years, each with its own set of features, enhancements, and improvements. Some of the notable versions of Oracle Database are:
- Oracle Database 10g – This version was released in 2003 and introduced the grid computing architecture, which allowed multiple servers to be linked together to work as a single system.
- Oracle Database 11g – Released in 2007, this version introduced several new features, including Automatic Storage Management (ASM) and the Real Application Testing tool.
- Oracle Database 12c – This version was released in 2013 and introduced the multitenant architecture, which allows multiple databases to share a single set of resources.
- Oracle Database 18c – This version was released in 2018 and introduced several new features, including automatic indexing and self-driving database capabilities.
- Oracle Database 19c – This is the current long-term support release of Oracle Database, which was released in 2019. It includes several new features and improvements, such as JSON support and enhanced security options.
Oracle also offers a number of specialized versions of Oracle Database, such as Oracle Database Express Edition (XE) for developers and small businesses, and Oracle Database Cloud Service for cloud-based deployments.
3. How to use Oracle Database (quickly)
Here are the general steps to use Oracle Database:
- Download and install Oracle Database software: You can download the Oracle Database software from the Oracle website. Once downloaded, follow the installation guide to install the software on your machine.
- Create a database: After installing the software, you can create a new database using the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA). The DBCA is a graphical tool that guides you through the process of creating a new database, including specifying the database name, character set, and storage options.
- Connect to the database: Once the database is created, you can connect to it using the SQL*Plus command-line interface or a graphical tool such as SQL Developer. To connect, you need to provide the database name, host name, port number, username, and password.
- Create tables: Once connected, you can create tables to store your data. Tables are created using the SQL CREATE TABLE statement, which specifies the table name, column names, and data types.
- Insert data: After creating the tables, you can insert data into them using the SQL INSERT statement. The INSERT statement specifies the table name and the values to be inserted into each column.
- Query data: You can retrieve data from the tables using the SQL SELECT statement. The SELECT statement specifies the table name and the columns to be retrieved, and can include conditions to filter the results.
- Manage the database: Oracle Database provides various tools for managing the database, including backup and recovery, performance monitoring, and user management. You can use the Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) or the command-line tools to perform these tasks.
These are the basic steps to use Oracle Database. However, there are many advanced features and capabilities that you can explore to get the most out of the database.
