EXPERT RESPONSE
There have been many changes recently to the OCP program and the 10g OCP DBA
program is now available. If you're just getting started, I'd encourage you
to follow the 10g OCP path.
As for a test bed, I'd take your laptop and install Linux on it first and then use the Oracle 10g for Linux database available from otn.oracle.com/software. Of course, you don't have to install Linux -- Oracle 10g also runs on Windows (though I'm not sure about XP Home edition). Check the certification matrix to determine if XP Home is supported.
Unfortunately, your experience with MySQL won't probably help too much with
Oracle DBA tasks except that you'll already know some of the ANSI standard
SQL. I find that one of the most difficult things about working on other
database platforms (after having worked with Oracle for so long) is determining
what SQL is "standard" and which parts are Oracle-specific. Unless you've
worked on other databases in addition to MySQL, you may have the same
problems. The SQL reference guide is very good and complete, so I'd imagine
you'll make it a frequently used reference in your studies.
Good luck on your certification!
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