If you've been reading this book sequentially, you should understand the basics of the Oracle database architecture by now. This chapter begins with a description of how to install a database and get it up and running. (If you've already installed your Oracle database software, you can skim through this first section.) We'll describe how to create an actual database and how to configure the network software needed to run Oracle. Finally, we'll examine how to manage databases and discuss how users access databases.