Rick, Bob, and the entire author team would like to acknowledge the excellent review process managed by our editorial director, Wendy Rinaldi, and our acquisitions coordinator, Stephanie Evans. The technical editors, Maria Colgan, Kevin Closson, and Tim Shetler, provided more thorough reviews than any previous book we have been associated with—we feel confident that this book is highly accurate, but accept sole responsibility for any errors that may have slipped through the cracks. Rick and Bob would like to especially call out the work of Kevin, who often provided direction at a level that is not documented or widely known within Oracle.
Rick Greenwald would also like to thank his longtime collaborator, Bob Stackowiak, for his contributions and friendship for more than 15 years—quite an outcome from that initial meeting in line, and Maqsood Alam, who really delivered on his first book. The process of writing this book has been a process of almost continual learning and discovery, which would not have been as rich and complete without the help of many (in no particular order), including Robert Pastijin, Mark Townsend, Ron Weiss, Peter Wahl, Pete Sharman, Andrew Babb, Kodi Umamageswaran, Miroslav Lorenc, Herman Baer, Mahesh Subramaniam, Christian Craft, Mark Scardina, Kevin Jernigan, George Spears, Phil Stephenson, Alex Tsukerman, Jenny Tsai-Smith, Dan Norris, and all the many folks who contribute to internal Exadata mailing lists. And a special thanks to both Maria Colgan and Kevin Closson, who provided valuable insights over the course of the entire project.
Finally, a sincere shout-out to Nick Kritikos, my boss, who encouraged the creation of this book in many ways.
Bob would also like to acknowledge Rick Greenwald’s extensive efforts on this book, including where he filled in gaps in some chapters when needed and his review of the book’s content for consistency. Juan Loaiza provided important support for this project early in the process as the authors considered whether the time was right for a book covering Exadata. Of course, having the support of management at Oracle is critical, and Bob would like to acknowledge the support of Mark Salser and David O’Neill in the Oracle Enterprise Solutions Group and Kate Johnson in the Oracle Exadata Program Management Office in North America. Bob would also like to acknowledge the contributions and guidance offered over the years by George Lumpkin, Hermann Baer, Ron Weiss, Tony Politano, Joe Rayman, Rob Reynolds, Warren Dagenbach, Louis Nagode, and Alan Manewitz.
Maqsood Alam would like to acknowledge the coauthors for making this project a success, with a special thanks to Rick Greenwald for accepting this project and being a mentor along the way. A sincere token of appreciation goes out to all the reviewers, especially to Kevin Closson, who provided invaluable technical insights. Lastly, to my colleagues at Oracle Platform Technology Solutions, Henry Byorum, Aalok Muley, Milton Wan, and others, who time and again provide exciting opportunities that allow me to work with the latest and greatest technologies.
Mans Bhuller would like to send a big thank-you to the Oracle Exadata development team and executive management, in particular, Ron Weiss, Phil Stephenson, Mahesh Subramaniam, Kevin Jernigan, Tim Shetler, Juan Loaiza, and Kevin Closson (more for his sardonic wit rather than his galactic intellect). Mans would also like to recognize Andrew Holdsworth from the Real World Performance Team and Maria Colgan from the DW/SQL team, as well as his manager, David O’Neill, and SVP Mark Salser from the ESG team. Over the years I have benefited from the warmth of true friendship from Peter Sharman and Holger Kalinowski and would like to honor those mentors who have guided me in the past and those that still continue to guide me to this day: Mark Ashdown, Mark Large, Graham Wood, and Paul Cross.