Oracle® Database

Platform Guide

12c Release 1 (12.1) for Microsoft Windows

E10714-12

August 2015

Oracle Database Platform Guide, 12c Release 1 (12.1) for Microsoft Windows

E10714-12

Copyright © 1996, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Primary Author: Sunil Surabhi

Contributing Author: Lance Ashdown, Reema Khosla

Contributors: Beldalker Anand, Adam Bentley, Ricky Chen, David Collelo, David Friedman, Janelle Simmons, Sue K. Lee, Rich Long, Satish Panchumarthy, Ravi Thammaiah, Michael Verheij

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Contents

Preface

- Audience

- Documentation Accessibility

- Accessing Documentation

- Related Documents

- Conventions

Changes in This Release for Oracle Database Platform Guide

- Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)

1 Oracle Database Architecture on Windows

- Overview of Oracle Database on Windows Architecture

- Oracle Automatic Storage Management

- Oracle Automatic Storage Management File Access Control

- Creation of New User Groups and Users for Separation of Database Administration Duties

- About Disk Group User Replacement

- About Changing File Access Control While the File is Open

- Thread-Based Architecture

- File I/O Enhancements

- Overview of Oracle Database Scalability on Windows

- Large User Populations

- Oracle Database Integration with Windows

- Oracle PKI Integration with Windows

- Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

- Oracle Fail Safe Integration with Windows

- Other Sources of Information

2 Database Tools on Windows

- Choosing a Database Tool

- Database Tools and Operating System Compatibility

- Preferred Database Tools

- Starting Database Tools

- Starting Database Tools in Multiple Oracle Homes

- Starting Tools from Multiple Oracle Homes

- Running Tools with Windows User Account Control

- Starting Database Tools from the Start Menu

- Starting Database Tools from the Command Line

- Starting Windows Tools

- Using the Oracle Home User Control Tool

- Using SQL*Loader

- Windows Processing Options

- Default (No Processing Option) or "str terminator_string"

- Control File Conventions

- Using Windows Tools

- Using Event Viewer to Monitor a Database

- Using Microsoft Management Console to Administer a Database

- Using Registry Editor to Modify Configuration Information

- Using Task Manager to Monitor Applications and Processes

- Using Local Users and Groups to Manage Users and Groups

- Optional Windows Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

3 Supporting Oracle Home User on Windows

- Managing Oracle Home User

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Single-Instance Database and Oracle Database Client

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle RAC Database

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

- Using Oracle Home User in Case of Multiple Oracle Home

- Using Oracle Home User During Oracle Database Upgrade

- Converting from Single-Instance Oracle Database to Oracle Real Application Clusters

4 Postinstallation Database Creation on Windows

- Overview of the Naming Conventions for Oracle Database

- Overview of Database Creation on Windows Using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

- Overview of Database Creation Tasks on Windows Using Command-Line Tools

- About Exporting an Existing Database

- Exporting All Data from an Existing Database

- Deleting Database Files

- Modifying the Initialization Parameter File

- About Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service

- Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service

- Creating Oracle Wallets in a File System for Oracle Database Services

- Starting an Oracle Database Instance

- Putting the CREATE DATABASE Statement in a Script

- Running the CREATE DATABASE Script

- About Importing a Database

- Updating ORACLE_SID in the Registry

- Creating the ORACLE_SID Parameter

- Backing Up the New Database

- About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM

- Creating an Instance Using ORADIM

- Starting an Instance and Services Using ORADIM

- Stopping an Instance and Services Using ORADIM

- Editing an Instance Using ORADIM

- Deleting an Instance Using ORADIM

- Overview of Database Migration from a 32-Bit Windows Computer

- Backing Up a 32-Bit Oracle Database

- Migration Considerations

- Migrating an Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) or Earlier Database

5 Postinstallation Configuration Tasks on Windows

- Overview of Windows Firewall

- About Oracle Executables Requiring Windows Firewall Exceptions

- Configuring Windows Firewall Exceptions for Successful Connections to Oracle Software

- Overview of Different Executables Added to the Windows Firewall Exception List

- Configuring the Windows Firewall Postinstallation

- Troubleshooting Windows Firewall Exceptions

- About the Need to Reset Passwords for Default Accounts

- About Windows Authenticated Users

- Overview of NTFS File System and Windows Registry Permissions

- Setting File Permissions

- About Default File Permissions Set by Oracle Universal Installer

- About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

- About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant

- About Setting Permissions for Oracle Wallets

- About Setting File System ACLs Manually

- Setting Permissions for Windows Registry Entries

- Setting Permissions for Windows Service Entries

- Setting NTFS File System Security

- Setting Windows Registry Security

- About Configuring External Job Support for the Scheduler on Windows

- About Oracle Multimedia on Windows

- Configuring Oracle Multimedia on Windows

- About Oracle Text on Windows

- About Oracle Spatial and Graph on Windows

- Configuring Oracle Spatial and Graph on Windows Automatically

- About Advanced Replication on Windows

- Checking Tablespace and Rollback Segment Requirements

- Adding and Modifying Initialization Parameters

- Monitoring Data Dictionary Tables

6 Administering a Database on Windows

- About Ways to Manage Oracle Database Services

- Overview of Oracle Database Service Naming Conventions for Multiple Oracle Homes

- Starting Oracle Database Services

- Stopping Oracle Database Services

- Auto-Starting Oracle Database Services

- Starting and Shutting Down a Database with SQL*Plus

- Starting and Shutting Down a Database Using Services

- Starting Multiple Instances

- Creating and Populating Password Files

- Viewing and Hiding the Password File

- Connecting Remotely to the Database

- Connecting to a Database Using SYSDBA Privileges

- Verifying a Remote Database Using Encrypted Passwords

- About Archiving Redo Log Files

7 Monitoring a Database on Windows

- Overview of Database Monitoring Tools

- About Event Viewer

- Using Event Viewer

- Reading Event Viewer

- Managing Event Viewer

- About Trace Files

- About Alert Logs

- Viewing Oracle Database Thread Information

8 Tuning Windows to Optimize Oracle Database

- Overview of Windows Tuning

- Overview of Large Page Support

- Granting Lock Pages in Memory Privilege

- Enabling Large Page Support

- About Reducing Priority of Foreground Applications on Server Console

- About Configuring Windows Server to Be an Application Server

- About Disabling Unnecessary Services

- About the Necessity to Remove Unused Network Protocols

- About the Necessity to Reset Network Protocol Bind Order

- Setting the Order of Multiple Network Interface Cards

- Overview of Latest Reliable Windows Server Service Pack

- Overview of Hardware or Operating System Striping

- About Multiple Striped Volumes for Sequential and Random Access

- About Multiplex Windows Server Virtual Memory Paging File

- Closing All Unnecessary Foreground Applications

9 Performing Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Overview of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Purpose of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Scope of This Chapter

- Basic Concepts of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Component-Based Shadow Copies

- Volume-Based Shadow Copies

- Oracle VSS Backup Types

- Basic Steps of Backup and Recovery with VSS

- About Installing and Uninstalling the Oracle VSS Writer Service

- About Backing Up a Database

- About Component-Based Backups

- About Backing Up a Database in ARCHIVELOG Mode

- Making Component-Based Backups of an ARCHIVELOG Database

- Making Volume-Based Backups of an ARCHIVELOG Database

- About Backing Up a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode

- Making Component-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

- Making Volume-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

- About Restoring and Recovering a Database

- About Restoring and Recovering a Database in ARCHIVELOG Mode

- Restoring the Server Parameter File

- Recovering from the Loss of All Control Files

- Recovering Tablespaces or Data Files

- Recovering All Tablespaces

- Performing Disaster Recovery

- About Restoring a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode

- Restoring Component-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

- Restoring Volume-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

- About Integrating VSS with Third-Party Requester Applications

- Running Writer Control Commands

- Controlling Commands for Database or All Tablespaces Component

- About Duplicating a Database

- Creating a Nonstandby Database from Shadow Copies

- Creating a Standby Database From Shadow Copies

10 Authenticating Database Users with Windows

- Overview of Windows Native Authentication

- About Windows Authentication Protocols

- About User Authentication and Role Authorization Methods

- About Using Authentication and Authorization Methods

- Overview of Operating System Authentication Enabled at Installation

11 Administering External Users and Roles on Windows

- Overview of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

- Managing a Remote Computer

- Adding a Computer and Saving Your Configuration

- Granting Administrator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

- Granting Operator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

- Connecting to a Database

- Troubleshooting Connection Problems

- Viewing Database Authentication Parameter Settings

- Creating an External Operating System User

- Creating a Local Database Role

- Creating an External Operating System Role

- Granting Administrator Privileges for a Single Database

- Granting Operator Privileges for a Single Database

- Overview of Manually Administering External Users and Roles

- About Manually Creating an External Operating System User

- Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

- Overview of Manually Granting Administrator, Operator, and Task-Specific Privileges for Databases

- Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

- Managing New Users and User Groups

- Overview of Manually Creating an External Role

- Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Client Computer

- About Manually Migrating Users

12 Storing Oracle Wallets in the Windows Registry

- About Storing Private Keys and Trust Points

- About Storing User's Profile

- About Registry Parameters for Wallet Storage

- About Oracle Wallet Manager

- Sharing Wallets and sqlnet.ora Files Among Multiple Databases

13 Oracle PKI Integration with Windows

- About Oracle Public Key Infrastructure

- About Windows Public Key Infrastructure

- About Microsoft Certificate Stores

- About Microsoft Certificate Services

- Using Microsoft Certificate Stores with Oracle PKI Applications

14 Using Oracle Database with Microsoft Active Directory

- Overview of Microsoft Active Directory Support

- About Microsoft Active Directory

- About Accessing Active Directory

- Overview of Oracle Components That Integrate with Active Directory

- About Directory Naming

- About Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers

- About Integration with Windows Tools

- About User Interface Extensions for Oracle Net Directory Naming

- About Enhancement of Directory Object Type Descriptions

- About Integration with Windows Login Credentials

- Overview of Oracle Directory Objects in Active Directory

- Overview of Requirements for Using Oracle Database with Active Directory

- Creating Oracle Schema Objects

- Creating an OracleContext

- Running Oracle Network Configuration Assistant

- About Directory Naming Software Requirements

- Configuring Client Computers and Oracle Database to Use Active Directory

- About Testing Connectivity

- Testing Connectivity from Client Computers

- Testing Connectivity from Microsoft Tools

- Overview of Access Control List Management for Oracle Directory Objects

- Overview of Security Groups

- About OracleDBCreators

- About OracleNetAdmins

- About Oracle Net Services Objects

- Setting ACLs on Net Service Entries

- Adding and Deleting Security Group Members

15 Oracle Database Specifications for Windows

- Initialization Parameter File Overview

- About the Location of the Initialization Parameter File

- About Editing The Initialization Parameter File

- About Database Configuration Assistant Renaming init.ora

- Using Sample File for Database Creation

- About SGA_MAX_SIZE Parameter

- Overview of Initialization Parameters Without Windows-Specific Values

- Displaying Initialization Parameter Values

- About Unmodifiable Database Initialization Parameters

- Calculating Database Limits

16 Configuration Parameters and the Registry

- About Configuration Parameters

- Registry Overview

- Registry Parameters Overview

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

- MSHELP_TOOLS

- NLS_LANG and Other Globalization Parameters

- ORA_CWD

- ORA_SID_AUTOSTART

- ORA_SID_PFILE

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE

- ORA_TZFILE

- ORACLE_AFFINITY

- ORACLE_BASE

- ORACLE_GROUP_NAME

- ORACLE_HOME

- ORACLE_HOME_KEY

- ORACLE_HOME_USER

- ORACLE_HOMENAME

- ORACLE_PRRITY

- ORACLE_SID

- OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN

- RDBMS_ARCHIVE

- RDBMS_CONTROL

- SQLPATH

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

- INST_LOC

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

- Parameters for Oracle Database Services

- Overview of Oracle RAC Registry Parameters

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\OCR

- Managing Registry Parameters with regedit

- Modifying a Parameter Value with regedit

- Adding a Registry Parameter with regedit

- About Managing Registry Parameters with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

- Starting Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

- Adding Oracle Home Parameters

- Editing Oracle Home Parameters

- Deleting Oracle Home Parameters

17 Developing Applications for Windows

- About Finding Information on Application Development for Windows

- About Java Enhancements

- About ODP.NET

- About Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio

- About Oracle Providers for ASP.NET

- About XML Support

- About Support for Internet Applications

- About Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

- About Oracle Provider for OLE DB

- About Oracle ODBC Driver

- About Pro*C/C++ and Pro*COBOL Applications

- About Building External Procedures

- External Procedures Overview

- Installing and Configuring Oracle Database and Oracle Net Services

- Installing Oracle Database

- Configuring Oracle Net Services

- Writing an External Procedure

- Building a DLL

- Registering an External Procedure

- Restricting Library-Related Privileges to Trusted Users Only

- Executing an External Procedure

- Overview of Multithreaded Agent Architecture

- About Debugging External Procedures

- Using Package DEBUG_EXTPROC

- About Accessing Text Files with UTL_FILE

A Storing Tablespaces on Raw Partitions

- Raw Partition Overview

- About Physical Disk

- About Logical Partition

- About Physical Disk and Logical Partition Considerations

- About Compatibility Issues

- Configuring Disks for Oracle Automatic Storage Management

B Oracle Net Services Configuration on Windows

- About Configuring Oracle Database to Communicate with Oracle ASM

- About Modifying Oracle Net Services Registry Parameters and Subkeys

- About Oracle Net Service Subkeys

- About Listener Requirements

- Running Oracle Net Services

- Overview of Optional Configuration Parameters

- About LOCAL Parameter

- About TNS_ADMIN Parameter

- About USE_SHARED_SOCKET Parameter

- Overview of Advanced Network Configuration

- About Configuring Authentication Method

- About Configuring Security for Named Pipes Protocol

- Modifying Configuration of External Procedures for Higher Security

C Running Windows Services

- About Windows Services for Oracle Database

- Running Windows Services in Oracle Home

- Additional Privileges Required by Oracle Database Services

- Granting Additional Operating System Privileges Manually

D Error Messages on Windows

- ORA-09275: CONNECT INTERNAL No Longer Supported

- ORA-15252 to ORA-15266: User Replacement Failure on Windows

- ORA-15301 to ORA-15302: Failure to Modify Ownership, Group, and Permission of Opened Files

- OSD-04000 to OSD-04599: Windows-Specific Oracle Database Messages

- File I/O Errors: OSD-04000 to OSD-04099

- Memory Errors: OSD-04100 to OSD-04199

- Process Errors: OSD-04200 to OSD-04299

- Loader Errors: OSD-04300 to OSD-04399

- Semaphore Errors: OSD-04400 to OSD-04499

- Miscellaneous Errors: OSD-04500 to OSD-04599

- DIM-00000 to DIM-00228: ORADIM Command Syntax Errors

- Database Connection Issues

E Oracle Database Differences on Windows and UNIX

- Automatic Startup and Shutdown

- Background Processing and Batch Jobs

- Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

- Direct Writes to Disk

- Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs)

- Hot Backups

- Initialization Parameters: Multiple Database Writers

- Installation Accounts and Groups

- Installation

- Memory Resources

- Microsoft Transaction Server

- Multiple Oracle Homes and OFA

- Oracle Home User and Oracle User

- Processes and Threads

- Raw Partitions

- Services

Glossary

Index

Preface

This guide provides platform-specific information about administering and configuring Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) on Microsoft Windows 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.

See Also:

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for information about Oracle Database preinstallation requirements

- Oracle Database Client Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for information about Oracle Database Client preinstallation requirements

- Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for information about Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC preinstallation requirements

Note:

- Windows Multilingual User Interface Pack is supported on all Windows operating systems.

- In the 12.1 release, only the database client is supported on 32-bit Windows operating systems.

This Preface contains these topics:

- Audience

- Documentation Accessibility

- Accessing Documentation

- Related Documents

- Conventions

Audience

This guide is intended for database administrators, network administrators, security specialists, and developers who use Oracle Database for Windows.

To use this document, you need:

- Oracle-certified Windows operating system software installed and tested

- Knowledge of object-relational database management concepts

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Accessing Documentation

The Oracle Database Online Documentation Library for Windows is not shipped with Oracle Database for Windows. Everything in the library is available for download from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/documentation/index.html

Related Documents

For more information, see the following documents in the Oracle Database documentation set:

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows

- Oracle Database Concepts

Many books in the documentation set use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle Database. See Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information about how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention

Meaning

boldface

Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.

italic

Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.

monospace

Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.

Changes in This Release for Oracle Database Platform Guide

This preface describes new and deprecated features of Oracle Database and provides pointers to additional information.

Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)

The following are changes in Oracle Database Platform Guide for Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1).

- New Features

- Deprecated Features

- Desupported Features

New Features

The following features are new in this release:

- Support of Oracle Home User on Windows
Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database supports the use of Oracle Home User, specified at the time of installation. Oracle Home User is used to run Windows services for the Oracle home. Oracle Home User is associated with an Oracle home and cannot be changed post installation. On a system, different Oracle homes can share the same Oracle Home User or use different Oracle Home User names.

Oracle Home User can be a Windows built-in account or a Windows User Account. For enhanced security, Oracle recommends that the standard Windows User Account be chosen as the Oracle Home User for Oracle Database installations. The primary purpose of Oracle Home User is to run Windows services with Windows User Account. This user account (Oracle Home User) must be a standard Windows user account (not an Administrator). Windows User Account can be a Local User, a Domain User, or a Managed Services Account.

Note:
See the Microsoft documentation for more information on different types of Windows user accounts.

This release has also introduced a new Windows utility called the Oracle Home User Control. This is a command-line tool that displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle home and updates the password for the Windows User Account (used as Oracle Home User).

See Also:

- "Supporting Oracle Home User on Windows"

- "Running Tools with Windows User Account Control"

- "Using the Oracle Home User Control Tool"

- "Managing Oracle Home User"

- "Overview of Database Creation on Windows Using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant"

- "About Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service"

- "About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM"

- "Creating an Instance Using ORADIM"

- "Overview of Operating System Authentication Enabled at Installation"

- "About Listener Requirements"

- "Running Windows Services"

- "Recommended File System" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- "Configuring Environment Variables for the Software Installation Owner" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- "Managing User Accounts with User Account Control" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- "Operating System Groups Created During Oracle Database Installation" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- The "Specify Oracle Home User" screen in "Table 5-1 Oracle Universal Installer Windows" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- "Set Up the Environment to Support the Standby Database" in Oracle Data Guard Concepts and Administration

- "Step 5: (Windows Only) Create an Instance" and "Step 14: (Optional) Enable Automatic Instance Startup" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

- Oracle ASM File Access Control on Windows
Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) File Access Control restricts the access of files to specific Oracle ASM clients that connect as SYSDBA. An Oracle ASM client is typically a database, which is identified as the user that owns the database instance home.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle supports the use of standard Windows User Account instead of Local System Account to run Oracle Database services that lets you use separate users for different Oracle databases. This release also supports Oracle ASM disk group file-level access control and privilege separation.

The Oracle ASM File Access Control feature helps to replace the current user with a new user and allows the user to change ownership, group membership, and permissions of a file while the file is open by one or more Oracle ASM clients. This release onwards, the Windows User Accounts used as Oracle Home Users are restricted from directly accessing Oracle ASM storage devices and can be accessed through the Oracle Database services that have sufficient privileges to run that service.

Oracle ASM disk group users now manage ASM disk group user replacement with new ASMCMD commands and SQL statements.

See Also:

- "Oracle Automatic Storage Management File Access Control"

- "Migration Considerations"

- "Managing New Users and User Groups"

- "ORA-15252 to ORA-15266: User Replacement Failure on Windows"

- "ORA-15301 to ORA-15302: Failure to Modify Ownership, Group, and Permission of Opened Files"

- "Managing Oracle ASM File Access Control for Disk Groups" in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

- "Preparing Disks for Oracle Automatic Storage Management" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c
Oracle Database 12c introduces Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c, a web-based management tool built into Oracle Database without any need for special installation or management. Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c, you can perform basic administrative tasks such as user, performance, memory, and space management. You can also view performance and status information about your database.

See Also:

- "Introduction to Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

- "Features Provided by Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- "Getting Started with Oracle Database" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- "Installing the Oracle Database Software" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- Support of Oracle Home User for Oracle Net Services
Oracle Database 12c supports Oracle Net services such as Oracle Listener, CMADMIN, and CMAN Proxy Listener to run under Oracle Home User account specified during Oracle Database installation. In earlier releases, Oracle Net services ran under the high-privileged, Windows built-in Local System Account (LSA).

See Also:

- "Running Oracle Net Services"

- "User Accounts and Security" in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide

- "START" in Oracle Database Net Services Reference

- Securing External Procedures
Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), a LIBRARY object can be defined using either an explicit path or a DIRECTORY object. You can also use the CREDENTIAL clause to specify the operating system user.

See Also:

- "Registering an External Procedure"

- "Configuring Authentication for External Procedures" in Oracle Database Security Guide

- "Overview of Commonality in a CDB" in Oracle Database Concepts

- Support for Separation of Database Administration Duties
Oracle Database 12c provides support for separation of database administration duties for Oracle Database by introducing task-specific and least-privileged administrative privileges that do not require the SYSDBA administrative privilege. These new privileges are: SYSBACKUP for backup and recovery, SYSDG for Oracle Data Guard, and SYSKM for encryption key management.

See Also:

- "Extended Oracle Database Groups for Job Role Separation" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- "About Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- "Creating Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide

- "Database Administrator Authentication" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

- "Managing Administrative Privileges" in Oracle Database Security Guide

Deprecated Features

The following feature is deprecated in this release, and might be desupported in a future release:

Windows NTS Authentication Using the NTLM Protocol

The NTS authentication adapter no longer supports the use of the NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol to authenticate Windows domain users. Thus the NTS adapter cannot be used to authenticate users in old Windows NT domains or domains with old Windows NT domain controllers. However, local connections and Oracle Database services running as a Windows Local User continues to be authenticated using NTLM. A new client-side sqlnet.ora boolean parameter, no_ntlm (default value is FALSE) allows you to control if NTLM can be used in NTS authentication. When the parameter is set to TRUE, NTLM cannot be used in NTS authentication.

See Also:
"About Windows Authentication Protocols"

Desupported Features

The following features previously described in this guide are no longer supported by Oracle. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a list of desupported features.

- Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control

- Oracle COM Automation

- Oracle Objects for OLE

- Oracle Counters for Windows Performance Monitor

- Raw Devices

1 Oracle Database Architecture on Windows

This chapter describes how Oracle Database architecture takes advantage of some more advanced services in Microsoft Windows operating systems.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Oracle Database on Windows Architecture

- Overview of Oracle Database Scalability on Windows

- Oracle Database Integration with Windows

- Other Sources of Information

Overview of Oracle Database on Windows Architecture

Oracle Database on Windows is a stable, reliable, and high-performing system upon which you can build applications. Each release of the database provides new platform-specific features for high performance on Windows.

Oracle Database operates the same way on Windows as it does on other platforms. The architecture offers several advantages on Windows, such as:

- Oracle Automatic Storage Management

- Oracle Automatic Storage Management File Access Control

- Thread-Based Architecture

- File I/O Enhancements

Oracle Automatic Storage Management

Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) is an integrated file system and volume manager expressly built for Oracle Database files. Oracle ASM provides the performance of raw I/O with the easy management of a file system. It simplifies database administration by eliminating the need for you to directly manage potentially thousands of Oracle Database files. It enables you to divide all available storage into disk groups. You manage a small set of disk groups, and Oracle ASM automates the placement of the database files within those disk groups.

Oracle recommends that you use Oracle ASM instead of raw files to store data files. It provides the performance benefits of raw files with much better manageability. Oracle ASM is available for both single instance and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) databases.

You can store Oracle Cluster Registry and voting files in Oracle ASM disk groups and store database data files in the data disk group. The voting files and Oracle Cluster Registry are two important components of Oracle Clusterware.

Note:

- You must be logged on either as Administrator or a user name that is a member of the Administrators group.

- To open Disk Management console, click Start, Run, and then enter: diskmgmt.msc.

- Storing data files on raw devices is no longer supported. You must use a file system or Oracle Automatic Storage Management.

- NFS or Direct NFS cannot be used for Oracle Clusterware files.

See Also:

- Appendix A, "Storing Tablespaces on Raw Partitions"

- "Oracle Cluster Registry and Voting Files in Oracle ASM Disk Groups" in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

- "Using Automatic Memory Management" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

Oracle Automatic Storage Management File Access Control

Oracle ASM File Access Control restricts the access of files to specific Oracle ASM clients that connect as SYSDBA. An Oracle ASM client is a database, which is identified by the name of the user that owns the database instance home. Oracle ASM File Access Control uses this user name to identify a database. Oracle ASM File Access Control restricts access based on the operating system and effective user identification number of a database owner.

Creation of New User Groups and Users for Separation of Database Administration Duties

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) provides access control to separate the roles on Windows. With Oracle Database services running under the Oracle Home User account instead of the Local System Account, the Oracle ASM access control feature must be enabled to support role separation on Windows. In previous releases, this feature was disabled on Windows because all Oracle Database services ran under Windows Built-in Local System Account.

The new user groups added in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) are ORA_HOMENAME_DBA, ORA_HOMENAME_OPER, ORA_HOMENAME_SYSBACKUP, and so on. For Oracle ASM administration, new groups ORA_ASMADMIN, ORA_ASMDBA and ORA_ASMOPER are automatically created and populated during Oracle Database installation. The Oracle ASM administrator can manage these Windows groups using Windows tools, though you must ensure that the required user names are not removed from these groups.

See Also:

- "Managing New Users and User Groups"

- "About Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

- "Creating Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide

About Disk Group User Replacement

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), the identity of an Oracle ASM user can be changed from one operating system user to another operating system user. It enables end users to change the identity of an Oracle ASM user without having to delete and re-create the user, which requires dropping all the files a user owns. This feature improves the manageability of Oracle ASM users and the files they own. A new SQL Statement (ALTER DISKGROUP REPLACE USER) and a new ASMCMD command (rpusr) have been added to support user replacement in a disk group.

See Also:
"Managing Oracle ASM File Access Control with Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control", "Using SQL Statements to Manage Oracle ASM File Access Control", and "ASMCMD File Access Control Commands" in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

About Changing File Access Control While the File is Open

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) enables users to change the ownership, permissions, or group membership of a file even while the file is open. Since this release, the ASMCMD file access control commands, such as chgrp, chmod, and chown, can run even while the file is open. The SQL statements, such as ALTER DISKGROUP MODIFY USERGROUP commands have also been modified as these SQL statements provide support for these ASMCMD commands.

See Also:
"Managing Oracle ASM File Access Control for Disk Groups" and "ASMCMD File Access Control Commands" in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

Thread-Based Architecture

The internal process architecture of Oracle Database is thread-based. Threads are objects within a process that run program instructions. Threads allow concurrent operations within a process so that a process can run different parts of its program simultaneously on different processors. A thread-based architecture provides the following advantages:

- Faster context switching

- Simpler System Global Area allocation routine, because it does not require use of shared memory

- Faster spawning of new connections, because threads are created more quickly than processes

- Decreased memory usage, because threads share more data structures than processes

Internally, the code to implement the thread model is compact and separate from the main body of Oracle Database code. Exception handlers and routines track and deallocate resources. They add robustness, with no downtime because of resource leaks or program that does not function as expected.

Oracle Database is not a typical Windows process. On Windows, an Oracle Database or Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance (threads and memory structures) is a Windows service: a background process registered with the operating system. The service is started by Windows and requires no user interaction to start. This enables the database to open automatically at computer startup.

When running multiple Oracle Database or Oracle Automatic Storage Management instances on Windows, each instance runs its own Windows service with multiple component threads. Each thread might be required for the database to be available, or it might be optional and specific to certain platforms. The background processes read and write from various data files, depending on your configuration. Oracle Database architecture on Windows is illustrated in Figure 1-1. Examples of Oracle Database required threads on Windows are listed in Table 1-1.

Figure 1-1 Oracle Database Architecture on Windows

Table 1-1 Oracle Database Threads

Oracle Database Thread

Description

Required/Optional

DBWO

database writer

Required

LGWR

log writer

Required

MMAN

memory manager process

Required

PMON

process monitor

Required

PSPO

process spawner process

Required

SMON

system monitor

Required

CKPT

checkpoint process (thread on Windows) that runs by default on Windows

Required

ARCO

archive process (or thread on Windows)

Required

RECO

distributed recovery background process

Required

Note:
You can view running background processes by entering the following query:

SQL> select * from v$bgprocess where paddr <> '00';

Oracle Database for Windows is supplied as a set of executables and dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Executable images can be modified using ORASTACK to change the size of the stack used by the threads of the Oracle Database process. Oracle recommends that you use this tool only under the guidance of Oracle Support Services.

File I/O Enhancements

Oracle Database supports 64-bit file I/O to allow use of files larger than 4 gigabytes (GB). In addition, physical and logical raw files are supported as data, log, and control files to support Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) on Windows and for those cases where performance must be maximized.

Starting with Oracle Database 11g, instead of using the operating system kernel NFS client, you can configure Oracle Database to access NFS V3 servers directly using an Oracle internal Direct NFS client. Through this integration, Oracle can optimize the I/O path between Oracle and the NFS server, resulting in significantly superior performance. In addition, Direct NFS client simplifies and optimizes the NFS client configuration for database workloads.

Volumes mounted through CIFS cannot be used for storing Oracle database files without configuring the Direct NFS client. The atomic write requirements needed for database writes are not guaranteed through the CIFS protocol. Consequently, CIFS can be used only for operating system-level commands such as, copy, move, and so on.

The Direct NFS client currently supports up to four parallel network paths to provide scalability and high availability. The Direct NFS client delivers optimized performance by automatically load balancing requests across all specified paths. If one network path fails, then the Direct NFS client resends commands over any remaining paths ensuring fault tolerance and high availability.

A new parameter called dnfs_batch_size has been added starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) to control the number of asynchronous I/O operations that can be queued by an Oracle process when the Direct NFS client is enabled. Set this parameter only if the Direct NFS client is overwhelming the NFS server or the network. This parameter helps the user to manage the load that the Direct NFS client can generate. In typical environments, you must not set this parameter. The default value of this parameter is 4096. To reduce the Direct NFS client load, Oracle recommends a value of 128 that can be changed based on the NFS server performance.

See Also:
Your vendor documentation to complete NFS configuration and mounting

Overview of Oracle Database Scalability on Windows

Features in Oracle Database and in the Windows operating system work together to help increase scalability, throughput, and database capacity. One of the feature has been explained below.

Large User Populations

Several features allow Oracle Database to support an increasingly large number of database connections on Windows:

- The Shared Server Process, limits the number of threads needed in the Oracle Database process and supports over 10,000 simultaneous connections to a single database instance.

- Oracle Net multiplexing and connection pooling features allow a large configuration to connect more users to a single database instance.

- Oracle RAC raises connection counts dramatically by allowing multiple server computers to access the same database files, increasing the number of user connections by tens of thousands while increasing throughput.

Note:
Oracle RAC is only supported on 64-bit Windows server operating systems.

Oracle Database Integration with Windows

Oracle Database is increasingly integrated with Windows, easing maintenance and improving enterprise-level deployment in security, directory, and transaction services. Integration features in Oracle Database include:

- Oracle PKI Integration with Windows

- Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

- Oracle Fail Safe Integration with Windows

Oracle PKI Integration with Windows

Oracle Advanced Security includes Oracle PKI (public key infrastructure) integration for authentication and single sign-on. You can integrate Oracle-based applications with the PKI authentication and encryption framework, using Oracle Wallet Manager.

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) is used in the middle tier as an application server for COM objects and transactions in distributed environments. Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server allows Oracle Database to be used as a resource manager in Microsoft Transaction Server-coordinated transactions, providing strong integration between Oracle solutions and Microsoft Transaction Server. Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server can operate with Oracle Database running on any operating system.

Oracle Database takes advantage of a native implementation and also stores recovery information in Oracle Database itself. Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server allows development in all industry wide data access interfaces, including Oracle Call Interface (OCI), ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). The Oracle APIs, Oracle Data Provider for .NET and OCI, offer greatest efficiency.

Oracle Fail Safe Integration with Windows

Oracle Fail Safe ensures that Oracle Database (and also other Oracle and third-party applications) can be configured and managed for high availability on Windows clusters. An instance runs on only one node at a time.

A cluster is a group of independent computing systems that operates as a single virtual system, eliminating individual host systems as points of failure. Oracle Fail Safe works with Microsoft Windows Failover Clusters to ensure that if a failure occurs on one cluster system, then workloads running on that system fail over quickly and automatically to a surviving system. Oracle Database combined with Oracle Fail Safe on a Windows cluster ensures protection from both hardware and software failures.

For well-configured solutions, Oracle Fail Safe ensures a surviving system to be operational in less than a minute, even for heavily used databases.

Note:
Windows server operating systems support the clustering technology. The Oracle Fail Safe Manager client can be installed on Windows Server operating systems (such as Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2 x64) and on client systems (such as Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1).

See Also:
The Oracle Fail Safe documentation set, which is available on separate media in the Oracle Database media pack

Other Sources of Information

See the following sources for additional information:

- Appendix E, "Oracle Database Differences on Windows and UNIX"

- Chapter 2, "Database Tools on Windows"

- Chapter 3, "Supporting Oracle Home User on Windows"

- Chapter 17, "Developing Applications for Windows" for more information about Oracle Database integration with Windows features

2 Database Tools on Windows

Oracle Database for Windows includes various tools to perform database functions. This chapter describes preferred tools to perform common database administration tasks and explains how tools can be started.

Unless otherwise noted, features described in this guide are common to all Oracle Database Editions.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Choosing a Database Tool

- Starting Database Tools

- Using the Oracle Home User Control Tool

- Using SQL*Loader

- Using Windows Tools

- Optional Windows Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

See Also:

- Chapter 6, "Administering a Database on Windows" for OracleServiceSID configuration tasks

- Chapter 7, "Monitoring a Database on Windows" for thread management tasks

- Chapter 10, "Authenticating Database Users with Windows" for authentication tasks

- Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for configuring Windows Registry settings for the database

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for components available for installation

Choosing a Database Tool

Database tools is a collective term for tools, utilities, and assistants that you can use to perform database administration tasks. Some database tools perform similar tasks, though no one database tool performs all database administration tasks. The following sections indicate which database tools can be used on particular operating systems and preferred tools to use for common database administration tasks.

- Database Tools and Operating System Compatibility

- Preferred Database Tools

Database Tools and Operating System Compatibility

Almost all database tools are available on all supported versions of Windows. The exceptions are:

- Oracle SQL Developer is available only at Oracle Technology Network (OTN). See
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/overview/index.html

- Oracle Enterprise Manager and its optional management packs have additional integrated tools to assist in managing databases. See Oracle Enterprise Manager Concepts for more information.

Preferred Database Tools

Table 2-1 lists various database tools you can use to perform common database administration tasks. Oracle recommends you use tools listed in the "Preferred Tool" column of the table. After choosing a tool to perform a task, go to Table 2-2, for instructions on how to start the tool.

Note:
The VOLSIZE parameter for the Export and Import utilities is not supported on Windows. If you attempt to use the utilities with the VOLSIZE parameter, then error LRM-00101 occurs. For example:

D:\> exp system full=y volsize=100m;
Password: password
LRM-00101: unknown parameter name 'volsize'
EXP-00019: failed to process parameters, type 'EXP HELP=Y' for help
EXP-00000: Export terminated unsuccessfully

Table 2-1 Preferred Database Tools

Administration Task

Preferred Tool

Other Tools

Create database services

Database Configuration Assistant

ORADIM

Delete database services

Database Configuration Assistant

ORADIM

Change passwords in the database password file

ORAPWD

ORADIM

Update the password of an Oracle Home User

Oracle Home User Control

None

Migrate database users to a directory

User Migration Utility

None

Migrate a database

Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant

Upgrade Information Tool

Export data

Data Pump Export (EXPDP)

Export (EXP)

Import data

Data Pump Import (IMPDP)

Import (IMP)

Load data

Oracle Enterprise Manager Load Wizard

SQL*Loader (SQLLDR)

Back up database

Oracle Enterprise Manager Backup Wizard

Recovery Manager (RMAN)

OCOPY

Recover database

Oracle Enterprise Manager Recovery Wizard

Recovery Manager (RMAN)

OCOPY

Store encrypted and decrypted Oracle Wallet (Oracle Advanced Security and Oracle PKI integration)

Oracle Wallet Manager

None

Grant database roles

Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express

Local Users and Groups

SQL*Plus

Create database objects

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

SQL*Plus

The following points refer to tools listed in Table 2-1, "Preferred Database Tools":

- ORADIM can set a password only when none was previously set. If a password has been previously set, then ORADIM can change it only by deleting and re-creating Oracle Database services. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM creates the Oracle Database service, Oracle VSS Writer service, and Oracle Scheduler service to run under the Oracle Home User account. If this account is a Local or Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for the password for that account and accepts the same through stdin.
It is possible to specify both the Oracle Home User and its password using the -RUNAS osusr[/ospass] option to oradim. If the given osusr is different from the Oracle Home User, then the Oracle Home User is used instead of osusr along with the given ospass.

- User Migration Utility can migrate local or external users to enterprise users.
For more information, see "Using the User Migration Utility" in Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide.

- Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant can upgrade the following databases to the current release: Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2), Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1), Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2), Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1), and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2). Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant can also be used to apply patch sets.

See Also:
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for more information about upgrading single instance and cluster databases

- Data Pump Export and Data Pump Import are preferred for Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) and later data; Export and Import are preferred for earlier data.

- If you back up files while you are shutting down the database, then your backup is invalid. You cannot use an invalid backup to restore files at a later date.

- You cannot use earlier versions of Oracle Wallet Manager to manage Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) and later wallets that contain password-based credentials for authentication to Oracle Internet Directory. These credentials are placed in the wallet when an Oracle Database server is registered in Oracle Internet Directory.
The database wallet that Oracle Database Configuration Assistant automatically generates during database registration can be used only with Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) or later. You cannot use this database wallet for earlier versions of the database, nor can you use it for Oracle Internet Directory Release 9.0.4 or earlier.

- For guidelines on creating database objects, see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

Starting Database Tools

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) has mandated that the administrator starting all administration tools such as Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, and Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant, must be an operating system administrator. The administrator must also be a member of the ORA_DBA and ORA_ASMADMIN group for using the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant and Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant tools when accessing Oracle ASM. The administrator must be a member of the ORA_ASMADMIN group for using the Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant tool.

Oracle needs the password of Oracle Home User to create new Windows services for Database, Listener, and other entities. To support this, all the administration tools have been modified to prompt for the password of Oracle Home User that is required only when the Oracle Home User is a Local or a Domain Windows User Account and the password for the Oracle Home User is not stored in the Oracle Wallet.

This section describes how to start each of the database tools in the following categories:

- Starting Database Tools in Multiple Oracle Homes

- Running Tools with Windows User Account Control

- Starting Database Tools from the Start Menu

- Starting Database Tools from the Command Line

- Starting Windows Tools

Starting Database Tools in Multiple Oracle Homes

If you have multiple Oracle homes on your computer from previous releases, then see Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for a description of differences between Oracle homes in different releases.

Starting Tools from Multiple Oracle Homes

Each Oracle home, including the first Oracle home you create on your computer, has a unique HOMENAME. To start Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows from any Oracle home, from the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

Running Tools with Windows User Account Control

To ensure that only trusted applications run on your computer all Windows operating systems supported for Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) provide User Account Control. If you have enabled this security feature, then, depending on how you have configured it, Oracle Universal Installer prompts you for either your consent or your credentials when installing Oracle Database Client. Provide either the consent or your Windows Administrator credentials as appropriate.

See Also:
"Managing User Accounts with User Account Control" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

You must have Administrator privileges to run some configuration tools, or to run any tool or application that writes to any directory within the Oracle home. If User Account Control is enabled, and you are logged in as the local Administrator, then you can successfully run each of these commands in the usual way. However, if you are logged in as a member of the Administrator group, then you must explicitly run these tasks with Windows Administrator privileges.

The following tools must be run with Administrator privileges:

- Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle Net Configuration Assistant. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle OLAP Analytic Workspace Manager and Worksheet. This tool is available as an Integrated Management Tool.

- Oracle Database Configuration Assistant. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle Database Wallet Manager. This tool is available as an Integrated Management Tool.

- Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle Net Manager. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant. This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

- Oracle ASM Disk Stamping Tool (asmtool, asmtoolg). This tool is available as a Configuration and Migration Tool.

To run any Start menu tool with Administrator privileges:

1. Click the Start menu option.

2. Select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME.

3. Select the name of the tool, then right-click the name of the tool or application you want to run, and then select Run as administrator.

These steps describe how to start a tool as an Administrator from the command prompt:

1. Create a shortcut for the command prompt window on your desktop. An icon for that shortcut appears on the desktop.

2. Right-click the icon for the newly created shortcut, and specify Run as administrator.
When you open this window, the title bar reads Administrator: Command Prompt. Commands running within this window are run with Administrator privileges.

Starting Database Tools from the Start Menu

Table 2-2 describes how to start assistants and other tools from the Start menu. It also tells where to go for further information on using these products.

Note:
When you use an assistant, you must have read and write access to the directory where database files are created or moved to. To create an Oracle Database instance, you must have the administrator privilege. If you run Database Configuration Assistant from an account that is not part of the Administrators group, then the tool exits without completing the operation.

Note:
All Start menu paths begin with the Start menu where you select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME and so on.

Table 2-2 Starting Database Tools from the Start Menu

Tool

Start Menu Path

More Information

Microsoft ODBC Administrator

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Microsoft ODBC Administration

Microsoft ODBC Administration online help

Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Administration Assistant for Windows

Chapter 10, "Authenticating Database Users with Windows"

Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant

From Configuration and Management Tools, select Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Database Configuration Assistant

"Overview of Database Creation on Windows Using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant"

Oracle Directory Manager

From Integrated Management Tools, select Oracle Directory Manager

Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide

Oracle Locale Builder

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Locale Builder

Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Net Configuration Assistant

Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide

Oracle Net Manager

From Configuration and Migration Tools, select Net Manager

Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide

Oracle Wallet Manager

From Integrated Management Tools, select Wallet Manager

Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide

SQL*Plus

From Application Development, select SQL*Plus

SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference

"Starting and Shutting Down a Database with SQL*Plus"

Starting Database Tools from the Command Line

Table 2-3 describes how to start Oracle Database tools from the command line, and where to go for further information on using these products.

Table 2-3 Starting Database Tools from the Command Line

Tool

Enter at Prompt

More Information

Oracle ASM Disk Stamping Tool

Oracle ASM Disk Stamping Tool (GUI version)

- C:\> asmtool
Following are the list of options:

C:\> asmtool -add

C:\> asmtool -addprefix

C:\> asmtool -list

C:\> asmtool -delete

- C:\> asmtoolg
Note: asmtoolg is the GUI-based tool that performs the same actions as the command-line asmtool tool. To run asmtool and asmtoolg tools, follow the instructions documented in the "Running Tools with Windows User Account Control" section.

"Marking Disk Partitions for Oracle ASM Before Installation" in Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide

DBVERIFY

C:\> dbv

DBVERIFY starts and prompts you for a file name parameter. To obtain a list of parameters, enter:

C:\> dbv help=y

Oracle Database Utilities

Data Pump Export

C:\> expdp user name

EXP starts and prompts you for parameters. To obtain a list of these parameters, enter:

C:\> exp help=y

Oracle Database Utilities for instructions on use of Data Pump Export

Oracle Database Error Messages for information on error messages

Data Pump Import

C:\> impdp user name

IMP starts and prompts you for parameters. To get a list of these parameters, enter:

C:\> imp help=y

Oracle Database Utilities for instructions on use of Data Pump Import

Oracle Database Error Messages for information on error messages

Database Configuration Assistant

C:\> dbca

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant tool starts in interactive mode. For silent options and other command-line options, enter:

C:\> dbca -help

"Starting DBCA" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

Database Upgrade Assistant

C:\> dbua

Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant wizard starts in interactive mode. For silent options and other command line options enter:

C:\> dbua -help

Oracle Database Upgrade Guide

Export

C:\> exp user name

EXP starts and prompts you for parameters. To obtain a list of these parameters, enter:

C:\> exp help=y

Oracle Database Utilities for instructions on use of Export

Oracle Database Error Messages for information on error messages

Import

C:\> imp user name

IMP starts and prompts you for parameters. To get a list of these parameters, enter:

C:\> imp help=y

Oracle Database Utilities for instructions on use of Import

Oracle Database Error Messages for information on error messages

Net Services Configuration

C:\> netca

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant tool starts in interactive mode. For silent options and other command-line options, enter:

C:\> netca -help

Oracle Database Upgrade Guide

ORADIM

C:\> oradim options

To get a list of ORADIM options, enter either of the following:

C:\> oradim

C:\> oradim -? | -h | -help

"About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM"

Oracle Wallet Manager

C:\> cd ORACLE_HOME\bin

C:\ORACLE_HOME\bin> launch.exe ORACLE_HOME\bin owm.cl

Chapter 12, "Storing Oracle Wallets in the Windows Registry"

Password Utility (ORAPWD)

C:\> orapwd

Password file is hidden. Use Windows Explorer to see it in a file list. From the View menu, select Options, then select View and then select Show All Files.

"Creating and Populating Password Files"

Recovery Manager (RMAN)

C:\> rman parameters

Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide

SQL*Plus (SQLPLUS)

C:\> sqlplus

SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference

"Starting and Shutting Down a Database with SQL*Plus"

SQL*Loader (SQLLDR)

C:\> sqlldr

SQL*Loader displays a Help screen with available keywords and default values.

Oracle Database Utilities

Oracle Database Error Messages

"Starting Windows Tools"

TKPROF

C:\> tkprof

Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

User Migration Utility

C:\> umu parameters

To get a list of parameters, enter:

C:\> umu help=yes

"Using the User Migration Utility" in Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide

Note:

- Three special conditions apply when running Export or Import utilities on Windows. First, default values for BUFFER and RECORDLENGTH parameters are 4 KB and 2 KB respectively. This default RECORDLENGTH parameter does not depend on the value of BUFSIZ defined in the system header file. If you specify a value larger than USHRT_MAX (64 KB), you get a warning message. Second, the VOLSIZE parameter is not supported. Third, to export an entire database, you must use the EXP_FULL_DATABASE role.

- Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express is another database tool for managing the database. For information about logging in to Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express, see "Configuring the HTTP Port for EM Express" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.

Starting Windows Tools

Table 2-4 describes how to start each Windows tool and where to go for more information on using these products.

Table 2-4 Starting Windows Tools

Tool

Start Procedure

More Information

Event Viewer

From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Administrative Tools and then select Event Viewer.

"Using Event Viewer to Monitor a Database"

Your operating system documentation

Local Users and Groups

From the Start menu, select Settings, then select Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools. Double-click Computer Management. In the console tree, click Local Users and Groups.

"Using Local Users and Groups to Manage Users and Groups"

Chapter 10, "Authenticating Database Users with Windows"

Your operating system documentation

Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

Your operating system documentation

Registry Editor

At the command prompt, enter:

C:\> regedit

"Using Registry Editor to Modify Configuration Information"

Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry"

Your operating system documentation

Task Manager

Right-click the Task bar and select Task Manager.

"Using Task Manager to Monitor Applications and Processes"

Your operating system documentation

Note:
Microsoft Management Console is started whenever Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows is started.

Using the Oracle Home User Control Tool

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) has introduced a new Windows tool called the Oracle Home User Control. This is a command-line tool that displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle home and updates the password for the Windows services for the Oracle home. The input password must match the password for the Windows User Account used as the Oracle Home User. So, first use Windows operating system tools to change the Windows password and then use this tool. This tool updates all Windows services used by Oracle to use the new password and updates it in the Oracle Cluster Registry wallet too, if one exists.

Installer also creates a shortcut Update Password for Oracle Home User which starts the tool.

The Oracle Home User Control tool accepts the new password at the tool's prompt for password entry and validates the password provided against the password of the Windows User Account. The tool terminates if password validation fails. Moreover, the user starting the orahomeuserctl command must have Administrator privileges. The command must be in the following format:

orahomeuserctl list
orahomeuserctl updpwd [-user username] [-host hostname1, hostname2, …] [-log logfilename]

For this command, note the following:

- list: This utility displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the Oracle home.

- updpwd: This utility prompts for a new password and updates the password for all Oracle Database services associated with the named Oracle Home User on the node. When updpwd is started on a node within an Oracle RAC installation, then the command first updates the Oracle Cluster Registry wallet with the new password, then updates all Oracle Database services associated with the user on all active nodes within a cluster. If there is no Oracle Cluster Registry Wallet, then the utility updates only all the Oracle Database services.

- -user: This option updates the passwords for all services owned by a specific user, or the password of current Oracle Home User if no user is specified.

- -host: This option updates the passwords for all services belonging to the named Oracle Home User on the specified hosts. To update the password on a remote host, the user must be a Windows Domain User.

- -log: This option appends the time-stamped results of the password update action to the specified log file for every node and service name receiving the new password. The default log file name and location is %ORACLE_HOME%\log\orahomeuserctl.log.

Using SQL*Loader

This section describes Windows-specific information for using SQL*Loader (SQLLDR).

- Windows Processing Options

- Control File Conventions

Windows Processing Options

This section discusses possible values for the operating system-dependent file processing specifications string option (os_file_proc_clause), referred to in "Specifying Data File Format and Buffering" in Chapter 9, "SQL*Loader Control File Reference", in Oracle Database Utilities.

Default (No Processing Option) or "str terminator_string"

Stream record format in which each record is terminated by a record terminator. If str terminator_string is not specified, then the record terminator defaults to either the Windows-style record terminator (the two-character sequence carriage return, \r, followed by line feed, \n) or the UNIX-style record terminator (single-character line feed, \n). Maximum record size is 48 KB.

When processing stream format data files, SQL*Loader can usually recognize record terminators automatically, whether they are Windows-style or UNIX-style. So you usually must not specify which record terminator you are using.

For external table loads, however, only Windows-style record terminators are recognized automatically. If your data file contains UNIX-style record terminators, you must specify the record terminator. If you are using SQL*Loader (with the external_table option), then specify the UNIX-style record terminator by specifying "str '\n'" on the INFILE line in the SQL*Loader control file. For example:

INFILE mydata.dat "str '\n'"

You can also specify the record terminator in hex, by specifying "str x'0a'" (assuming an ASCII-based character set). For example:

INFILE mydata.dat "str x'0a'"

Note that the "0" (zero) before the "a" is required. If you are using SQL with an access parameter list to create the external table, then you must specify '\n' in a RECORDS DELIMITED BY clause. For example:

RECORDS DELIMITED BY '\n'

You can also use a hex string in this case. For example:

RECORDS DELIMITED BY 0x'0a'

Note that in this case, the "0" (zero) before the "x" and the "0" (zero) before the "a" are both required.

Control File Conventions

When preparing SQL*Loader control files (.ctl), you must follow certain syntax and notational conventions.

In full path descriptions, backslashes do not require escape characters or other special treatment. When embedding a single or double quotation mark inside a string delimited by double quotation marks, place a backslash escape character before the embedded quotation mark.

When specifying data types in the SQL*Loader control file, note that the default sizes of native data types shown in Table 2-5 are specific to Windows. These data types can be loaded with correct results only between systems where they have the same length in bytes. You cannot override these defaults in the control file. If the byte order is different between the systems, you can indicate the byte order of the data with the BYTEORDER parameter, or you can place a byte-order mark (BOM) in the file.

Table 2-5 Default Sizes of Native Data types

Native Data Types

Default Field Length

DOUBLE

8

FLOAT

4

INTEGER

4

SMALLINT

2

Note:
The default listed is correct if INTEGER is specified without a size. But INTEGER(n) is also allowed. In that case, n specifies the size of the INTEGER field in bytes.

See Also:
Oracle Database Utilities for a complete list of options and instructions on using SQL*Loader

Using Windows Tools

You can use Windows tools in various ways to manage Oracle Database:

- Using Event Viewer to Monitor a Database

- Using Microsoft Management Console to Administer a Database

- Using Registry Editor to Modify Configuration Information

- Using Task Manager to Monitor Applications and Processes

- Using Local Users and Groups to Manage Users and Groups

Using Event Viewer to Monitor a Database

Event Viewer lets you monitor events in your system. An event is an important occurrence in the system or application (such as Oracle Database) that requires user notification. While messages for major events can appear on-screen as you work at your computer, events not requiring your immediate attention are recorded by Windows in the Event Viewer log file. You can then view this information at your convenience.

Use Event Viewer to monitor Oracle Database events, such as:

- Initialization of System Global Area for active instance

- Initialization of Program Global Area (PGA) for background processes of the active instance

- Connection to Oracle Database using AS SYSDBA

In addition, the operating system audit trail is logged in the Event Viewer log file, which can be viewed using Event Viewer.

See Also:
Chapter 7, "Monitoring a Database on Windows" for specific instructions on accessing and using Event Viewer to monitor Oracle Database events

Using Microsoft Management Console to Administer a Database

Microsoft Management Console provides a central location for network administration. Microsoft Management Console hosts applications (called snap-ins) that administrators can use to manage their networks. Oracle snap-ins enable database administrators to:

- Configure Oracle Database administrators, operators, users, and roles so the Windows operating system can authenticate them

- Configure OracleServiceSID

- Modify registry parameters for all Oracle homes on the computer

- Modify the computer host name, username, and password for the database

- View and terminate an Oracle Database thread

Using Registry Editor to Modify Configuration Information

Oracle Database stores its configuration information in a structure known as the registry. You can view and modify this configuration information through Registry Editor. The registry contains configuration information for your computer and must not be accessible for editing by inexperienced users. Only experienced administrators should view and change this information.

Registry Editor displays configuration information in a format similar to Windows Explorer. In the left-hand window is a tree-like format consisting of keys (or folders). When one of these keys is highlighted, parameters and values assigned to that key are displayed in the right-hand window.

When you install products from your media, configuration parameters are automatically entered in the registry. These parameters are read each time your Windows computer is started and whenever an Oracle Database product is started. These parameters include settings for:

- Oracle home directory

- Language

- Company name

- Oracle home subdirectories for individual products

- Individual products such as SQL*Plus

- Services

See Also:
Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for definitions of Oracle Database configuration parameters and specific instructions on using the registry to modify Oracle Database configuration parameters

Using Task Manager to Monitor Applications and Processes

Task Manager has four tabs:

- Applications tab displays what applications run. This is useful for identifying and ending unresponsive tasks. (Oracle Database does not appear as an application because it runs as a service.)

- Processes tab displays details of currently running processes and their resource usage. Columns are customizable.

- Performance tab graphically displays real-time CPU and memory usage, which is useful for spotting sudden changes.

- Networking tab graphically displays the network traffic taking place over the computer's network connections.

Using Local Users and Groups to Manage Users and Groups

Local Users and Groups enables you to manage users and groups on Windows. Specifically, you can:

- Create and modify Local User Accounts

- Create and modify user profiles

- Create, add, and delete local groups

Optional Windows Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

Windows Resource Kit includes several diagnostic and tuning utilities.

Process Viewer summarizes resource usage by a process.

Process Monitor displays real-time file systems, the registry, and process-thread activity. It combines Filemon and Regmon utilities and provides reliable process information.

Process Explorer provides a detailed display of resource usage by a process.

Task List displays resource usage and other details of a process when its processor identifier or process name is given as an argument. This tool also displays a list of executables and dynamic link libraries (DLLs) associated with a process.

3 Supporting Oracle Home User on Windows

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database supports the use of Oracle Home User, specified at the time of Oracle Database installation. Oracle Home User is used to run the Windows services for the Oracle home. Oracle Home User can be Windows built-in account or a standard Windows User Account (not an Administrator account). Oracle Home User cannot be changed post installation.

If a Windows built-in account is used, then no user name or password is required during installation and administration. However, if a Windows User Account is used as Oracle Home User, then you must provide the user name and password during installation and some of the administration tasks.

Oracle Home User is different from Oracle Installation User. Oracle Installation User is the user who requires administrative privileges to install Oracle products. Oracle Home User is used to run the Windows services. You must not log into the Oracle Home User to perform administrative tasks.

Note that the Windows administrator privilege is still required to perform Oracle administrative functions such as installation, upgrade, patching, and other functions.

Note:
A Windows User Account used as Oracle Home User cannot have administrator privileges as it causes the Oracle Universal Installer to display an error message.

Note:
See the Microsoft documentation for more information on different types of Windows user accounts.

See Also:
The "Specify Oracle Home User" screen in "Table 5-1 Oracle Universal Installer Windows" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

See the following sections for more information:

- Managing Oracle Home User

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Single-Instance Database and Oracle Database Client

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle RAC Database

- Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

- Using Oracle Home User in Case of Multiple Oracle Home

- Using Oracle Home User During Oracle Database Upgrade

- Converting from Single-Instance Oracle Database to Oracle Real Application Clusters

Managing Oracle Home User

If you use a Windows User Account as the Oracle Home User, then you must ensure that this user account is present in the Windows system and its password is managed securely to ensure the proper operation and security of the database.

You must secure the password of this Windows User Account and ensure that only database administrators have access to this password as one can log on to the database as the database administrator from this Windows User Account. You must also change the password for this Windows User Account at regular intervals as a part of security. You can change the password using Windows tools. However, when you change the password for this Windows User Account, you must also update the password for all Oracle services running under the Windows User Account.

This release has introduced a new Windows utility called the Oracle Home User Control. This is a command-line tool that displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle home and updates the password for all Oracle services running under a specific Windows User Account (used as Oracle Home User). See section "Using the Oracle Home User Control Tool" for more information.

Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Single-Instance Database and Oracle Database Client

For single-instance Oracle Database and Oracle Database Client installations, you can use Windows built-in account or a standard Windows User Account as Oracle Home User.

The Windows User Account can be an existing Windows Local User, Windows Domain User or Managed Services Account (MSA) with no administration privileges. For a Windows Local User Account or a Windows Domain User Account, you must provide both the user name and password during installation. For a Managed Services Account, you must provide the user name only.

For a Windows Local User, you also have the option of creating a new Windows user during installation. You must provide the user name and password for the user account and Oracle Universal Installer creates the Windows user during installation. The newly created Windows account is denied interactive logon privileges to the Windows computer. However, a Windows administrator can still manage this account like any other Windows account.

Note that if a Windows Local User Account is chosen as the Oracle Home User during single-instance Oracle Database installation, Windows NT Native Authentication (NTS) cannot be used for authenticating Windows domain users or users from remote computers.

For single-instance Oracle Database installations, Oracle recommends that you use a standard Windows User Account (instead of Windows built-in account) as Oracle Home User for enhanced security. For Oracle Database Client installations, it is not necessary to use a Windows User Account as Oracle Home User for reasons of security. Even when the Windows built-in account is chosen as the Oracle Home User, Oracle services for a client home are run using the built-in low-privileged LocalService account.

Using Oracle Home User for Oracle RAC Database

See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit) for information about using Oracle Home User for Oracle RAC Installation.

See Also:
Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide for more information

Using Oracle Home User for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit) for information about using Oracle Home User for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation for a cluster.

Using Oracle Home User in Case of Multiple Oracle Home

Different Oracle homes on a system can use the same Oracle Home User or use different Oracle Home User names. Note that earlier releases (11.2 and earlier) of Oracle Database are treated equivalent to using Windows built-in account as Oracle Home User.

As Oracle Home User has complete control over the Oracle base directory for an Oracle home, multiple Oracle homes are allowed to share the same Oracle base only when they use the same Oracle Home User. This is done for security reasons.

However, as an exception, Oracle supports the sharing of an Oracle base directory between a Windows built-in account and a specific Windows User Account. This enables easier upgrade of Oracle home from the older releases of Oracle Database to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 as the same Oracle base can be shared, and all the files under the Oracle base can be accessed by the Oracle Home User.

Note:
Note of caution while sharing Oracle base:

- When you share an Oracle base between 11g Release 2 (or earlier) and 12c Release 1, Windows User Account (used as Oracle Home User) is granted full control of the Oracle base and its subdirectories. This means that the Windows User Account (for 12.1 Oracle home) can access or update any database files for the earlier release.

- After installing Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (or later) with a Windows User Account as Oracle Home User, do not install older versions of Oracle Database and share the same Oracle base directory. During the installation of older releases, ACLs are reset corresponding to older releases and Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (or later) services may not be able to access the Oracle base directory and files.

On the contrary, if you decide to use a different Oracle base for 12c Release 1, there may be some issues in terms of Oracle services accessing the files from the older Oracle base. See section "Setting File Permissions" for more information.

See Also:
"Multiple Oracle Homes Support" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

Using Oracle Home User During Oracle Database Upgrade

You can use Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant to upgrade or move databases across Oracle homes if both the Oracle homes use the same Windows User Account as Oracle Home User, or at least one of the Oracle homes is configured to use Windows built-in account as the Oracle Home User.

Converting from Single-Instance Oracle Database to Oracle Real Application Clusters

You can convert from Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) single-instance databases to Oracle RAC using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, rconfig, or Oracle Enterprise Manager.

For in-place conversion, Oracle Home User cannot be changed. For out-of-place conversion, Oracle Home User can be changed only if the Oracle home for the single-instance database is not already configured with a Windows Domain User Account.

See Also:
Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide

4 Postinstallation Database Creation on Windows

This chapter describes how to create a database after installing Oracle Database, using either Oracle Database Configuration Assistant or command-line tools.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of the Naming Conventions for Oracle Database

- Overview of Database Creation on Windows Using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

- Overview of Database Creation Tasks on Windows Using Command-Line Tools

- About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM

- Overview of Database Migration from a 32-Bit Windows Computer

Overview of the Naming Conventions for Oracle Database

All mounted Oracle Database servers in a network must have unique database names. When a database is created, a name is associated with it and stored in its control files. If you provide the database keyword, either in the CREATE DATABASE statement or when prompted by Database Configuration Assistant, then that value becomes the name for that database.

If you attempt to mount two Oracle Database servers with the same database name, then you receive the following error during mounting of the second server:

ORA-01102: cannot mount database in EXCLUSIVE mode

If there are two or more Oracle Database servers on the same computer, but located in different Oracle homes, then the following rules apply:

- Each database name must be unique

- Each SID must be unique

To change the name of an existing database, you must use the CREATE CONTROLFILE statement to re-create your control files and specify a new database name.

Overview of Database Creation on Windows Using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

Oracle recommends you use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant to create a database, because it is easier. It offers the same interface and operates the same way on all supported platforms, so no step-by-step procedures or screenshots are included here.

See Also:
Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for instructions on using Database Configuration Assistant

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), this administration tool like the other administration tools, prompts for password when the Oracle Home User is a Windows Local User Account or Windows Domain User Account and the password for Oracle Home User is not stored in Oracle wallet. The main purpose of Oracle Home User is to run Windows services with Windows User Account. However, this user account (Oracle Home User) has very limited set of operating system-level privileges and should not be used for database administration. Oracle Database Configuration Assistant now provides an interface to create an Oracle Database service under an Oracle Home User or a Windows built-in Local System Account, as specified during the process of installation. But Oracle Database Configuration Assistant does not provide an interface to create a new Windows user as the Oracle Home User.

The services created are not allowed to interact with the Windows desktop. ORADIM, the Windows utility tool used to create the OracleServiceSID - Oracle Database services, is used by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant to create those services on local and remote nodes. Oracle Database Configuration Assistant now accepts a user name and password to run the service, and also changes the ownership of the files it creates (for example, the password file) so that it can be modified by the Oracle Home User.

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant enables you to:

- Create a database

- Configure database options in a database

- Delete a database

- Manage templates

An initialization parameter file is an ASCII text file containing parameters. Use this file to create and modify a database using command-line tools. When you create a database using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, a server parameter file (SPFILE) is created from the initialization parameter file, and the initialization parameter file is renamed. Oracle does not recognize the renamed file as an initialization parameter file, and it is not used after the instance is started.

If you want to modify an instance created with Oracle Database Configuration Assistant after it starts, you must use ALTER SYSTEM statements. You cannot change the server parameter file itself, because it is a binary file that cannot be browsed or edited using a text editor. The location of the newly-created server parameter file is ORACLE_HOME\database. The server parameter file name is spfileSID.ora.

See Also:
"Managing Initialization Parameters Using a Server Parameter File" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

Overview of Database Creation Tasks on Windows Using Command-Line Tools

This section describes how to create a new database manually. As part of its database software files, Oracle Database provides a sample initialization parameter file, which can be edited to suit your needs. You can choose to create database creation scripts using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant.

Database creations are of three types:

- Copy an existing database and delete the old database.

- Copy an existing database and keep the old database.

- Create a new database when no database exists on your system.

Manual Database Creation Tasks

Use Table 4-1 to understand the manual tasks involved in creating a new database for each of these database creation categories. Each step is explained in detail in the following subsections.

Table 4-1 Manual Database Creation Tasks

Task

Copy existing database and delete old database

Copy existing database and keep old database

Create new database when no database exists on system

About Exporting an Existing Database

Yes

Note 1

Not applicable

Deleting Database Files

Yes

No

Not applicable

Modifying the Initialization Parameter File

Yes

Yes

Yes

Starting an Oracle Database Instance

Yes

Yes

Yes

About Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service

No

Yes

Yes

Putting the CREATE DATABASE Statement in a Script

Yes

Yes

Yes

Running the CREATE DATABASE Script

Yes

Yes

Yes

About Importing a Database

Yes

Note 2

Not applicable

Updating ORACLE_SID in the Registry

No

Only if you change the default SID

Yes

Backing Up the New Database

Yes

Yes

Yes

Note 1

Yes if you copy data from the existing database to the new database; otherwise, no.

Note 2

Yes if you import tables and other objects exported from the existing database; otherwise, no.

An example in the following sections demonstrates how to create a database. In this example, the existing database is the starter database with a SID of orcl located in directory C:\app\username\oradata\orcl. Copy orcl to a new database with a database name and SID of prod located in directory C:\app\username\oradata\prod. Then, delete the starter database orcl.

About Exporting an Existing Database

You are required to export an existing database only if you intend to copy its contents to a new database. If you are working with data from an earlier Oracle release, then you can use Export for this task. If you are using Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) or later data, then Oracle recommends that you use Data Pump Export because it supports new Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) or later features, such as floating points.

Although you can start Data Pump Export or Export in either parameter mode or interactive mode, Oracle recommends parameter mode. Interactive mode provides less functionality than parameter mode and exists for backward compatibility only.

The syntax for Data Pump Export parameter mode is:

C:\> expdp SYSTEM DUMPFILE=myexp.dmp FULL=y LOGFILE=myexp.log
Password: password

The syntax for Data Pump Export interactive mode is:

C:\> expdp SYSTEM
Password: password

Enter only the command expdp SYSTEM to begin an interactive session and let Data Pump Export prompt you for information it needs.

Note:
If you use parameter mode, then Data Pump Export considers file names and directory names to be invalid if they contain one or more blank spaces. The workaround is to enclose the full path in the DUMPFILE= parameter in triple quotation marks. For example:
DUMPFILE="""C:\program files\export.dmp"""

If Data Pump Export is used in interactive mode, then the file name or directory name can contain a space without quotation marks.

The syntax for Export parameter mode is:

C:\> exp SYSTEM FILE=myexp.dmp FULL=y LOG=myexp.log
Password: password

The syntax for Export interactive mode is:

C:\> exp SYSTEM
Password: password

Enter only the command exp SYSTEM to begin an interactive session and let Export prompt you for information it needs.

Note:
If you use parameter mode, then Export considers file names and directory names to be invalid if they contain one or more blank spaces. The workaround is to enclose the full path in the FILE= parameter in triple quotation marks. For example:
FILE="""C:\program files\export.dmp"""

If Export is used in interactive mode, then the file name or directory name can contain a space without quotation marks.

See Also:
Oracle Database Utilities for more information about using Data Pump Export or Export

Exporting All Data from an Existing Database

To export all data from an existing database to a new database:

1. Set ORACLE_SID to the database service of the database whose contents you intend to export. For example, if the database you intend to export is the starter database orcl, then enter the following at the command prompt. Note that there are no spaces around the equal sign (=) character.

C:\> set ORACLE_SID=orcl

2. If the existing database is Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) or later, then start Data Pump Export from the command prompt:

C:\> expdp SYSTEM DUMPFILE=myexp.dmp FULL=y LOG=myexp.log
Password: password

You now have a full database export of the starter database orcl in the file myexp.dmp. All messages from Data Pump Export are logged in file myexp.log.

3. If the existing database is earlier than Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1), then start Export from the command prompt:

C:\> exp SYSTEM FILE=myexp.dmp FULL=y LOG=myexp.log
Password: password

You now have a full database export of the starter database orcl in the file myexp.dmp. All messages from Export are logged in the file myexp.log.

Deleting Database Files

Deleting database files is required only when you copy an existing database to a new database to replace the old database. In the following example, you delete the database files of the starter database orcl.

To delete database files:

1. Shut down starter database orcl at the command prompt:

C:\> oradim -SHUTDOWN -SID orcl -SHUTTYPE inst -SHUTMODE immediate

2. Delete the following files from the directory C:\app\username\oradata\orcl:

File Name

File Name

File Name

File Name

control01.ctl

drsys01.dbf

temp01.dbf

xdb01.dbf

control02.ctl

cwmlite01.dbf

tools01.dbf

redo01.log

control03.ctl

example01.dbf

undotbs01.dbf

redo02.log

index01.dbf

system01.dbf

user01.dbf

redo03.log

Modifying the Initialization Parameter File

To use the starter database orcl as the basis for your new database:

1. Copy ORACLE_BASE\admin\orcl\pfile\init.ora.

2. Place the copy in ORACLE_BASE\admin\prod\pfile\init.ora.

3. Modify the file by performing the following tasks:

Note:
Starting with Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2), nesting of quotation marks using the backslash (\) escape character is no longer supported. This might affect how Oracle Database interprets parameter values in your initialization parameter file. For example, if you specified CONTROL_FILES = "ctlfile\'1.ora" in releases before release 9.2, the file name would be interpreted as ctlfile'1.ora. Starting with release 9.2, the file name would be interpreted as ctlfile\'1.ora.
Oracle highly recommends modifying your parameter files to remove such references. See Oracle Database Reference for other methods of nesting quotation marks in initialization parameter values.

1. If you do not have an existing database on your system, then you cannot copy an existing initialization parameter file to use as the basis for your new initialization parameter file. However, you can use the sample initialization parameter file initsmpl.ora provided in:

ORACLE_HOME\admin\sample\pfile

This is the basis for the initialization parameter file for the database prod.

2. If you use the initsmpl.ora file as the basis for the initialization parameter file, then the following parameters must be set to the indicated values, otherwise you cannot start database prod:
DB_NAME=prod.domain

The parameter DB_NAME indicates the database name and must match the name used in the CREATE DATABASE statement in "Putting the CREATE DATABASE Statement in a Script". Give a unique database name to each database. You can use eight characters for a database name. The name is not required to match the SID of the database service.

INSTANCE_NAME=prod.domain

SERVICE_NAMES=prod.domain

CONTROL_FILES = ( "C:\app\username\oradata\prod\control01.ctl", "C:\app\username\oradata\prod\control02.ctl", "C:\app\username\oradata\prod\control03.ctl")

The parameter CONTROL_FILES lists database control files. You do not have control files on your file system at this point, because control files are created when you run the CREATE DATABASE statement. Ensure that you specify the complete path and file name, including drive letter.

DB_FILES=100

Modifying the initialization parameter DB_FILES is not required, but it is recommended to optimize performance. Set this parameter to the same number as the value of the MAXDATAFILES option of the CREATE DATABASE statement. The value of 100 is used for this example.

See Also:
Oracle Database Reference for information about other initialization parameters that you can add or modify

The DIAGNOSTIC_DEST initialization parameter sets the location of the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR), which is a directory structure stored outside of the database. The ADR is used in problem diagnostics.

Use DIAGNOSTIC_DEST = ORACLE_HOME\log if the environment variable ORACLE_BASE is not set.

Use DIAGNOSTIC_DEST = ORACLE_BASE variable if the environment variable ORACLE_BASE is set.

See Also:
Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for information about ADR

About Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service

You are required to create and start an Oracle Database service only if you do one of the following:

- Copy an existing database to a new database and keep the old database

- Create a new database when you have no other database to copy

Before you create the database, first create a Windows service to run the database. This service is the Oracle Database process, oracle.exe, installed in the form of a Windows service.

Use ORADIM to create the service. See "About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM" for information about how to use ORADIM.

Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service

To create and start an Oracle Database service:

1. Run ORADIM from the command prompt:

C:\> oradim -NEW -SID prod -STARTMODE manual
-PFILE "C:\app\username\admin\prod\pfile\init.ora"

Note that the previously created initialization parameter file is specified, with complete path, including drive name. You can check if the service is started in the Services window of the Control Panel. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM automatically creates Oracle Database services under the Oracle Home User account. If the Oracle Home User account is a Windows Local User Account or a Windows Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for its password.

2. Set ORACLE_SID to equal prod. Note that there are no spaces around the equal sign (=) character:

C:\> set ORACLE_SID=prod

Creating Oracle Wallets in a File System for Oracle Database Services

When an Oracle wallet is created in the file system, only the user creating the wallet is granted access to that wallet by wallet creation tools. Therefore, Oracle Database services (running as the Windows User Account) might not be able to access the wallet unless you explicitly grant access to the wallet using Windows tools.

See section "About Setting File System ACLs Manually" for more information.

Starting an Oracle Database Instance

Start an instance without mounting a database.

SQL> STARTUP NOMOUNT

You are not required to specify the PFILE clause in this example, because the initialization parameter file is stored in the default location. At this point, there is no database. Only the System Global Area (SGA) is created and background processes are started in preparation for the creation of a new database.

Putting the CREATE DATABASE Statement in a Script

The CREATE DATABASE statement is a SQL statement that creates the database. A script containing this statement can be used anytime you create a database.

The CREATE DATABASE statement might have the following parameters:

- MAXDATAFILES - default value: 32, maximum value: 65534

- MAXLOGFILES - default value: 32, maximum value: 255

When you run a CREATE DATABASE statement, Oracle Database performs several operations depending upon clauses that you specified in the CREATE DATABASE statement or initialization parameters that you have set.

Note:
Oracle Managed Files is a feature that works with the CREATE DATABASE statement to simplify administration of Oracle Database. Oracle Managed Files eliminates the requirement to directly manage operating system files comprising an Oracle Database server, because you specify operations in terms of database objects rather than file names. For more information about using Oracle Managed Files, see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

To create the database prod, copy and save the following statement in a file named script_name.sql:

CREATE DATABASE prod
USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY sys_password
USER SYSTEM IDENTIFIED BY system_password
MAXLOGFILES 5
MAXDATAFILES 100
DATAFILE 'C:\app\username\oradata\prod\system01.dbf' SIZE 325M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 10240K MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
UNDO TABLESPACE "UNDOTBS" DATAFILE 'app\username\oradata\prod\undotbs01.dbf'
SIZE 200M REUSE AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 5120K MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
CHARACTER SET WE8MSWIN1252
logfile 'C:\app\username\oradata\prod\redo01.log' size 100M reuse,
'C:\app\username\oradata\prod\redo02.log' size 100M reuse,
'C:\app\username\oradata\prod\redo03.log' size 100M reuse
EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL;

Running the CREATE DATABASE Script

To use the SQL script to create a database:

1. Verify that the service is started in the Control Panel. In this example, the service name is OracleServicePROD, and its status column must display Started. If not, then select the service name and select Start.
You can also check the status of the service by entering the following at the command prompt:

C:\> net START

A list of all Windows services currently running on the system appears. If OracleServicePROD is missing from the list, then enter:

C:\> net START OracleServicePROD

2. Make PROD the current SID:

C:\> set ORACLE_SID=PROD

3. Add ORACLE_HOME\bin to your PATH environment variable:

set PATH=ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin;%PATH%

4. Start SQL*Plus from the command prompt, and connect to the database as SYSDBA:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

The message connected appears.

5. Turn on spooling to save messages:

SQL> SPOOL script_name.log

6. Run the script script_name.sql that you created in "Putting the CREATE DATABASE Statement in a Script":

SQL> C:\app\username\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\rdbms\admin\script_name.sql;

If the database is successfully created, then the instance is started and the following message appears numerous times: Statement processed

About Importing a Database

You can use Data Pump Import (for Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) or later data) or Import (for earlier data) to import the full export created in "About Exporting an Existing Database" into the new database. Although you can start Data Pump Import or Import using either parameter mode or interactive mode, Oracle recommends parameter mode because it provides more functionality. Interactive mode exists solely for backward compatibility.

The syntax for Data Pump Import parameter mode is:

C:\> impdp SYSTEM DUMPFILE=myexp.dmp FULL=y LOG=myexp.log
Password: password

The syntax for Data Pump Import interactive mode is:

C:\> impdp SYSTEM
Password: password

Enter only impdp SYSTEM to begin an interactive session and let Data Pump Import prompt you for information it needs.

Note:

- If you use parameter mode, then Data Pump Import considers file names and directory names to be invalid if they contain one or more blank spaces. The workaround is to enclose the full path in the DUMPFILE= parameter in triple quotation marks. For example:
DUMPFILE="""C:\program files\export.dmp"""

If you use Data Pump Import in interactive mode, then the file name or directory name can contain a space without quotation marks.

- If the original database from which the export file was generated contains a tablespace that is not in the new database, then Import tries to create that tablespace with associated data files.
The easy solution is to ensure that both databases contain the same tablespaces. Data files are not required to be identical. Only tablespace names are important.

See Also:
Oracle Database Utilities for more information about using Data Pump Import or Import

Updating ORACLE_SID in the Registry

If this is the first database on the system or if you intend to make the new database the default database, then you must make a change in the registry as follows:

1. Start Registry Editor at the command prompt:

C:\> regedit

The Registry Editor window appears.

2. Select the subkey \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOME0 for the first Oracle home on your computer. For subsequent installations to different Oracle homes on the same computer, the path is \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEID where ID is the unique number identifying the Oracle home.

See Also:
Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for more information about subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes

3. Locate the parameter ORACLE_SID on the right side of the Registry Editor window.

4. Double-click the parameter name and change the data to the new SID, which is prod in this example.

Creating the ORACLE_SID Parameter

If you do not yet have the parameter ORACLE_SID, because this is the first database on your system, then you must create it.

To create the parameter ORACLE_SID:

1. Select New from the Edit menu.

2. Select Expandable String Value from the menu list.

3. A New Value #1 expandable string value name is created on the right pane of the Registry Editor window of data type REG_EXPAND_SZ.

4. Right-click the parameter, select Rename to rename it to ORACLE_SID and press Enter.

5. Double-click the ORACLE_SID entry to change the value data to the new SID.
An Edit String dialog box appears:

6. Enter PROD in the Value data field.

7. Click OK.
Registry Editor adds parameter ORACLE_SID.

8. Select Exit from the File menu.
Registry Editor exits.

Backing Up the New Database

Caution:
If anything goes wrong while operating the new database without a backup, then you must repeat the database creation procedure. Back up your database now to prevent loss of data.

To back up the new database:

1. Shut down the database instance and stop the service:

C:\> oradim -SHUTDOWN -SID prod -SHUTTYPE srvc,inst -SHUTMODE immediate

Caution:
Although ORADIM returns the prompt immediately, you must wait for the database and the service to stop completely before continuing to Step 2. Wait until the Control Panel indicates service OracleServicePROD has stopped. If you do not do this, then the backup might be useless because it was taken while data was being written to data files.

2. Back up database files using the tool of your choice.
Database files consist of the initialization parameter file, control files, online redo log files, and data files.

When the backup is complete, you can start the database again, create users and objects, if necessary, make any other changes, and use the database.

Back up the database after making any significant changes, such as switching archiving mode or adding a tablespace or data file.

See Also:
For more information about archiving, backup, and recovery

- Oracle Database Concepts

- Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide

- Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

Caution:
Do not store database files on a compressed drive. This can result in write errors and decreased performance.

About Administering an Oracle Database Instance Using ORADIM

ORADIM is a command-line tool that is available with Oracle Database. You are required to use ORADIM only if you are manually creating, deleting, or modifying databases. Oracle Database Configuration Assistant is an easier tool to use for this purpose.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM creates Oracle Database service, Oracle VSS Writer service, and Oracle Scheduler service to run under the Oracle Home User account. If this account is a Windows Local User Account or Windows Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for password for that account and accepts the same through stdin.

It is possible to specify both the Oracle Home User and its password using the -RUNAS osusr[/ospass] option to oradim. If the given osusr is different from the Oracle Home User, then the Oracle Home User is used instead of osusr along with the given ospass.

The following sections describe ORADIM commands and parameters. Note that each command is preceded by a dash (-). To get a list of ORADIM parameters, enter:

oradim -? | -h | -help

Note:
Specifying oradim without any options also returns a list of ORADIM parameters and descriptions.

When you use ORADIM, a log file called oradim.log opens in ORACLE_HOME\database, or in the directory specified by registry parameter ORA_CWD. All operations, whether successful or failed, are logged in this file. You must check this file to verify success of an operation.

If you have installed an Oracle Database service on Windows, then when logging in as the SYSTEM user (LocalSystem), with startup mode set to Automatic, it is possible that the Oracle Database service starts but the database does not start automatically. The following error message is written to the file ORADIM.LOG in the directory ORACLE_HOME\database:

ORA-12640: Authentication adapter initialization failed

Oracle Enterprise Management Agent, Oracle Enterprise Manager Management Server, and Oracle Internet Directory might also fail, because they cannot connect to the database for the same reason. To work around this issue, perform the following tasks:

1. Modify SQLNET.ORA
You can modify SQLNET.ORA, be doing either of the following:

- Remove the line sqlnet.authentication_services=(NTS)

- Change the line sqlnet.authentication_services=(NONE)

2. Start the database after the service starts.
You can start the database manually after the Oracle Database service has started, using SQL*Plus and connecting as SYSDBA.

3. Start the service as a specific user

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on starting services

Creating an Instance Using ORADIM

To use ORADIM to create an instance, enter:

oradim [-NEW -SID SID] | -SRVC service_name | -ASMSID SID | -ASMSRVC service_name
[-SYSPWD password][-MAXUSERS number][-STARTMODE auto | manual] [-SRVCSTART system | demand]
[-PFILE filename | -SPFILE] [-SHUTMODE normal | immediate | abort] [-TIMEOUT
secs] [-RUNAS osusr[/ospass]]

For this command, note the following:

- -NEW indicates that you are creating a new instance. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -SID SID is the name of the instance to create.

- -SRVC service_name is the name of the service to create (OracleServiceSID).

- -ASMSID SID is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance to create.

- -ASMSRVC service_name is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management service to create.

- -SYSPWD password is the system password.

- -MAXUSERS number is the number of users defined in the password file. The default is 5.

- -STARTMODE auto | manual indicates whether to start the instance when the Oracle Database service is started. The default is manual.

- -SRVCSTART system | demand indicates whether to start the Oracle Database service upon computer restart. Default is demand. Here, system specifies that the service be configured to automatically start when the system boots or reboots. Demand specifies that the user has to explicitly start the service.

- -PFILE filename is the initialization parameter file to be used with this instance. Ensure that you specify the complete path name of this file, including the drive letter.

- -SPFILE indicates that a server parameter file (SPFILE) be used during startup instead of a PFILE.

- -SHUTMODE specifies how to stop an instance. It requires an argument and the default is immediate. If SHUTMODE is omitted, then there is no attempt made to shutdown the instance when the service is shut down.

- -TIMEOUT secs sets the maximum time to wait (in seconds) before the service for a particular SID stops. The default is 90 seconds. It cannot be used without the SHUTDOWN argument.

- -RUNAS osusr[/ospass] ("run as") makes it possible to specify both the Oracle Home User and its password. If the given osusr is different from the Oracle Home User, then the Oracle Home User is used instead of the osusr along with the given ospass.
Though the ospass can be specified on the command line, Oracle recommends accepting ospass through stdin

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM creates Oracle Database service, Oracle VSS Writer service, and Oracle Scheduler service to run under the Oracle Home User account. If this account is a Windows Local User Account or Windows Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for the password for that account and accepts the same through stdin.

Note:
For simplicity in demonstrating this feature, this example does not perform the password management techniques that a deployed system typically uses. In a production environment, follow the Oracle Database password management guidelines, and disable any sample accounts.
See Oracle Database Security Guide for password management guidelines and other security recommendations.

To create an instance called PROD, for example, you can enter:

C:\> oradim -NEW -SID prod -STARTMODE auto -PFILE C:\app\username\admin\prod\pfile\init.ora

Starting an Instance and Services Using ORADIM

To use ORADIM to start an instance and services, enter:

oradim -STARTUP -SID SID | -ASMSID SID [-SYSPWD password] [-STARTTYPE srvc |
inst | srvc,inst] [-PFILE filename | -SPFILE]

For this command, note the following:

- -STARTUP indicates that you are starting an instance that already exists. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -SID SID is the name of the instance to start.

- -ASMSID SID is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance to start.

- -STARTTYPE srvc, inst indicates whether to start the service or the instance. One or both values can be specified. If it is not specified, then the registry is checked for the current setting.
-STARTTYPE srvc is equivalent to running net start oracleservicesid from the command line.

-STARTTYPE inst is equivalent of running startup within SQL*Plus.

- -PFILE filename is the initialization parameter file to be used with this instance. Ensure that you specify the complete path name of this file, including drive letter.

- -SPFILE indicates that a server parameter file (SPFILE) be used during startup instead of a PFILE.

To start an instance called puma, for example, you can enter:

C:\> oradim -STARTUP -SID puma -STARTTYPE inst -PFILE C:\app\username\admin\prod\pfile\init.ora

Stopping an Instance and Services Using ORADIM

To use ORADIM to stop an instance, enter:

oradim -SHUTDOWN -SID SID | -ASMSID SID [-SYSPWD password]
[-SHUTTYPE srvc | inst | srvc,inst] [-SHUTMODE normal | immediate | abort]

For this command, note the following:

- -SHUTDOWN indicates that you are stopping an instance. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -SID SID specifies the name of the instance to stop.

- -ASMSID SID is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance to stop.

- -SHUTTYPE srvc, inst indicates whether to stop the service or the instance. One or both values can be specified. If it is not specified, then the registry is checked for the current setting.

- -SHUTMODE specifies how to stop an instance. This is an optional parameter. If you do not specify how to stop an instance, then immediate is the default mode.

To stop an instance called puma, for example, you can enter:

C:\> oradim -SHUTDOWN -SID puma -SHUTTYPE srvc,inst

Editing an Instance Using ORADIM

You can edit an existing instance to change such values as instance name, startup mode, shutdown mode, and shutdown type. To use ORADIM to modify an instance, enter:

oradim -EDIT -SID SID | -ASMSID SID [-SYSPWD password] [-STARTMODE auto |
manual] [-SRVCSTART system | demand] [-PFILE filename | -SPFILE][SHUTMODE normal
| immediate | abort] [SHUTTYPE srvc | inst | srvc,inst]

For this command, note the following:

- -EDIT indicates that you are modifying an instance. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -SID SID specifies the name of the instance to modify. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -ASMSID SID is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance to modify.

- -STARTMODE indicates whether to start the instance when the Oracle Database service is started. The default is manual.

- -SRVCSTART system | demand indicates whether to start the Oracle Database service on computer restart. The default is demand.

- -PFILE filename specifies the initialization parameter file to be used with this instance. Ensure that you specify the complete path name of this file, including the drive letter.

- -SPFILE indicates that a server parameter file (SPFILE) be used during startup instead of a PFILE.

- -SHUTMODE specifies how to stop an instance. This is an optional parameter. If you do not specify how to stop an instance, then immediate is the default mode.

- -SHUTTYPE indicates whether to stop the service or the instance. One or both values can be specified. If it is not specified, then the registry is checked for the current setting.

To specify a new initialization parameter file for the instance prod, for example, you can enter:

C:\> oradim -EDIT -SID prod -PFILE C:\app\username\product\11.2.0\admin\lynx\pfile\init.ora

Deleting an Instance Using ORADIM

To use ORADIM to delete an instance, enter:

oradim -DELETE -SID SID | -ASMSID SID | -SRVC service_name | -ASMSRVC service_name

For this command, note the following:

- -DELETE indicates that you are deleting an instance or service. This is a mandatory parameter.

- -SID SID specifies the name of the SID to delete.

- -SRVC service_name specifies the name of the service to delete (OracleServiceSID). The user should specify either SID or SRVC.

- -ASMSID SID is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance to delete.

- -ASMSRVC service_name is the name of the Oracle Automatic Storage Management service to delete.

To delete an instance called prod, for example, you can enter:

C:\> oradim -DELETE -SID prod

Overview of Database Migration from a 32-Bit Windows Computer

This section contains these topics:

- Backing Up a 32-Bit Oracle Database

- Migration Considerations

- Migrating an Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) or Earlier Database

See Also:
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for information about upgrading an earlier release of Oracle Database to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)

Backing Up a 32-Bit Oracle Database

To back up a 32-bit Oracle home database:

1. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

2. Connect to the database instance as SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA;

3. Create a .trc file to use as a template to re-create the control files on the 64-bit computer:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO TRACE;

4. Shut down the database:

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

5. Perform a full offline backup of the database.

See Also:
Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide for an overview of backup and recovery solutions

Migration Considerations

While upgrading an ASM disk group from Oracle Database 11g to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) on Windows platforms, all current files on the disk group are shown as being accessible to all users. Thus, a user with SYSASM privileges must modify the user ownership, group membership, and permissions of the current files accordingly, so that the files are owned by their respective database users only.

Migrating an Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) or Earlier Database

To migrate Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) or earlier database for 32-bit Windows to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) for 64-bit Windows, perform the following steps:

1. Install Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) for 64-bit Windows.

See Also:
Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

2. Create the new Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) service at the command prompt:

C:\> ORADIM -NEW -SID SID [-INTPWD PASSWORD ] -MAXUSERS USERS
-STARTMODE AUTO -PFILE ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE\INITSID.ORA

The following table provides more information about the values you must supply.

Parameter

Description

SID

SID of the database you are migrating.

PASSWORD

Password for the new Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) for 64-bit Windows database. This is the password for the user connected with the SYSDBA privileges. The -INTPWD option is not required. If you do not specify it, then operating system authentication is used, and no password is required.

USERS

Maximum number of users who can be granted SYSDBA and SYSOPER privileges.

ORACLE_HOME

Oracle home directory. Ensure that you specify the full path name with the -PFILE option, including the drive letter of the Oracle home directory.

3. Copy the 32-bit data files to the new 64-bit Oracle home.

4. Copy the 32-bit configuration files to the 64-bit Oracle home.

1. If your 32-bit initialization parameter file has an IFILE (include file) entry, then copy the file specified by the IFILE entry to the 64-bit Oracle home and edit the IFILE entry in the initialization parameter file to point to its new location.

2. If you have a password file that resides in the 32-bit Oracle home, then copy the password file to the 64-bit Oracle home. The default 32-bit password file is located in ORACLE_HOME\database\pwdSID.ora., where SID is your Oracle instance ID.

5. If 12.1 Oracle home uses a Windows User Account as the Oracle Home User, then add this Oracle Home User to the list of users and grant file permissions or directory permissions for all the database files, init.ora files, oracle password files and so on.

6. Add the _SYSTEM_TRIG_ENABLED = false parameter to the ORACLE_HOME\database\ORACLE_SID \init.ora file in the 64-bit Oracle home before changing the word size.

7. Remove this parameter from the initialization file after the word size change is complete.

See Also:
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for more information about changing word size

8. Go to the 64-bit ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\admin directory from the command prompt.

9. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

10. Connect to the database instance as SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA;

11. Re-create the 64-bit control files using the CREATE CONTROLFILE command. Edit the trace file created in "Backing Up a 32-Bit Oracle Database" to change the paths to the data files, log files, and control files to point to the Oracle home on the 64-bit computer. This creates the new control file in the ORACLE_HOME\database directory.
Here is an example of a database named orcl32 on a 32-bit computer migrating to orcl64 on a 64-bit computer:

CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE "T1" NORESETLOGS NOARCHIVELOG
MAXLOGFILES 32
MAXLOGMEMBERS 2
MAXDATAFILES 32
MAXINSTANCES 16
MAXLOGHISTORY 1815
LOGFILE
GROUP 1 'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\REDO03.LOG'  SIZE 1M,
# was   'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl32\...LOG'
# on the 32-bit computer
GROUP 2 'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\REDO02.LOG'  SIZE 1M,
GROUP 3 'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\REDO01.LOG'  SIZE 1M
DATAFILE
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\SYSTEM01.DBF',
# was 'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl32\...DBF'
# on the 32-bit computer
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\RBS01.DBF',
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\USERS01.DBF',
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\TEMP01.DBF',
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\TOOLS01.DBF',
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\INDX01.DBF',
'C:\app\username\oradata\orcl64\DR01.DBF'
CHARACTER SET WE8ISO8859P1;

12. Alter the init file from the 32-bit computer to include the new control file generated in the preceding step.

13. Shut down the database on the 64-bit computer:

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

14. Start the database migration:

SQL> STARTUP MIGRATE;

15. Migrate the database as described in Chapter 3, "Upgrading Oracle Database" in Oracle Database Upgrade Guide.

Note:
Upgrading to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) is supported only when the same Windows User Account is used as the Oracle Home User in both the source and destination Oracle homes, or when the home from which the database is being upgraded uses a Windows built-in account.
See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for information about prerequisites for preparing a new Oracle home on Windows.

16. Shut down the database:

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

17. Restart the database:

SQL> STARTUP OPEN;

5 Postinstallation Configuration Tasks on Windows

This chapter describes configuration tasks that you can perform to increase security, and other configuration tasks that you must perform before using Oracle Multimedia and other Oracle options. Where appropriate, the chapter provides references to other guides for those configuration tasks.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Windows Firewall

- About the Need to Reset Passwords for Default Accounts

- About Windows Authenticated Users

- Overview of NTFS File System and Windows Registry Permissions

- About Configuring External Job Support for the Scheduler on Windows

- About Oracle Multimedia on Windows

- About Oracle Text on Windows

- About Oracle Spatial and Graph on Windows

- About Advanced Replication on Windows

Note:
Directory path examples in this chapter follow Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. If you specified non-OFA compliant directories during installation, then your directory paths differ. See Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for more information.

Overview of Windows Firewall

By default, all newer Windows operating systems enable the Windows Firewall to block virtually all TCP network ports to incoming connections. As a result, any Oracle products that listen for incoming connections on a TCP port do not receive any of those connection requests, and the clients making those connections report errors.

Depending upon which Oracle products are installed and how they are used, some postinstallation configuration of the Windows Firewall might be required for the products to be functional on these operating systems.

This section contains these topics:

- About Oracle Executables Requiring Windows Firewall Exceptions

- Configuring the Windows Firewall Postinstallation

- Troubleshooting Windows Firewall Exceptions

About Oracle Executables Requiring Windows Firewall Exceptions

Table 5-1 lists the Oracle Database executables that listen on TCP ports on Windows. If the Oracle Database executables are in use and accepting connections from a remote client computer, then Oracle recommends that you add them to the Windows Firewall exceptions list to ensure correct operation. Except as noted, these Oracle executables can be found in the ORACLE_HOME\bin directory.

Note:
If multiple Oracle homes are in use, then several firewall exceptions might be needed for the same executable: one for each home from which that executable loads.

See Also:
"Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation Guide" for more information on Oracle RAC executables requiring Windows Firewall exceptions

Configuring Windows Firewall Exceptions for Successful Connections to Oracle Software

You must configure exceptions for the Windows Firewall if your system meets all of the following conditions:

- Oracle server-side components are installed on a Windows server operating system. The list of components includes Oracle Database, Oracle Grid infrastructure, network listeners, or any web servers or services.

- The Windows system in question accepts connections from other machines over the network. If no other machines connect to the Windows system to access the Oracle software, then no postinstallation configuration steps are required and the Oracle software functions as expected.

- The Windows system in question is configured to run the Windows Firewall. If the Windows Firewall is not enabled, then no postinstallation configuration steps are required.

If all the conditions are met, then the Windows Firewall must be configured to allow successful incoming connections to the Oracle software. To enable Oracle software to accept connection requests, Windows Firewall must be configured by either opening up specific static TCP ports in the firewall or by creating exceptions for specific executables so they can receive connection requests on any ports they choose. This firewall configuration can be done by one of the following methods:

- From the Start menu:

1. Click Run and enter firewall.cpl. This opens the Windows Firewall Control Panel applet.

2. Complete one of the following operating system-specific steps to allow a program through the Windows Firewall:

- On Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2 x64, click Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall. Click Change Settings.

- On Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, click Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall. Click Change Settings, Allow Another Program.

- On Windows Server 2008, click Allow a program through Windows Firewall.

3. On the Exceptions tab, click Add Program to create exceptions for the Oracle software.

- From the command prompt, use the netsh firewall add... command.

When Windows notifies you that a foreground application is attempting to listen on a port, and gives you the opportunity to create an exception for that executable, if you choose to create the exception in this way, then the effect is the same as creating an exception for the executable either through Control Panel or from the command line.

Overview of Different Executables Added to the Windows Firewall Exception List

The following sections list the executables that listen on TCP ports on Windows, along with a brief description of the executable. It is recommended that these executables (if in use and accepting connections from a remote, client computer) be added to the exceptions list for the Windows Firewall to ensure correct operation. In addition, if multiple Oracle homes are in use, firewall exceptions might be created for the same executable, for example, oracle.exe, multiple times, once for each Oracle home from which that executable loads.

- About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database

- About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database Examples

- About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Gateways

- About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM

- About Firewall Exceptions for Other Oracle Products

About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database

For basic database operation and connectivity from remote clients (SQL*Plus, OCI, ODBC, OLE DB applications, and so on), the following executables must be added to the Windows Firewall exception list:

- Oracle_home\bin\oracle.exe - Oracle Database executable

- Oracle_home\bin\tnslsnr.exe - Oracle Listener

For remote monitoring capabilities to be available for a database running on Windows, the following executables must be added to the Windows Firewall exception list:

- Oracle_home\bin\emagent.exe - Oracle Database Control

- Oracle_home\jdk\bin\java.exe- Java Virtual Machine

About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database Examples

After installing the Oracle Database Examples, the following executables must be added to the Windows Firewall exception list:

- Oracle_home\opmn\bin\opmn.exe - Oracle Process Manager

- Oracle_home\jdk\bin\java.exe - Java Virtual Machine

About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Gateways

If your Oracle database interacts with non-Oracle software through a gateway, then you must add the gateway executable to the Windows Firewall exception list. Table 5-1 lists the gateway executables used to access non-Oracle software.

Table 5-1  Oracle Executables Requiring Windows Firewall Exceptions

File Name

Executable Name

omtsreco.exe

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

dg4sybs.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for Sybase

dg4tera.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for Teradata

dg4msql.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for SQL Server

dg4db2.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for DRDA

pg4arv.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for APPC

pg4t4ic.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for APPC

dg4mqs.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for WebSphere MQ

dg4mqc.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for WebSphere MQ

dg4odbc.exe

Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC

About Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM

If you installed the Oracle grid infrastructure software on the nodes in your cluster, then you can enable the Windows Firewall only after adding the following executables and ports to the Firewall exception list. The Firewall Exception list must be updated on each node.

- Grid_home\bin\gpnpd.exe - Grid Plug and Play daemon

- Grid_home\bin\oracle.exe - Oracle ASM executable (if using Oracle ASM for storage)

- Grid_home\bin\racgvip.exe - Virtual Internet Protocol Configuration Assistant

- Grid_home\bin\evmd.exe - OracleEVMService

- Grid_home\bin\crsd.exe - OracleCRService

- Grid_home\bin\ocssd.exe - OracleCSService

- Grid_home\bin\octssd.exe - Cluster Time Synchronization Service daemon

- Grid_home\bin\mDNSResponder.exe - multicast-DNS Responder Daemon

- Grid_home\bin\gipcd.exe - Grid IPC daemon

- Grid_home\bin\gnsd.exe - Grid Naming Service daemon

- Grid_home\bin\ohasd.exe - OracleOHService

- Grid_home\bin\TNSLSNR.EXE - SCAN listener and local listener for Oracle Database and Oracle ASM

- Grid_home\opmn\bin\ons.exe - Oracle Notification Service

- Grid_home\jdk\jre\bin\java.exe - Java Virtual Machine

About Firewall Exceptions for Other Oracle Products

In addition to all the previously listed exceptions, if you use any of the Oracle software listed, then you must create an exception for Windows Firewall for the associated executable.

Table 5-2 Other Oracle Software Products Requiring Windows Firewall Exceptions

Oracle Software Product

Executable Name

Data Guard Manager

dgmgrl.exe

Oracle Internet Directory LDAP Server

oidldapd.exe

External Procedural Calls

extproc.exe

Configuring the Windows Firewall Postinstallation

Postinstallation configuration for the Windows Firewall must be undertaken if all of the following conditions are met:

- Oracle server-side components are installed.
These components include Oracle Database, network listeners, and any web servers or services.

- The computer handles connections from other computers over a network.
If no other computers connect to the computer with the Oracle software, then no postinstallation configuration steps are required and the Oracle software functions as expected.

- The Windows Firewall is enabled.
If the Windows Firewall is not enabled, then no postinstallation configuration steps are required.

If all of the conditions are met, then you must configure the Windows Firewall either by opening specific static TCP ports in the firewall or by creating exceptions for specific executables so that they are able to receive connection requests on any ports they choose. Postinstallation configuration for the Windows Firewall can be done by one of following methods:

- From the Control Panel, select Windows Firewall and then select Exceptions.

- Or enter netsh firewall add... at the command line.

Alternatively, Windows informs you if a foreground application is attempting to listen on a port, and it asks you if you want to create an exception for that executable. If you choose to do so, then the effect is the same as creating an exception for the executable either in the Control Panel or from the command line.

Note:
Windows Server 2008 and later operating systems do not provide any information about applications attempting to listen on a port. Instead, a security audit event is logged to signal that an application is blocked.

Troubleshooting Windows Firewall Exceptions

If you cannot establish certain connections even after granting exceptions to the executables listed in Table 5-1, then follow these steps to troubleshoot the installation:

1. Examine Oracle configuration files (such as *.conf files), the Oracle key in the Windows registry, and network configuration files in ORACLE_HOME\network\admin.

2. Pay particular attention to any executable listed in ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\listener.ora in a PROGRAM= clause. Each of these must be granted an exception in the Windows Firewall, because a connection can be made through the TNS Listener to that executable.

3. Examine Oracle trace files, log files, and other sources of diagnostic information for details on failed connection attempts. Log and trace files on the database client computer might contain useful error codes or troubleshooting information for failed connection attempts. The Windows Firewall log file on the server might contain useful information as well.

4. If the preceding troubleshooting steps do not resolve a specific configuration issue, then provide the output from command netsh firewall show state verbose=enable to My Oracle Support for diagnosis and problem resolution at:.
https://support.oracle.com/

About the Need to Reset Passwords for Default Accounts

Oracle Database installs with many default accounts. Oracle Database Configuration Assistant locks and removes most default database accounts upon successful installation. Oracle recommends changing all user passwords immediately after installation.

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about default database accounts and passwords

About Windows Authenticated Users

Authenticated Users group is a Windows built-in group that cannot be modified and includes all users whose identities were authenticated when they logged on. Membership is controlled by the operating system. The SID for Authenticated Users is S-1-5-11.

Overview of NTFS File System and Windows Registry Permissions

Oracle recommends that you configure Oracle Database files, directories, and registry settings to provide full control to authorized database administrators (DBAs). If you have created a database using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant or upgraded a database using Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant, then no further action is required.

This section describes the permissions automatically set by Oracle Universal Installer, Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, and Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant and the steps to set these permissions manually.

This section contains these topics:

- Setting File Permissions

- Setting Permissions for Windows Registry Entries

- Setting Permissions for Windows Service Entries

- Setting NTFS File System Security

- Setting Windows Registry Security

In addition to the various groups listed in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows, Oracle Database software installation creates the following groups for Oracle internal use and sets permissions on files and registry entries for these groups to ensure that the Oracle software functions properly. The group memberships and permissions set for the following groups should not be changed or removed:

- ORA_INSTALL

- ORA_GRID_LISTENERS

- ORA_CLIENT_LISTENERS

- ORA_HOMENAME_SVCSIDS

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for more information about modifying NTFS file system and Windows registry settings

Setting File Permissions

Oracle Universal Installer, Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, and Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant set file permissions when Oracle Database software is installed or upgraded.

This section contains these topics:

- About Default File Permissions Set by Oracle Universal Installer

- About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

- About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant

- About Setting Permissions for Oracle Wallets

- About Setting File System ACLs Manually

About Default File Permissions Set by Oracle Universal Installer

During Oracle Database installation, by default Oracle Universal Installer installs software in the ORACLE_HOME directory. Oracle Universal Installer sets the following permissions to this directory, and to all files and directories under this directory.

For Grid Infrastructure ORACLE_HOME:

- Full control - Administrators, SYSTEM, ORA_GRID_LISTENERS, Oracle Installation User, Oracle Home User

- Read, Execute, and List Contents - Authenticated Users

For Database ORACLE_HOME:

- Full control - Administrators, SYSTEM, Oracle Installation User, Oracle Home User

- Read, Execute, and List Contents - Authenticated Users

For Client ORACLE_HOME:

- Full control - Administrators, SYSTEM, Oracle Installation User, ORA_HOMENAME_SVCSIDS or Oracle Home User

- Read, Execute, and List Contents - Authenticated Users

Oracle Universal Installer sets the following permissions to the ORACLE_BASE directory, and to all files and directories under this directory with the exception of database files, wallets, and so on:

- Full control - Administrators, SYSTEM, Oracle Installation User, Oracle Home User

- Full control - ORA_GRID_LISTENERS if the ORACLE_BASE is for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure ORACLE_HOME

- Full control - ORA_HOMENAME_SVCSIDS or Oracle Home User if the ORACLE_BASE is for a Client ORACLE_HOME

Note:
If these accounts already exist and have more restrictive permissions, then the most restrictive permissions are retained. If accounts other than Administrators, SYSTEM, Authenticated Users, and the Oracle groups mentioned exist, then the permissions for these accounts are removed.

See Also:

- Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit) for information about Oracle Home User configurations

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for information about the Authenticated Users group

About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

During Oracle Database configuration, Oracle Database Configuration Assistant installs files and directories in the following default locations, where database_name is the database name or SID:

- ORACLE_BASE\admin\database_name (administration file directories)

- ORACLE_BASE\oradata\database_name (database file directories)

- ORACLE_BASE\oradata\database_name (redo log files and control files)

- ORACLE_HOME\database (SPFILESID.ORA)

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant sets the following permission to these directories, and to all files and directories under these directories:

- Full control - to Administrators, SYSTEM, Oracle Home User

Note:
If these accounts already exist and have more restrictive permissions, then the most restrictive permissions are retained. If accounts other than Administrators, SYSTEM, and Oracle Home User already exist, then the permissions for these accounts are removed.

About File Permissions Set by Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant

When an earlier version of the database is upgraded to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant installs software in the following directories, where database_name is the database name or SID:

- ORACLE_BASE\admin\database_name (administration files)

- ORACLE_BASE\oradata\database_name (database file directories)

- ORACLE_BASE\oradata\database_name (redo log files and control files)

- ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\database (SPFILESID.ORA)

Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant sets the following permissions to these directories, and to all files and directories under these directories:

- Full control - to Administrators, SYSTEM, Oracle Home User

Note:
If these accounts already exist and have more restrictive permissions, then the most restrictive permissions are retained. If accounts other than Administrators, SYSTEM, and Oracle Home User already exist, then the permissions for these accounts are removed.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant can also configure Oracle Enterprise Manager. If the Enable daily backup option is selected while configuring Oracle Enterprise Manager, then Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant shows a separate screen asking for Fast Recovery Area. Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant tries to create the directory structure (if it does not exist) in the specified file system location. Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant also puts the same set of file permissions to this location. The default location shown by Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant for Fast Recovery Area is:

- ORACLE_BASE\recovery_area

About Setting Permissions for Oracle Wallets

When an Oracle Wallet is created in the file system, the user creating the wallet is granted access to the wallet by wallet creation tools. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Windows services for Oracle run under a standard Windows User Account and might not be able to access the wallet. See section "About Setting File System ACLs Manually" to be able to use Windows tools to grant access to the specific user and group or to either of them for the wallets in the file system.

About Setting File System ACLs Manually

As Oracle Database services now run under a standard Windows User Account, a file might not be accessible by Oracle Database services unless the file system Access Control Lists (ACLs) grant access to the file. Though Oracle installation configures the ACLs in a way to ensure that you do not have to change ACLs manually for typical usage, it might be necessary to change ACLs manually, for example, to manually upgrade databases, and database files not in Oracle base, or to grant access to wallets in the file system.

The rules to set file system ACLs manually are:

- To allow Oracle Database service access to a file: Grant access to Oracle Home User for the file when a Windows User Account is used as the Oracle Home User. If a Windows built-in account is used as the Oracle Home User, then no such permission is necessary because the Oracle Database services run under the administrative account.

- To allow Oracle Grid Listeners services access to a file: Grant access to ORA_GRID_LISTENERS group for the file.

- To allow Oracle Database services from a client ORACLE_HOME access to a file: Grant access to Oracle Home User for the file when a Windows User Account is used as the Oracle Home User for the client home. If a Windows built-in account is used as the Oracle Home User, then grant access to the ORA_HOMENAME_SVCSIDS group for the file.

Setting Permissions for Windows Registry Entries

Oracle Universal Installer sets the following permissions for Windows registry entries pertaining to Oracle Database software:

- All users have read permissions.

- Local administrators and Oracle Installation User have full control.

Setting Permissions for Windows Service Entries

Oracle Universal Installer sets the following permissions to users and user groups for Windows service entries for Oracle Database services:

- ORA_DBA and ORA_HOMENAME_DBA group users have start and stop privileges for Windows service entries.

- Local System Account and local administrators have full control of Windows service entries.

Setting NTFS File System Security

To ensure that only authorized users have full file system permissions:

1. Go to Windows Explorer.

2. Set the following permissions for each directory or file based on the information provided in the earlier sections.

See Also:
Your operating system online help for more information about how to modify NTFS file system and registry settings

Setting Windows Registry Security

Oracle recommends that you remove write permissions from users who are not Oracle Database DBAs or system administrators in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE directory of the Windows registry.

To remove write permissions:

1. Open the registry.

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE.

3. Select Permissions from the Edit menu.
The Permissions for Oracle dialog box appears.

4. Remove write privileges from any users who are not Oracle Database DBAs or system administrators. Note that the SYSTEM account must have Full Control, because some Oracle Database services run as SYSTEM.

5. Ensure that user accounts that must run Oracle applications have read privileges.

6. Select OK.

7. Exit the registry.

About Configuring External Job Support for the Scheduler on Windows

This release includes Oracle Scheduler (the Scheduler), which provides enterprise scheduling functionality. External jobs performed by the user are started using the OracleJobSchedulerSID service. This service is disabled by default. To use the external jobs functionality, the administrator must set the user name and password for the user account under which this service must run and enable the service.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM creates the Oracle Database service, Oracle VSS Writer service, and Oracle Scheduler service to run under the Oracle Home User account. If this account is a Windows Local User or a Windows Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for the password for that account and accepts the same through stdin. It is possible to specify both the Oracle Home User and its password using the -RUNAS osusr[/ospass] option to oradim. If the given osusr is different from the Oracle Home User, then Oracle Home User is used instead of osusr along with the given ospass. Restricting execution of external jobs to a low-privileged user prevents unauthorized database users from gaining operating system-level privileges, but it also places restrictions on the kinds of jobs that can be run. Jobs requiring a higher level of operating system privileges cannot be run by this mechanism.

Enabling and starting the OracleJobSchedulerSID service is required only for compatibility with Oracle Database 10g Release 1 and Release 2, for local external jobs that do not use credentials. This service is not required if all local external jobs use credentials. For improved security, Oracle recommends that all local external jobs use credentials.

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about external jobs

About Oracle Multimedia on Windows

Oracle Multimedia (formerly Oracle interMedia) is a feature that enables Oracle Database to store, manage, and retrieve images. It also helps DICOM format medical images and other DICOM data, audio, video, or other heterogeneous media data in an integrated fashion with other enterprise information. Oracle Multimedia extends Oracle Database reliability, availability, and data management to multimedia content in traditional, Internet, electronic commerce, medical, and media-rich applications.

If you install Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Standard Edition One, Standard Edition 2, or Personal Edition, then Oracle Database Configuration Assistant starts automatically at the end of installation. If you choose any Oracle Database Configuration Assistant installation type other than Customized, then Oracle Multimedia does not require manual configuration. All tasks described in this section are performed automatically.

If you select Customized installation, then Oracle Database Configuration Assistant guides you through configuration of Oracle Multimedia.

Configuring Oracle Multimedia on Windows

If you are creating and configuring a database manually, then you can configure Oracle Multimedia as follows:

1. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

2. Connect to Oracle Database with account SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

3. Start the database (if necessary):

SQL> STARTUP

4. Run the script ordinst.sql:

SQL> ORACLE_HOME\ord\admin\ordinst.sql SYSAUX SYSAUX

5. Run the script iminst.sql:

SQL> ORACLE_HOME\ord\im\admin\catim.sql

6. Exit SQL*Plus:

SQL> EXIT

Note:
If you manually copy your Oracle8i listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files into your Oracle Database network directory, then you must modify network configuration files tnsnames.ora and listener.ora on your server to enable external routine calls to work and Oracle Multimedia to function properly. Follow the procedure in Oracle Net Services Administrator's Guide.

About Oracle Text on Windows

Oracle Text enables text queries through SQL and PL/SQL from most Oracle interfaces. By installing Oracle Text with an Oracle Database server, client tools such as SQL*Plus and Pro*C/C++ are able to retrieve and manipulate text in Oracle Database.

Oracle Text manages textual data in concert with traditional data types in Oracle Database. When text is inserted, updated, or deleted, Oracle Text automatically manages the change.

If you install Oracle Text from the media and do not have a previous release of Oracle Text installed, then Oracle Database is already configured for use with Oracle Text if one of the following is true:

- You created the database by using Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in standalone mode, and selected the Typical database creation type.

- The database is a starter database that you created by using Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) and selected the Create and configure a database option in "Select Installation Option" window.

See Also:

- Chapter 4, "Postinstallation Database Creation on Windows"

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for more information about creating a starter database

If none of these is true, then you must configure Oracle Database for use with Oracle Text by using "Configuring Oracle Text Using Database Configuration Assistant".

See Also:

- Oracle Text Application Developer's Guide for information about upgrading your applications from previous releases of Oracle Text

- Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for information about upgrading Oracle Text

Configuring Oracle Text Using Database Configuration Assistant

To use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant to configure Oracle Database for use with Oracle Text at the time you create the database, select Oracle Text as the option to configure when prompted.

To configure the database at a later time:

1. Start Database Configuration Assistant.
From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Database Configuration Assistant.

2. Select Configure Database Options.

3. Select the database to modify when prompted.

4. Select Oracle Text as the option to configure when prompted.

About Oracle Spatial and Graph on Windows

Oracle Spatial and Graph makes storage, retrieval, and manipulation of spatial data easier and more intuitive to users.

One example of spatial data is a road map. A road map is a two-dimensional object that contains points, lines, and polygons representing cities, roads, and political boundaries such as states. A road map represents geographic information. Locations of cities, roads, and political boundaries are projected onto a two-dimensional display or piece of paper, preserving relative positions and relative distances of objects.

Configuring Oracle Spatial and Graph on Windows Automatically

If you install Oracle Spatial and Graph through Enterprise Edition, then no manual configuration is required. All Oracle Spatial and Graph configuration tasks are performed automatically.

If you install both Oracle Spatial and Graph and Oracle Database together through Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Standard Edition One, Standard Edition 2, or Personal Edition installation, then Database Configuration Assistant starts automatically at the end of installation. If you select Custom installation and select Create new database, then the assistant asks if Oracle Spatial and Graph is to be configured automatically.

If you install Oracle Spatial and Graph during a separate installation from Enterprise Edition, then you must either start Oracle Database Configuration Assistant and select Configure database options or configure Oracle Spatial and Graph manually. See Oracle Spatial and Graph Developer's Guide for more information on configuring Oracle Spatial and Graph manually.

About Advanced Replication on Windows

Oracle Database installs replication packages and procedures automatically rather than as a separate manual process. There are many configuration and usage possibilities with Advanced Replication.

This section describes how to manually configure Advanced Replication in Oracle Database. Follow the instructions only if you add Advanced Replication to an installation of Oracle Database that was not previously configured with this feature.

See Also:
Oracle Database Advanced Replication for more information about Advanced Replication and for definitions of master sites and materialized view sites

Configuring Advanced Replication consists of the following steps:

- Checking Tablespace and Rollback Segment Requirements

- Adding and Modifying Initialization Parameters

- Monitoring Data Dictionary Tables

Checking Tablespace and Rollback Segment Requirements

Recommended tablespace and rollback segment requirements for Advanced Replication are shown in Table 5-3.

Table 5-3  Advanced Replication Tablespace/Rollback Segment Requirements

Tablespace/Rollback Segment

Minimum Free Space

SYSTEM

20 MB

UNDOTBS

10 MB

RBS

5 MB

TEMP

10 MB

USERS

No specific requirement

Note:
Replication triggers and procedures are stored here.

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information on tablespace

Adding and Modifying Initialization Parameters

If you use Advanced Replication, then certain parameter values must be added to the initialization parameter file, and others must be set to recommended values. Parameter names and values for the master site and materialized view sites are shown in Table 5-4.

Table 5-4  Advanced Replication Initialization Parameters

Parameter Name

Recommended Value

Site

JAVA_POOL_SIZE

50 MB

master

DISTRIBUTED_LOCK_TIMEOUT

300 seconds

master

GLOBAL_NAMES

TRUE

master

OPEN_LINKS

4

master

PROCESSES

Add 9 to current value

master

JOB_QUEUE-PROCESSES

2 Note

master

JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES

2

materialized view

Note

Depends on number of n-way sites.

Monitoring Data Dictionary Tables

If you use Advanced Replication and intend to set up a large number of replicated objects, then you are required to monitor the following data dictionary tables with the SQL SELECT argument:

- ARGUMENT$

- IDL_CHAR$

- IDL_UB1$

- IDL_UB2$

- IDL_SB4$

- I_ARGUMENT1

- I_SOURCE1I$

- SOURCE$

- TRIGGER

If necessary, increase storage parameters to accommodate storage requirements of large numbers of replicated objects.

6 Administering a Database on Windows

This chapter describes how to administer Oracle Database for Windows.

This chapter contains these topics:

- About Ways to Manage Oracle Database Services

- Starting and Shutting Down a Database with SQL*Plus

- Starting and Shutting Down a Database Using Services

- Starting Multiple Instances

- Creating and Populating Password Files

- Connecting Remotely to the Database

- Verifying a Remote Database Using Encrypted Passwords

- About Archiving Redo Log Files

About Ways to Manage Oracle Database Services

This section tells you how to manage the services that Oracle Database installs on your computer.

This section provides information about the following:

- Overview of Oracle Database Service Naming Conventions for Multiple Oracle Homes

- Starting Oracle Database Services

- Stopping Oracle Database Services

- Auto-Starting Oracle Database Services

Overview of Oracle Database Service Naming Conventions for Multiple Oracle Homes

Oracle Database for Windows lets you have multiple Oracle homes on a single computer. This feature, described in Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture", in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows, affects Oracle Services naming conventions. As you perform installations into Oracle home directories:

- You must accept the default Oracle home name provided or specify a different name for each Oracle home directory.

- You are prompted to give a system identifier and global database name for each database installation.

Starting Oracle Database Services

Oracle Database services must be started for you to use Oracle Database and its products. You can start Oracle Database services from three different locations:

- Using the Control Panel

- Using the Command Prompt

- Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Note:
You can start Oracle Database when you start OracleServiceSID. See "Starting and Shutting Down a Database Using Services" for information about registry parameters that enable you to do this.

Using the Control Panel

To start Oracle Database services from the Control Panel:

1. Access your Windows Services dialog box.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions

2. Find the service to start in the list, select it, and click Start.
If you cannot find OracleServiceSID in the list, then use ORADIM to create it.

3. Click Close to exit the Services dialog box.

Using the Command Prompt

To start Oracle Database services from the command prompt, enter:

C:\> NET START service

The variable service is a specific service name, such as OracleServiceORCL.

Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

To start Oracle Database services from Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

2. Right-click the SID.
SID is a specific instance name, such as orcl.

3. Click Start Service.
This starts service OracleServiceORCL.

Stopping Oracle Database Services

On occasion (for example, when reinstalling Oracle Database), you must stop Oracle Database services. You can stop Oracle Database services from three different locations:

- Using the Control Panel

- Using the Command Prompt

- Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Note:
You can stop Oracle Database in normal, immediate, or abort mode when you stop OracleServiceSID. See "Starting and Shutting Down a Database Using Services" for information about registry parameters that enable you to do this.

Using the Control Panel

To stop Oracle Database services from the Control Panel:

1. Access your Windows Services dialog box.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions

2. Select OracleHOMENAMETNSListener and click Stop.
OracleHOMENAMETNSListener is stopped.

3. Select OracleServiceSID and click Stop.

4. Click OK.
OracleServiceSID is stopped.

Using the Command Prompt

To stop Oracle Database services from the command prompt, enter:

C:\> net STOP service

The variable service is a specific service name, such as OracleServiceORCL.

Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

To stop Oracle Database services from Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

2. Right-click the SID.
The variable SID is a specific instance name, such as orcl.

3. Click Stop Service.
This stops service OracleServiceORCL.

Auto-Starting Oracle Database Services

Oracle Database services can be set to start automatically whenever the Windows computer is restarted. You can turn auto-start on or off from two different locations:

- Using the Control Panel

- Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Using the Control Panel

To use the Control Panel to configure when and how Oracle Database is started:

1. Access your Windows Services dialog box.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions

2. Select the service OracleServiceSID and click Startup.

3. Select Automatic from the Startup Type field.

4. Click OK.

5. Click Close to exit the Services dialog box.

Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

To automatically start Oracle Database services from Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

2. Right-click the SID.
The variable SID is a specific instance name, such as orcl.

3. Select Startup/Shutdown Options.

4. Select the Oracle NT Service tab.

5. Select Automatic in Oracle NT Service Startup Type.

6. Click Apply.

7. Click OK.

Starting and Shutting Down a Database with SQL*Plus

These instructions assume that a database instance has been created.

Note:
Directory path examples in this chapter follow Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. If you specified directories during installation that do not comply with OFA guidelines, then your directory paths differ. See Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture", in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for more information.

To start or shut down Oracle Database:

1. Go to your Oracle Database server.

2. Start SQL*Plus at the command prompt:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

3. Connect to Oracle Database with username SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

4. To start a database, enter:

SQL> STARTUP [PFILE=path\filename]

This command uses the initialization parameter file specified in path\filename. To start a database using a file named init2.ora located in C:\app\username\product\11.2.0\admin\orcl\pfile, enter:

SQL> STARTUP PFILE=C:\app\username\product\11.2.0\admin\orcl\pfile\init2.ora

If no PFILE is specified, then the command looks for an SPFILE in ORACLE_HOME\database. If the command finds one, then the command uses it to start the database. If it does not find an SPFILE, then it uses the default initialization parameter file located in ORACLE_BASE\ADMIN\db_name\pfile.

5. To stop a database, enter:

SQL> SHUTDOWN [mode]

The mode is normal, immediate, or abort.

In a normal shutdown, Oracle Database waits for all currently connected users to disconnect and disallows any new connections before shutting down. This is the default mode.

In an immediate shutdown, Oracle Database terminates and rolls back active transactions, disconnects clients, and shuts down.

In an abort shutdown, Oracle Database terminates active transactions and disconnects users; it does not roll back transactions. The database performs automatic recovery and rollback the next time it is started. Use this mode only in emergencies.

See Also:
Chapter 2, "Database Tools on Windows" for a list of other tools that can start Oracle Database and for information about options you can specify when starting your database

Starting and Shutting Down a Database Using Services

You can start or shut down Oracle Database by starting or stopping the service OracleServiceSID in the Control Panel. Starting OracleServiceSID is equivalent to using the STARTUP command or manually entering:

C:\> oradim -STARTUP -SID SID [-STARTTYPE srvc | inst | srvc,inst] [-PFILE
filename | -SPFILE]

Stopping OracleServiceSID is equivalent to using the SHUTDOWN command or manually entering:

C:\> oradim -SHUTDOWN -SID SID [-SHUTTYPE srvc | inst | srvc,inst] [-SHUTMODE
normal | immediate | abort]

You can enable starting and stopping Oracle Database through OracleServiceSID in two different ways:

- Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

- Setting Registry Parameters

Using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

To start or stop a database using Oracle Database services from Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

2. Right-click the SID.
The variable SID is a specific instance name, such as ORCL.

3. Select Startup/Shutdown Options.

4. Select the Oracle Instance tab.

5. Select Start up instance when service is started, Shut down instance when service is stopped, or both.

Setting Registry Parameters

To start or stop Oracle Database through Oracle Database services, set the following registry parameters to the indicated values:

- ORA_SID_AUTOSTART
When set to true, the default value, this parameter causes Oracle Database to start when OracleServiceSID is started.

- ORA_SID_PFILE
This parameter sets the full path to the initialization parameter file. If this entry is not present, then ORADIM tries to start the database with an SPFILE or PFILE from ORACLE_HOME\database.

- ORA_SHUTDOWN
When set to true, this parameter enables the selected instance of Oracle Database to be shut down when OracleServiceSID is stopped. This includes any database in the current Oracle home. The default value is false.

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN
When set to true, the default value, this parameter causes the instance of Oracle Database identified by the SID value to shut down when OracleServiceSID is stopped manually—using either the Control Panel or Net stop command.

Caution:
If ORA_SHUTDOWN or ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN is set to false, then manually shutting down OracleServiceSID still shuts down Oracle Database. But it is an abnormal shutdown, and Oracle does not recommend it.

The following two registry parameters are optional:

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE
This parameter controls database shutdown mode. Set it to a (abort), i (immediate), or n (normal). The default mode is i (immediate) if you do not set this parameter.

- ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT
This parameter sets the maximum time to wait before the service for a particular SID stops.

The registry location of these required and optional parameters is determined by the number of Oracle home directories on your computer. If you have only one Oracle home directory, then these parameters belong in:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOME0

If you have multiple Oracle home directories, then these parameters belong in:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEID

The variable ID is incremented for each additional Oracle home directory on your computer.

Note:
If you use ORADIM to create or edit instances, then it automatically sets the relevant registry parameters to their appropriate values.

See Also:
Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for instructions on adding and editing registry parameters

Starting or Stopping OracleServiceSID from the Control Panel

1. To start the database, start OracleServiceSID.
This automatically starts ORADIM and enters the -STARTUP command using the initialization parameter file identified by ORA_SID_PFILE.

2. To stop the database, stop OracleServiceSID.
This automatically starts ORADIM, which enters the -SHUTDOWN command in the mode indicated by ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE, and shuts down Oracle Database.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on starting and stopping services.

Starting Multiple Instances

Perform the following steps to start service for multiple Oracle Database instance:

1. Start the service for each instance using ORADIM or the Services dialog of the Control Panel.

2. At the command prompt, set the ORACLE_SID configuration parameter to the SID for the first instance to run:

C:\> SET ORACLE_SID=SID

The variable SID is the name of the Oracle Database instance.

3. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

4. Connect AS SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

5. Start up the first instance:

SQL> STARTUP PFILE=ORACLE_BASE\admin\db_name\pfile\init.ora

The variable ORACLE_BASE is c:\app\username (unless you changed it during installation) and db_name is the name of the instance.

6. Repeat Step 2 through Step 5 for the other instances to run.

Creating and Populating Password Files

Use Password Utility to create password files. Password Utility is automatically installed with Oracle Database utilities. Password files are located in the directory ORACLE_HOME\database and are named PWDsid.ora, where SID identifies the Oracle Database instance. Password files can be used for local or remote connections to Oracle Database.

To create and populate a password file:

1. Create a password file with Password Utility:

C:\> orapwd FILE=PWDsid.ora ENTRIES=max_users

- FILE specifies the password file name.

- SID identifies the database instance.

- ENTRIES sets maximum number of entries in the password file. This corresponds to maximum number of distinct users allowed to connect to the database simultaneously with either the SYSDBA or the SYSOPER DBA privilege.

2. Set the initialization parameter file parameter REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE to exclusive, shared, or none.
The value exclusive specifies that only one instance can use the password file and that the password file contains names other than SYS. In search of the password file, Oracle Database looks in the registry for the value of the parameter ORA_SID_PWFILE. If no value is specified, then Oracle Database looks in the registry for the value of the parameter ORA_PWFILE, which points to a file containing user names, passwords, and privileges. If that is not set, then Oracle Database uses the default:

ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE\PWDsid.ORA.

The default value is shared. It specifies that multiple instances (for example, an Oracle RAC environment) can use the password file. However, the only user recognized by the password file is SYS. Other users cannot log in with SYSOPER or SYSDBA privileges even if those privileges are granted in the password file. The shared value of this parameter affords backward compatibility with earlier Oracle releases. Oracle Database looks for the same files as it does when the value is exclusive.

The value none specifies that Oracle Database ignores the password file and that authentication of privileged users is handled by the Windows operating system.

3. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

4. Connect AS SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

For an Oracle ASM instance, connect AS SYSASM:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSASM

5. Start Oracle Database:

SQL> STARTUP

6. Grant appropriate privileges to each user. Users who must perform database administration, for example, would be granted the SYSDBA privilege:

SQL> GRANT SYSDBA TO db_administrator;

For an Oracle ASM instance:

SQL> GRANT SYSASM TO SYS;

If the grant is successful, then the following message is displayed:

Statement Processed.

This adds smith to the password file and enables smith to connect to the database with SYSDBA privileges. Use SQL*Plus to add or delete user names, user passwords, and user privileges in password files.

Caution:
Copying or manually moving password files might result in ORADIM being unable to find a password to start an instance.

Viewing and Hiding the Password File

The password file is not automatically hidden. It can be made invisible and visible again from two different locations:

- Using Command Prompt

- Using Windows Explorer

Note:
The password file must be visible before it can be moved, copied, or deleted.

Using Command Prompt

1. To see the password file, enter:

ORACLE_HOME\database> attrib

The password file is displayed as PWDsid.ora:

A       ORACLE_HOME\database\oradba.exe
A       ORACLE_HOME\database\oradim.log
A       ORACLE_HOME\database\PWDsid.ora
A       ORACLE_HOME\database\SPFILEsid.ora

2. To make the password file invisible, enter:

ORACLE_HOME\database> attrib +H PWDsid.ora

3. To see the effect of the change, enter:

ORACLE_HOME\database> attrib

The password file is now hidden:

A       ORACLE_HOME\database\oradba.exe
A       ORACLE_HOME\database\oradim.log
A   H   ORACLE_HOME\database\PWDsid.ora
A       ORACLE_HOME\database\SPFILEsid.ora

4. To make the password file visible again, enter:

ORACLE_HOME\database> attrib -H PWDsid.ora

Using Windows Explorer

To make the password file invisible or visible again:

1. Go to the directory ORACLE_HOME\database.

2. Right-click PWDsid.ora.

3. Select Properties.
The PWDsid.ora Properties dialog box opens.

4. In Attributes, check or clear the check box next to Hidden.

5. Click OK.

To view or hide an invisible password file:

1. Go to the directory ORACLE_HOME\database.

2. Select Folder Options from the Tools main menu.

3. In the Folder Options window, select the View tab.

4. To view an invisible password file, select Show hidden files and folders.

5. To hide a visible password file, select Do not show hidden files and folders.

6. Click OK.

Connecting Remotely to the Database

You can connect to Oracle Database remotely. There are many steps you must remember while connecting to the database remotely. They are as follows:

- Connecting to a Database Using SYSDBA Privileges

- Verifying a Remote Database Using Encrypted Passwords

Connecting to a Database Using SYSDBA Privileges

When connecting to the starter database from a remote computer as SYS, you must use a different password from the one described in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows when logging on with SYSDBA privileges. This is because the password file enables database access in this situation and it requires the password oracle for this purpose.

Verifying a Remote Database Using Encrypted Passwords

With Oracle Database, the password used to verify a remote database connection is automatically encrypted. Whenever a user attempts a remote login, Oracle Database encrypts the password before sending it to the remote database. If the connection fails, then the failure is noted in the operating system audit log.

Note:
The configuration parameter ORA_ENCRYPT_LOGIN is retained for backward compatibility and is set to true by default. See Chapter 16, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for instructions on adding and setting configuration parameters in the registry.

About Archiving Redo Log Files

If you installed Oracle Database through the Typical installation, then it is created in NOARCHIVELOG mode. If you created your database through the Custom option of Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, then you had the choice of either ARCHIVELOG or NOARCHIVELOG.

In NOARCHIVELOG mode, redo logs are not archived. Setting your archive mode to ARCHIVELOG and enabling automatic archiving causes redo log files to be archived. This protects Oracle Database from both instance and disk failure.

See Also:
"Managing Archived Redo Logs" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about the archiving modes and the archiving process

7 Monitoring a Database on Windows

This chapter describes how to monitor Oracle Database for Windows.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Database Monitoring Tools

- About Event Viewer

- About Trace Files

- About Alert Logs

- Viewing Oracle Database Thread Information

Overview of Database Monitoring Tools

Table 7-1 describes tools that enable you to monitor Oracle Database.

Table 7-1 Database Monitoring Tools

Tool

Functionality

Event Viewer

Monitor database events.

Trace Files

Record occurrences and exceptions of database operations

Alert Logs

Record important information about error messages and exceptions during database operations.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Management Packs

Monitor and tune using tools with real-time graphical performance information.

See Also: Your Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation set for more information

Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

View information about or terminate any Oracle thread.

See Also:
Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for general tuning information

About Event Viewer

Oracle Database for Windows problems and other significant occurrences are recorded as events in an application event log. View and manage these recorded events in Event Viewer.

Using Event Viewer

To access Event Viewer:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Administrative Tools, and then select Event Viewer.
The Event Viewer window appears.

2. Select Windows Logs.

3. Double-click Application to open the Application view window.

Figure 7-1 displays the Application view window, Table 7-2 shows what is recorded in each column, and Table 7-3 interprets icons that appear on the left hand side of the viewer.

Figure 7-1 Application View Window

Table 7-2 Application View Definitions

Column Name

Definition

Date and Time

Date and time at which event took place

Source

Application that recorded event

Event ID

Unique number assigned to event

Task Category

Classification of event

Table 7-3 Event Viewer Icons

Icon

Event Type

Suggested Action

Exclamation Point in Red Circle

Error

Error identification. Always check these icons.

Lowercase "i" in Blue Circle

Information

Noncritical system events. Check these icons only to track a specific event.

Exclamation Point in Yellow Triangle

Warning

Special events, such as instance termination or services shutdown. Investigate these icons, but they are usually noncritical.

Reading Event Viewer

Oracle Database for Windows events are displayed with a source of Oracle.SID.

Event number 34 specifies an audit trail event. These events are recorded if the parameter AUDIT_TRAIL is set to db (true) or os in the initialization parameter file. Option os enables systemwide auditing and causes audited records to be written to Event Viewer. Option db enables systemwide auditing and causes audited records to be written to the database audit trail (table SYS.AUD$). Some records, however, are written to Event Viewer.

Event numbers other than 34 specify general database activities, such as an instance being started or stopped.

When you double-click an icon in Event Viewer, the Event Properties dialog box appears with more information about the selected event. Figure 7-2, for example, shows details about Event ID 4112. In the General tab, you find a text description of the event. In the Details tab, you can select Friendly View to see the System and Event Data in words or XML View to see the same information in XML format, as shown in Figure 7-3.

Figure 7-2 Event Properties General Tab

Figure 7-3 Event Properties Details Tab

See Also:
Microsoft operating system documentation for more information about using Event Viewer

Managing Event Viewer

Setting AUDIT_TRAIL to db or os causes more records to be written to Event Viewer. This can fill up the Event Viewer log file. Follow these procedures to increase log file size:

1. Right-click the event log in which you want to set size, and select Properties.
The event Log Properties window appears.

2. Use the up and down arrow keys to set the size you want in the Maximum log size box.

3. Under When maximum event log size is reached, select one of the options that you want. The options are as follows:

- Overwrite events as needed (oldest events first)

- Archive the log when full, do not overwrite events

- Do not overwrite events (clear log manually)

4. If you want to clear the log contents, click Clear Log.

5. Click OK.
You return to Event Viewer.

Caution:
Audit information cannot be spooled to a file. AUDIT_FILE_DEST is supported on Windows to write XML format audit files when AUDIT_TRAIL is set to XML or XML,EXTENDED format and thus must be added to the initialization parameter file.

About Trace Files

Oracle Database for Windows background threads use trace files to record occurrences and exceptions of database operations, and errors. Background thread trace files are created and stored in the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR) directory specified by the parameter DIAGNOSTIC_DEST in the initialization parameter file.

Oracle Database creates a different trace file for each foreground and background thread. The name of the trace file contains the name of the thread, followed by the extension ".trc". The following are examples of foreground trace file names:

- ops_ora_5804.trc

- ops_ora_4160.trc

The following are examples of background trace file names:

- ops_pmon_1556.trc

- ops_mmon_3768.trc

- ops_lgwr_2356.trc

- ops_dbw0_132.trc

Trace files are also created for user threads and stored in the ADR directory specified by the parameter DIAGNOSTIC_DEST in the initialization parameter file. Trace files for user threads have the form oraxxxxx.trc, where xxxxx is a 5-digit number indicating the Windows thread ID.

About Alert Logs

Alert logs contain important information about error messages and exceptions that occur during database operations. Each Oracle Database for Windows instance has one alert log; information is appended to the file each time you start the instance. All threads can write to the alert log.

For example, when automatic archiving of redo logs is halted because no disk space is available, a message is placed in the alert log. The alert log is the first place to check if something goes wrong with the database and the cause is not immediately obvious.

The alert log is named alert_SID.log and is found in the ADR directory specified by the parameter DIAGNOSTIC_DEST in the initialization parameter file. Alert logs should be deleted or archived periodically.

See Also:

- "Modifying the Initialization Parameter File"

- "ADMIN Directory" section in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

Viewing Oracle Database Thread Information

To view information about Oracle Database threads using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, you must either enable Windows native authentication for the database or run the utility ocfgutil.exe with arguments username and password. The utility stores the user name and password in the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\OracleOraConfig

When Windows native authentication is not enabled, Oracle Remote Configuration Agent retrieves the user name and password from this registry key to log in to the database.

To view information about Oracle Database threads using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.

2. Right-click the SID, where SID is a specific instance name, such as orcl.

3. Select Process Information.
The Process Information dialog box appears, listing name, type, user, thread ID, and CPU usage for each Oracle Database thread.

4. To terminate a thread, select it, and click Kill Thread.

8 Tuning Windows to Optimize Oracle Database

This chapter describes how to tune the Windows Server operating system to ensure that Oracle Database is running in the best possible environment.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Windows Tuning

- Overview of Large Page Support

- About Reducing Priority of Foreground Applications on Server Console

- About Configuring Windows Server to Be an Application Server

- About Disabling Unnecessary Services

- About the Necessity to Remove Unused Network Protocols

- About the Necessity to Reset Network Protocol Bind Order

- Setting the Order of Multiple Network Interface Cards

- Overview of Latest Reliable Windows Server Service Pack

- Overview of Hardware or Operating System Striping

- About Multiplex Windows Server Virtual Memory Paging File

- Closing All Unnecessary Foreground Applications

Note:
For the sake of brevity, this discussion uses the collective term Windows Server when a statement applies to all supported Windows operating systems.

Overview of Windows Tuning

Windows Server operating systems offer considerably fewer tuning adjustments than UNIX systems. This difference constrains system administrators when they try to optimize Windows Server performance, but it also makes Windows Server easier to use.

You can make Windows Server a better application server environment for Oracle Database. Most of the operating system specific procedures described in this chapter enable Oracle Database to reserve more system resources, such as CPU, memory, and disk I/O.

In addition, because Oracle Database is a high-performance database management system that effectively uses resources of your Windows computer, it should not also serve as any of the following:

- Primary or backup domain controller

- File or print server

- Remote access server

- Router

These configurations consume network, memory, and CPU resources. In addition, the Windows computer that is running Oracle Database should not be locally accessed with a high frequency or intensively used for local user processing, unless it has enough resources to accommodate all this activity.

Overview of Large Page Support

Large page support is a feature of Oracle Database. It provides a performance boost for memory-intensive database instances running on Windows Server. By taking advantage of newly introduced operating system support, Oracle Database can now make more efficient use of processor memory addressing resources. Specifically, when large page support is enabled, the CPUs in the system will be able to access the Oracle Database buffers in RAM more quickly. Instead of addressing the buffers in 4KB increments, the CPUs are told to use 2 MB page sizes in Physical Address Extension (PAE) mode and 4MB page sizes in non-PAE mode when addressing the database buffers.

This feature is particularly useful when the Oracle buffer cache is several gigabytes. Smaller-sized configurations will still see a gain when using large pages, but the gain will not be as great as when the database is accessing large amounts of memory.

If the service is running as a user instead of the default SYSTEM user, then the administrator must grant the "Lock pages in memory" privilege to the user. This privilege is not enabled by default when Windows is installed.

Granting Lock Pages in Memory Privilege

To grant SeLockMemoryPrivilege, perform the following steps:

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.
The Control Panel window opens.

2. Double-click Administrative Tools.
The Administrative Tools window opens.

3. Double-click Local Security Policy.
The Local Security Policy window opens.

4. In the left pane of the Local Security Policy window, expand Local Policies and select User Rights Assignment.

5. In the right pane of the Local Security Policy window, double-click Lock pages in memory.
The Lock pages in memory Properties window opens.

6. Click Add User or Group.
The Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box opens.

7. Enter Oracle Home User name in Enter the object names to select field and click Check Names.

8. Click OK to close the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box.

9. Click OK to close the Lock pages in memory Properties window.

Enabling Large Page Support

To take advantage of large pages, the amount of physical memory must be greater than the amount of System Global Area (SGA) specified in the parameter file.

Large pages might not be allocated always during instance startup. Large pages are supported in 2 modes:

- Regular mode: All of the SGA is attempted to be allocated in large pages. If the required amount of large pages are not available, then the instance does not come up.

- Mixed mode: All of the SGA is attempted to be allocated in large pages. If no more large pages are available, then the subsequent allocations are done using regular pages. So the SGA allocation can be a mixed set of large pages and regular pages.
The mixed mode also supports a time parameter (in msecs). If a large page allocation took more time than the msecs specified by this time parameter, then subsequent allocations are made using regular pages. This parameter is helpful when the database startup time might be too long due to the entire SGA being allocated using large pages.

Note:
Large page usage locks the entire SGA into physical memory. Physical memory is not released during a shrink operation.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for restrictions on allocating large pages

To enable large page support:

1. Go to the directory ORACLE_HOME\bin\oracle.key.

2. Open the oracle.key in a text editor and record the value found. It is set by Oracle Universal Installer. The default is:

SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

3. Start Registry Editor at the command prompt:

C:\> regedit

Note:
Although Registry Editor lets you view and modify registry keys and parameter values, you usually are not required to do so. In fact, you can render your system useless if you make incorrect changes. Therefore, only advanced users should edit the registry. Back up your system before making any changes in the registry.
oracle.key file must not be modified in any way or removed. Oracle binaries open it to determine the location in the registry where their variables are stored.

4. Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE file.
Find the key corresponding to the value found in the oracle.key file. In the default case, for example, you would look for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

5. Create one of the following, depending on where you want to enable large page support:

- ORA_LPENABLE to enable large page support on all instances. Its value decides the mode of large pages for all Oracle database instances on the computer.

- ORA_SID_LPENABLE to enable large page support on a specific instance. Its value decides the mode of large pages for the specific database instance.
Set the value of the above registry entry to 1 for regular mode and 2 for mixed mode.

The time parameter for mixed mode is optional. To specify this time parameter which is instance specific, create ORA_SID_LPMAXTIME and set the value to the desired number of millisecs.

When this time parameter is specified for an instance and the large pages allocation takes more than the specified millisecs, then the rest of the SGA is allocated using regular pages.

6. Exit Registry Editor.

By default, Oracle allocates the minimum available large page size when using large pages. The minimum available large page size, 16 MB, is obtained by using the GetLargePageMinumum function.

Caution:
Do not set the initialization parameter lock_sga when large pages are enabled. Large page usage locks the entire SGA into physical memory. When used with the parameter lock_sga, database startup fails with an error because the operating system automatically locks. That is, it prevents memory from being paged to disk when large pages are requested. Physical memory is not released during a shrink operation.

About Reducing Priority of Foreground Applications on Server Console

One of the settings provided by default during installation of Windows Server gives interactive foreground applications priority over every background process. To prevent foreground applications on the server console from taking excessive processor time away from Oracle Database, you can reduce the priority for foreground applications.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on reducing priority of foreground applications

About Configuring Windows Server to Be an Application Server

Windows memory manager divides up system memory into three different pools, described in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1 Windows Server Memory Shares

Pool

Percent of Total Memory

Kernel and other system services

9%

File cache

41%

Paged memory

50%

Windows Server memory manager tries to balance each application's usage of memory by dynamically paging memory between physical RAM and a virtual memory paging file. If an application is particularly memory-intensive (like Oracle Database) or if a large number of applications run concurrently, then combined memory requirements of the applications might exceed physical memory capacity.

The large proportion of memory reserved for file caching (41%) can be quite beneficial to file and print servers. But it might not be advantageous to application servers that often run memory-intensive network applications. A Windows Server file cache is particularly unnecessary for Oracle Database, which performs its own caching through the System Global Area.

You can reset the Windows Server memory model from the default file and print server, with its large file cache, to a network applications model, with a reduced file cache and more physical memory available for Oracle Database.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions

About Disabling Unnecessary Services

After you have significantly reduced the file cache as described in "About Configuring Windows Server to Be an Application Server", you can retrieve additional physical memory for Oracle Database by disabling services not needed for core operating system functionality. Unnecessary services include:

- License Logging Service

- Plug and Play

- Remote Access Autodial Manager

- Remote Access Connection Manager

- Remote Access Server

- Telephony Service

Consult with your systems administrator to identify other unnecessary services.

Do not disable any of the following services:

- Alerter

- Computer Browser

- EventLog

- Messenger

- OracleServiceSID

- OracleHOMENAMETNSListener

- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service

- Server

- Spooler

- TCP/IP NetBS Helper

- Workstation

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on disabling unnecessary services

About the Necessity to Remove Unused Network Protocols

Remove all unnecessary network protocols on Windows so that processing time can be concentrated on servicing only critical protocols.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on removing unnecessary network protocols

About the Necessity to Reset Network Protocol Bind Order

If multiple protocols must be installed on the server, you can give the protocol most frequently used by Oracle Database the highest priority by resetting the network protocol bind order.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on resetting the network protocol bind order

Setting the Order of Multiple Network Interface Cards

If you have public and private network interface cards (NICs) on a single Windows computer and they are not in the correct order, then you might experience problems with any configuration (Oracle Enterprise Manager, for example) that uses gethostname.

If the private NIC is seen first by Windows, then a gethostname call will return the host name of the private interconnect. Whichever tool is calling gethostname will have configuration or connectivity problems stemming from this nonpublic network information.

You can determine the current order of your NICs, and change it if necessary, as follows:

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.

2. Select Network and Internet, and then select Network and Sharing Center.

3. Change the network adapter settings, depending on your operating system:

- For Windows Server 2008, select Manage adapter settings.

- For Windows Server 2008 R2, select Change adapter settings.

4. Click Organize, then Layout, and then select Menu bar.

5. From the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings. The Advanced Settings window opens.

6. From the Connections window in the Adapters and Binding tab, select the network adapter that you want.

7. Move this network adapter to the top or the bottom of the list by using the up and down arrow buttons.

8. Click OK.

Overview of Latest Reliable Windows Server Service Pack

Microsoft releases operating system patches, called Service Packs, on a quarterly basis. Service Packs are collections of bug fixes and product enhancements to the basic Windows Server release. In general, apply Service Packs as soon as it is safe to do so, because they fix bugs and can improve Windows Server performance or functionality.

While Service Packs are supposed to fix bugs, they sometimes introduce new problems as well. In general, it is safest to wait a few weeks after a Service Pack is released before implementing it. This allows time for other field sites to report any problems with the Service Pack release.

The latest Windows Server Service Packs can be downloaded as self-extracting archives from http://support.microsoft.com

Unless you can be certain that the Service Pack works without flaws on Windows Server, create an Uninstall directory. This enables the Service Pack to be removed and the original configuration to be restored.

Service Pack files overwrite similarly-named files in the previous Windows Server configuration. However, Service Pack files can be overwritten in turn by setup programs that copy files from the original installation media.

For example, installing a new network protocol or printer driver usually requires copying files from the original Windows Server installation media. When Service Pack files are comprehensively or selectively overwritten, the Service Pack must be reapplied.

Overview of Hardware or Operating System Striping

Compared to CPU and memory speeds, hard disk drives are extremely slow. Now that hard disk drives are relatively inexpensive, Oracle recommends that Windows Server use logical volumes composed of striped physical disks. Data striping is an effective means of reducing the impact of relatively slow hard drives by distributing file I/O across a number of hard drives simultaneously.

Note:
Data striping through the operating system is not permitted with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM), which does its own striping. Hardware striping is allowed with Oracle ASM, but it is not necessary.

See Also:
"Using Automatic Memory Management" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

Striping data across a number of disks is one example of a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID). There are several different types of RAID, also referred to as RAID levels, ranging from high performance to high reliability. The three most common RAID levels in Oracle Database installations are RAID-0, RAID-1, and RAID-5. Descriptions of each RAID level are in Table 8-2, which shows each level's read and write penalties.

Table 8-2 RAID Levels in Oracle Database Installations

RAID Level

Read PenaltyNote 1

Write PenaltyNote 2

0 (Disk Striping)

1:1

1:1

1 (Disk Mirroring)

1:1

2:1

0 + 1

1:1

2:1

5 (Distributed Data Gathering)

1:1

4:1

Note 1

Read penalty is the ratio of I/O operations to read requests.

Note 2

Write penalty is the ratio of I/O operations to write requests.

About Disk Striping

RAID level 0 enables high-performance, fault-intolerant disk striping. Multiple physical hard disks are aggregated into a logical whole, either by a disk controller or through the operating system. Data operations against the logical volume are broken down into as many chunks as there are physical drives in the array, making simultaneous use of all disks. Given identical hard disks, if one hard disk has a throughput rate of DISKRATE operations/second, then a RAID 0 logical volume has a rate of:

(DISKRATE * [number of physical  drives in array]) operations/second

The downside of RAID 0 is its lack of fault tolerance. If one disk in the logical volume fails, the whole volume fails and must be restored from a backup.

About Disk Mirroring

RAID level 1 enables fault-tolerant disk mirroring with some chance of a performance penalty. Essentially, every write to a mirrored disk is duplicated on another drive dedicated to this purpose (the mirror drive). If the mirrored disk fails, the mirror drive is brought online in real time. After the faulted drive is replaced, the mirror configuration can be reestablished.

The read penalty for RAID level 1 is nominally 1:1, but it might benefit from split reads on some controllers. When the controller knows which mirror can be accessed fastest, for example, it can lower search times by directing I/O operations to that disk.

About Disk Striping Plus Mirroring

RAID level 0+1 enables mirroring of an array of striped hard disks. This is a blend of RAID 0 and RAID 1, offering high-performing fault tolerance.

About Distributed Data Guarding

RAID level 5, also known as disk striping with parity, eliminates the costly requirement to mirror. In RAID 5, multiple hard disks are aggregated into a striped logical volume, similar to RAID 0, but each drive contains parity information such that any single drive failure is tolerated. With one failed drive, a RAID-5 system can allow continued access to data, although access times are greatly reduced due to on-the-fly rebuilding of bytes from parity information. RAID-5 solutions usually allow hot-swapping of faulty drives with replacements, triggering a rebuild of the failed drive's data onto the replacement from parity information.

The write penalty of 4:1 results from 2 reads and 2 writes during parity calculation.

About Multiple Striped Volumes for Sequential and Random Access

If there are enough physical disks in Windows Server, create at least two striped volumes (in addition to a standalone hard disk or striped volume for the operating system). One striped volume can be used for sequential data access, and the other can be used for random data access.

Oracle Database redo logs and archived redo logs, for example, are written in sequential order. Because of reduced head movement, hard disks perform best when reading or writing sequential data.

Oracle Database data files, however, are usually accessed in random order. Random access in a hard disk results in significant head movement, translating to slower data access.

Unless redo logs are separated from data files (at physical device level), undo file I/O contention may result, increasing access times for both types of files.

About Multiplex Windows Server Virtual Memory Paging File

Some virtual memory paging is likely even if Oracle Database is the only network application running on Windows Server, because Windows Server memory manager will attempt to move seldom-used pages to disk to free up more physical memory for hot pages.

Multiplexing the Windows Server virtual memory paging file is a good strategy to boost overall system performance. Splitting the paging file onto at least two different physical volumes (or logical volumes as long as underlying physical volumes do not overlap) provides a significant performance boost to virtual memory swapping operations.

Even though this is a good technique to increase speed of virtual memory paging, too much paging activity is still a performance hit and should be corrected by adding more RAM to the server.

About General Page File Sizing Tip

Oracle recommends setting virtual memory to one times the size of RAM, if physical memory is between 2GB and 16GB. If physical memory is more than 16 GB, then set virtual memory to 16 GB.

Configurations where combined size is two to four times the size of physical RAM are not uncommon. Minimize paging as much as possible. But situations in which the operating system runs out of or low on paging space are to be avoided at all costs. Adequately-sized paging files spaced across physical disks spread out I/O most efficiently, because the operating system spreads paging evenly across page files.

Note:
Internal read/write batch size for Windows is 4K.

Closing All Unnecessary Foreground Applications

Once procedures in previous sections have been applied, remember to close any unnecessary foreground applications. First, remove all applications from Startup folders of Windows Server console operators. Second, minimize the window when executing long-running scripts from a command prompt, so that Windows Server can focus on the operation and not on a flood of window repaint messages. Third, disable screen savers, which can quickly saturate the CPU. If a screen saver must be run, choose Blank Screen, which uses the least amount of processing time.

9 Performing Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

This chapter explains how to use Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) applications to back up and recover an Oracle database. This chapter contains the following topics:

- Overview of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- About Installing and Uninstalling the Oracle VSS Writer Service

- About Backing Up a Database

- About Restoring and Recovering a Database

- About Integrating VSS with Third-Party Requester Applications

- About Duplicating a Database

Overview of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

This section explains the basic concepts and tasks involved in backup and recovery with component-based shadow copies. The following topics are described:

- Purpose of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Scope of This Chapter

- Basic Concepts of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

- Basic Steps of Backup and Recovery with VSS

Purpose of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

VSS provides a Windows-specific interface that enables coordination between requesters that back up data, writers that update data on disk, and providers that manage storage. Oracle Database functions as a writer that is integrated with VSS-enabled applications.

You can use VSS-enabled software and storage systems on Windows to back up and restore an Oracle database. A key benefit is the ability to use a VSS-enabled application to make an online backup of the whole database.

Scope of This Chapter

This chapter assumes that you are familiar both with VSS applications and the Oracle Database backup and recovery principles and techniques described in Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide. This chapter does not attempt to provide an introduction to backup and recovery. It only explains how to perform database backup and recovery in the VSS infrastructure.

Basic Concepts of Database Backup and Recovery with VSS

VSS is an infrastructure on Windows server platforms that enables applications to create shadow copies. A shadow copy is a consistent snapshot of the data held on a volume or component at a well-defined point in time. A shadow copy set is a collection of shadow copies that are all taken at the same time. VSS identifies each shadow copy and shadow copy set by a persistent Global Unique Identifier (GUID).

VSS provides the following infrastructure for running VSS applications:

- Coordinates activities of requesters, providers, and writers in the creation and use of shadow copies

- Furnishes the default system provider

- Implements low-level driver functionality necessary for any provider to work

A VSS requester is an application that requests VSS services to create shadow copies. Typically, VSS requesters are backup applications. Requesters communicate with writers to gather system data and signal writers to prepare data for backup.

A VSS provider manages storage volumes and creates shadow copies on demand. In response to a requester, a provider generates COM events to signal applications of an impending shadow copy and creates and maintains this copy until it is no longer needed. During the life cycle of the shadow copy, the provider effectively supports two independent copies: the disk that is actively updated and a fixed copy that is stable for backup.

A VSS writer is an application or service that writes data to disk and cooperates with VSS providers and requesters. During backups, writers ensure that data is in the proper state for a shadow copy.

The Oracle VSS writer is a Windows service that coordinates an Oracle database instance and other VSS components. The writer service, which is started under the user account with SYSDBA privileges, runs separately from the database instance. You must use third-party requesters to perform backup and recovery within the VSS infrastructure.

As explained in the following sections, the Oracle VSS writer supports both volume-based and component-based shadow copies. You can use these shadow copies in a backup and recovery strategy or to create a copy of your original database. You can use the duplicate database for testing or as a standby database.

Component-Based Shadow Copies

The Oracle VSS writer supports component-based shadow copies, which are sets of database files. The recommended technique for backing up an Oracle database with VSS writer is to create shadow copies of components. During a backup, the Oracle VSS writer saves the redo generated during snapshot creation in a metadata document. During a restore operation, the writer automatically extracts the redo from the metadata document and applies it to files restored from a snapshot.

Volume-Based Shadow Copies

The Oracle VSS writer supports volume-based shadow copies, which are snapshots of complete drive or volumes. Oracle Database places the files that it manages in a state suitable to create shadow copies. For example, the data files are placed in hot backup mode and a new snapshot control file is created for a database in ARCHIVELOG mode. Oracle VSS writer excludes files such as the current control file and online redo logs from the shadow copies. The writer also returns an error if the snapshot cannot be taken. For example, if a NOARCHIVELOG database is open in read/write mode, then the writer returns an error indicating that the snapshot is not possible.

Note:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management files and raw files are not supported for Oracle VSS snapshots.

Oracle VSS Backup Types

Oracle VSS writer supports log, copy, full, differential, and incremental backups. The VSS writer uses time stamp mechanism for incremental and differential backups and stores a time stamp in the backup document using SetBackupStamp() API. This backup stamp is used by Oracle VSS writer during incremental or differential backups to specify changed files since the last full or incremental backup using AddDifferencedFilesByLastModifyTime() API.

Oracle VSS writer also stores backup metadata and restore metadata, which must be available during restore operations so that the VSS writer can perform intelligent postrestore operations. In case of full or copy backup, the restore metadata contains important redo information to make the restored files consistent. Hence, it is imperative that Oracle VSS writer is called during restore operations to perform the recovery operations.

Basic Steps of Backup and Recovery with VSS

The Oracle VSS writer is installed automatically as part of the database. If you must install or uninstall it manually, see "About Installing and Uninstalling the Oracle VSS Writer Service".

In the most typical backup scenario, you select the Oracle Database component in your VSS-enabled application and create a shadow copy. The shadow copy contains the database files, control files, and server parameter file. If the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode, then you can create the shadow copy when the database is open or closed; otherwise, only when closed.

In a typical recovery scenario, you select the Oracle Database component in your VSS-enabled application and restore it. Afterward, you can open the database either in read-only mode or with the RESETLOGS option. The Oracle VSS writer also supports applications that perform point-in-time recovery.

To restore a subset of database files, you can select individual components and restore them. The Oracle VSS writer performs the appropriate actions automatically in the postrestore phase so that the file can be used (or brought online) at the end of restore operation. For example, if you select a data file component for restore, then the writer automatically recovers the data file by using RMAN.

See Also:

- "About Backing Up a Database" to learn about the components that you can back up and the procedures for making component-based and volume-based backups

- "About Restoring and Recovering a Database" to learn about the components that you can restore and the procedures for performing restore and recovery

About Installing and Uninstalling the Oracle VSS Writer Service

The Oracle VSS writer runs separately from the Oracle database instance. From the perspective of the database, the VSS writer is simply an OCI client.

Oracle VSS writer instances are created automatically during the setup of an instance. oradim.exe utility that sets up an instance, also starts Oracle's VSS writer utility to setup VSS writer instance for managing the given Oracle instance. In addition, the Oracle VSS writer provides command-line options to install and uninstall the writer service. If /user option is used but /password option not used, then oravssw waits for password through stdin. During installation, you can specify the Windows account under which the service must be started. The writer uses operating system authentication when connecting to a database instance. Thus, the Windows user must be able to log in as SYSDBA to the Oracle database instances managed by the writer service.

Oracle VSS is supported on the same operating systems that are supported by Oracle Database. See Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for the list of supported operating systems.

The command-line syntaxes for the Oracle VSS writer are as follows:

oravssw {/q [/start | /stop | /status]}|
oravssw {SID [/tl trace_level] [/tf trace_file]}|
oravssw {SID [/i {/user:userid /password:password}]}|
oravssw {SID [/d]}

Note:
You can change the user ID and password using the Services snap-in.

Table 9-1 describes the options for the Oracle VSS writer.

Table 9-1 Oracle VSS Writer Options

Option

Description

SID

SID of the Oracle instance to which the service connects.

/i {/user:userid/password:password}

Installs Oracle VSS writer service for a specified SID.

/q

Queries the Oracle VSS writer services. But when not used with options like /start or /status or /stop, it just displays the list of Oracle VSS writer services.

/status

Displays the current status of all Oracle writer services and can be used only with the /q option.

/start

Starts all Oracle VSS writer services and can be used only with the /q option.

/stop

Stops all Oracle VSS writer services and can be used only with the /q option.

/tl

Specifies the trace level for Oracle VSS writer for a specified SID.

/tf

Specifies the trace file name for Oracle VSS writer for a specified SID.

/d

Uninstalls Oracle VSS writer service for a specified SID.

In Example 9-1, you install the service so that it connects to the prod1 instance.

Example 9-1 Installing Oracle VSS Writer

oravssw prod1 /i

Note:

- Any errors during operation of the Oracle VSS writer are reported by means of Windows System Event logging APIs. You can view these errors with the Windows Event Viewer.

- Oracle Database 10g Release 2 supports Oracle VSS snapshots only when Oracle VSS writer 11g or later is configured to manage the 10.2 database. See My Oracle Support Note 580558.1 for more information about installing Oracle VSS writer for use with 9i and 10g databases.

About Backing Up a Database

The technique for backing up a database depends on the archiving mode of the database and whether you are making a component-based or volume-based backup. Oracle recommends shadow copies taken in component mode for backing up the Oracle database using VSS writer. The Oracle VSS writer defines the components that include the set of database files. The Oracle VSS writer then saves the redo generated during hot backup mode when the snapshot was created in the backup writer metadata document.

The component hierarchy defined by the Oracle VSS writer is illustrated in Figure 9-1.

Figure 9-1 Oracle VSS Writer Component Hierarchy

"About Component-Based Backups" explains which components you can select when making component-based backups.

About Component-Based Backups

The components supported by the Oracle VSS writer are listed in Table 9-2. The name of the component is the value returned by an OnIdentify VSS message. The Selectable for Backup column indicates whether a component is eligible to be selected in VSS shadow copies.

Table 9-2 Components Backed Up by the Oracle VSS Writer

Component

Description

Selectable for Backup

Oracle Database

Contains the database files, control files, and server parameter file.

Yes

Control File

Contains the snapshot location of the control file for a database running in ARCHIVELOG mode, or the current control file locations when all database files are recovered to a consistent SCN.

Note: The files included in the Control File component determine whether current control files or snapshot control files are excluded. For example, if the database is opened in read-only mode, then the snapshot control file location is excluded from the snapshot.

No

Server Parameter File

Contains the location of the server parameter file, if the instance is using one.

No

All TableSpaces

Includes all tablespaces in a snapshot.

No

tablespace_names

Selects individual TableSpaces.

No

Data file number=n

Selects individual data files. The metadata will contain RESETLOGS information, tablespace number, tablespace name, and DBID.

No

ArchiveLogDest_n

Selects individual local archiving destinations other than the fast recovery area.

Yes

Fast Recovery Area

Includes all backup files and archived logs in the Fast Recovery Area in the VSS snapshot.

Files backed up by VSS from the Fast Recovery Area can be subjected to deletion under space constraints.

Yes

Archived Logs

Logs in Fast Recovery Area

No

Backup Files

Backs up from Fast Recovery Area

No

You can select only Oracle Database, ArchiveLogDest_n, and Fast Recovery Area, exposed by the Oracle VSS writer during a backup. The availability of the components in Table 9-2 may depend on the database state. For example, if the database is in NOARCHIVELOG mode, the Archived Logs component will not be returned. Likewise, if the instance is not started with a server parameter file, the Server Parameter File component will not be returned.

Note:
The components that are not marked as Selectable for Backup are implicitly included by components marked as Selectable for Backup.

When you select Oracle Database component for backup or restore, all other components are implicitly selected for backup or restore. This implies that all files that are part of the selected component are candidates for backup or restore.

ArchiveLogDest_n and Fast Recovery Area components are defined to contain only log or incremental files. This means that the requester should backup files from these components only when creating a log for incremental or differential backup. Likewise, the requester should restore files from these components only when restoring from log or incremental or differential backups.

The files in all other components other than ArchiveLogDest_n and Fast Recovery Area define database files. This means that the requester should backup files from these components only when creating a full or copy backup. Likewise, the requester should restore files from these components only when restoring from full or copy backup.

About Backing Up a Database in ARCHIVELOG Mode

The procedures in this section assume that the database is open read/write. You can also make closed, consistent backups by following the procedures in "About Backing Up a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode".

Making Component-Based Backups of an ARCHIVELOG Database

This section explains how to back up the whole database. You can back up only Oracle Database, ArchiveLogDest_n, and Fast Recovery Area, listed in Table 9-2, "Components Backed Up by the Oracle VSS Writer".

To back up the whole database:

1. Start a SQL*Plus session on the target database and make sure the database is open READ WRITE.

2. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the Oracle Database component.

3. Create a snapshot of the database.
Oracle VSS writer includes the server parameter file, control file, and data files in the snapshot. The online redo logs will not be included in the snapshot.

Making Volume-Based Backups of an ARCHIVELOG Database

To make volume-based shadow copies of Oracle database when the database is open in read/write mode, the archived redo logs must be physically located on a separate volume from the volume containing the Oracle data files, control files, server parameter file, and online redo logs.

To back up the database and archived redo logs by volume:

1. Start a SQL*Plus session on the target database and make sure the database is open READ WRITE.

2. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the volumes where the data files, control files, and server parameter file are physically located.

3. Create a snapshot of the database files.
Oracle VSS writer includes the server parameter file, control file, and data files in the snapshot. The online redo logs will not be included in the snapshot. Note that you can restore the server parameter file individually, but the control files and data files must be always restored together.

4. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the volumes where all of the archived redo logs (or the fast recovery area) are physically located.

5. Create a snapshot of the archived redo logs.

About Backing Up a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode

For an Oracle database running in NOARCHIVELOG mode, the database must be in a consistent state when you create a VSS snapshot. Backups made while the database is open read/write are not supported.

Making Component-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

For an Oracle database in NOARCHIVELOG mode, the only supported component-based VSS snapshot is of Oracle Database when the type is full, default, or copy.

To back up the database by component:

1. Start a SQL*Plus session on the target database and place the database in a consistent state. For example, enter the following commands:

SHUTDOWN
STARTUP MOUNT

2. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the Oracle Database component.

3. Create a volume-based VSS snapshot.
Oracle VSS writer includes the server parameter file, control file, and data files in the snapshot. The online redo logs will not be included in the snapshot.

Making Volume-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

To back up the database by volume:

1. Start a SQL*Plus session on the target database and place the database in a consistent state. For example, enter the following commands:

SHUTDOWN
STARTUP MOUNT

2. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the volumes where the data files, control files, and server parameter file are physically located.

3. Create a volume-based VSS snapshot.
Oracle VSS writer includes the server parameter file, control file, and data files in the snapshot. The online redo logs will not be included in the snapshot. Note that you can restore the server parameter file individually, but the control files and data files must be always restored together.

About Restoring and Recovering a Database

This section explains how to restore and recover VSS snapshots. As in the case of backups, the procedure depends on the archiving mode of the database and the type of snapshot that you are restoring. The following topics are described:

- About Restoring and Recovering a Database in ARCHIVELOG Mode

- About Restoring a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode

About Restoring and Recovering a Database in ARCHIVELOG Mode

You can select the components listed in Table 9-3, "Components Usable in a Restore Operation" in a restore and recovery operation. The table describes the validations that Oracle VSS writer performs for the components during the pre-restore phase, and the actions that it performs after the restore completes.

Table 9-3 Components Usable in a Restore Operation

Component

Pre-Restore Phase

PostRestore Phase

Section

Server Parameter File

Verifies that the database instance is not started. Otherwise, the writer returns a pre-restore failure.

Ensures that the database is started NOMOUNT. If the server parameter file is restored to the default location for the Oracle home, then the instance starts NOMOUNT automatically. Otherwise, you must set ORA_SID_PFILE to the location of the text-based initialization parameter file that points to the location of the server parameter file.

"Restoring the Server Parameter File"

Control File

Verifies that the instance is either started NOMOUNT or not started. If the instance is not started, the writer either starts the instance with the ORA_SID_PFILE instance parameter file, or uses the initialization parameter file or server parameter file in the default location.

Mounts control file after replicating control file to all the current control file locations pointed to by the instance.

"Recovering from the Loss of All Control Files"

Tablespace or data file component

Verifies that the database must be mounted or the specified data files or tablespaces must be offline.

Performs complete recovery of these tablespaces or data files. The requester application can override the default recovery behavior.

"Recovering Tablespaces or Data Files"

All Tablespaces

Verifies that the database is mounted.

Extracts redo from the backup writer metadata document and performs incomplete recovery on all the restored data files up to the time of snapshot creation. The requester application can override the default recovery behavior.

"Recovering All Tablespaces"

Oracle Database

Verifies that the instance is not started.

Starts the database instance, mounts the control file, and performs recovery. See the descriptions of postrestore behavior for Server Parameter File, Control File, and All Tablespaces.

"Performing Disaster Recovery" and "Restoring Component-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database"

Archived redo log or fast recovery area

None.

Does not perform default recovery of this component. Nevertheless, the requester application can run required RMAN commands.

Restoring the Server Parameter File

This section explains how to restore the server parameter file.

To restore the server parameter file:

1. Select the component named Server Parameter File from a VSS snapshot.

2. Restore the server parameter file.
Oracle VSS writer restores the server parameter file to the original location from where it was copied. You can also restore it to a new location.

Recovering from the Loss of All Control Files

This section explains how to recover from the loss of all multiplexed control files.

To recover from the loss of all control files:

1. Ensure that the database is in NOMOUNT state or can be started in NOMOUNT state by the Oracle VSS writer.

2. Select the component named Control File from a VSS snapshot.

3. Restore the component containing the lost control file.
The Oracle VSS writer automatically mounts the database with the restored control files. If only the control file must be recovered, then the VSS requester application can ask the Oracle writer to perform complete recovery.

4. Restore and recover other database components if necessary.

5. Open the database with the RESETLOGS option.

Recovering Tablespaces or Data Files

This section explains how to recover from the loss of one or more tablespaces or data files. This procedure assumes that not all data files are lost.

To recover from the loss of all tablespaces or data files:

1. Ensure that the database is either mounted or open. If the database is open, then take the data files or tablespaces needing recovery offline with the ALTER DATABASE ... OFFLINE statement.

2. If the archived redo logs are required for recovery of the data files or tablespaces, then restore the archived redo logs.

3. Select the components from the VSS snapshot that contains the lost data files, or all data files in the lost tablespaces.

4. Restore the component containing the lost data files.
The Oracle VSS writer automatically recovers the restored data files. If some archived logs are missing, then you can restore the logs and recover the data files with SQL*Plus or RMAN.

5. Bring the offline data files or tablespaces back online.

Recovering All Tablespaces

This section explains how to recover from the loss of all tablespaces.

To recover all data files:

1. Ensure that the database is mounted.

2. If the archived redo logs are required for recovery of the data files or tablespaces, then restore the archived redo logs.

3. Select the component named All Tablespaces from a VSS snapshot.

4. Restore the tablespaces.
The Oracle VSS writer automatically recovers the restored data files. If some archived logs are missing, then you can restore the logs and recover the data files with SQL*Plus or RMAN.

5. Open the database.

Performing Disaster Recovery

This section explains how to recover from the loss of the server parameter file, control file, and all data files.

To perform disaster recovery:

1. Ensure that the instance is not started.

2. If the archived redo logs are required for recovery of the data files or tablespaces, then restore the archived redo logs.

3. Select the component named Oracle Database from a VSS snapshot.

4. Restore the database.
The Oracle VSS writer automatically starts the instance, mount the database, and recovers the restored data files. If some archived logs are missing, then you can restore the logs and recover the data files with SQL*Plus or RMAN.

5. Open the database with the RESETLOGS option.

About Restoring a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode

For an Oracle database running in NOARCHIVELOG mode, no archived redo logs have been generated so no media recovery is possible. The database files must be in consistent state and require no additional recovery.

Restoring Component-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

To restore a component-based backup:

1. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the Oracle Database component.
The Oracle VSS writer automatically restores the data files and mounts the database.

2. Open the database with the RESETLOGS option.

Restoring Volume-Based Backups of a NOARCHIVELOG Database

To restore a volume-based backup:

1. Use a third-party VSS requester to select the volumes where the data files, control files, and server parameter file are physically located.

2. Restore all volumes where data files and logs are located.

3. Open the database with the RESETLOGS option.

About Integrating VSS with Third-Party Requester Applications

Oracle VSS writer allows third-party requester applications to control the behavior of recovery and backup sessions. Third-party requester applications use VSS API setBackupOptions or setRestoreOptions to pass an appropriate string to the writer. The writer uses getBackupOptions or getRestoreOptions to get the string set from the requester to perform the pre or post backup and restore actions.

The following are the protocols to follow to exploit the flexibility of recovery operations provided by the writer:

- Running Writer Control Commands

- Controlling Commands for Database or All Tablespaces Component

Running Writer Control Commands

The writer control commands are applicable to all the restored components during the postrestore phase. The format is as follows:

OP1=CMD1, OP2=CMD2, . . .

Run the commands in the following sequence:

1. POST_WTRCMD=NORECOVER
This command instructs the writer to not perform any postrestore recovery activities defined in the default postrestore recovery operations for the restored component. Otherwise, the postrestore phase default actions are performed.

2. POST_RMANCMD=cmdstr
This command instructs the writer to run specific RMAN commands, instead of the default operations, after the current operation.

3. PRE_SQLCMD=cmdstr
This command instructs the writer to run specific SQL commands in OnPrepareBackup or OnPreRestore callback, before performing any other validations. The command is used to stop MRP on a standby database before VSS snapshot is created or to shut down database instance creating a cold backup of the database.

4. POST_SQLCMD=cmdstr
This command instructs the writer to run specific SQL commands in PostSnapshot or PostRestore callback. This command is used to restart MRP on standby database after VSS snapshot is created or to restart the database instance after the cold backup of the database is performed.

Controlling Commands for Database or All Tablespaces Component

Run the following command:

POST_WTRCMD=UNTIL_SNAPSHOT

This command instructs the writer to perform recovery to the snapshot creation time. The writer extracts the system change number of the redo logs stored in the database component and performs recovery until the system change number.

About Duplicating a Database

If your VSS shadow copies are transportable, then you can use these shadow copies to duplicate the primary database. In this context of this chapter, duplication refers to the creation of a new database out of the shadow copies for a different database. A duplicate database created from shadow copies can either be a nonstandby database or a standby database for use in a Data Guard environment. Note that RMAN duplication, which makes use of the DUPLICATE command, is a different procedure.

This section covers the following topics:

- Creating a Nonstandby Database from Shadow Copies

- Creating a Standby Database From Shadow Copies

Creating a Nonstandby Database from Shadow Copies

This section assumes that you are duplicating the database on a host with the same file system structure as the primary database.

To create a nonstandby database from shadow copies:

1. Restore the database on the new host by following the procedure in "Performing Disaster Recovery".

2. Start a SQL*Plus session on the duplicate database and obtain the DBID. You can query the DBID as follows:

SELECT DBID FROM V$DATABASE;

3. Shut down the database consistently. You can shut down the database as follows:

SHUTDOWN;

4. Use the DBNEWID utility to change the DBID.
Oracle Database Utilities explains how to use DBNEWID.

5. Open the database.

6. Start a SQL*Plus session on the duplicate database and query the DBID. You can query the DBID as follows:

SELECT DBID FROM V$DATABASE;

Creating a Standby Database From Shadow Copies

This section assumes that you are create a standby database on a host with the same file system structure as the primary database. This section also assumes that you have read Oracle Data Guard Concepts and Administration and are familiar with standby database creation and maintenance.

To create a standby database from shadow copies:

1. Restore the database on the standby host by following the procedure in "Performing Disaster Recovery".

2. Start a SQL*Plus session on the new database and a new standby control file must be obtained from primary database. You can create the control file with the SQL statement ALTER DATABASE CREATE STANDBY CONTROLFILE.

3. Start the instance and mount the standby control file.

10 Authenticating Database Users with Windows

This chapter describes authentication of Oracle Database users with Windows operating systems.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Windows Native Authentication

- About Windows Authentication Protocols

- About User Authentication and Role Authorization Methods

- Overview of Operating System Authentication Enabled at Installation

Overview of Windows Native Authentication

Oracle Database can use Windows user login credentials to authenticate database users. Benefits include:

- Enabling users to connect to Oracle Database without supplying a username or password

- Centralizing Oracle Database user authentication and role authorization information in Windows, which frees Oracle Database from storing or managing user passwords or role information

The Windows native authentication adapter (automatically installed with Oracle Net Services) enables database user authentication through Windows. This enables client computers to make secure connections to Oracle Database on a Windows server. The server then permits the user to perform database actions on the server.

Note:

- Current user database links are not supported with Windows native authentication.

- For information on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol and Oracle Internet Directory, see Oracle Database Security Guide and Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide.

About Windows Authentication Protocols

The Windows native authentication adapter works with Windows authentication protocols to enable access to Oracle Database.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), the NTS authentication adapter no longer supports the use of NTLM to authenticate Windows domain users. Thus the NTS cannot be used to authenticate users in old Windows NT domains or domains with old Windows NT domain controllers. However, local connections and Oracle Database services running as a Windows Local User continues to be authenticated using NTLM.

If you use the Windows Local User Account as the Oracle Home User for an Oracle Database home, then Windows Native Authentication (NTS) cannot be used for authenticating Windows domain users or users from remote computers.

Client server must not specify an authentication protocol while trying to connect to Oracle Database. Instead, Oracle Database determines the protocol to use which is completely transparent to the user. The only Oracle Database requirement is to ensure that the parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES in client and database server contains nts in the following file:

ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\sqlnet.ora

This is the default setting for both client computer and database server after installation.

See Also:
"About Configuring Oracle Database to Communicate with Oracle ASM"

In a typical installation, Oracle Database network includes client computers and database servers, and computers on this network may use different Oracle Database software releases on different domains of Windows operating systems. This combination of different releases means that the authentication protocol being used can vary.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for more information on authentication protocol

About User Authentication and Role Authorization Methods

This section describes how user login credentials are authenticated and database roles are authorized in Windows domains. User authentication and role authorization are defined in Table 10-1.

Table 10-1 User Authentication and Role Authorization Defined

Feature

Description

More Information

User authentication

Process by which the database uses the user's Windows login credentials to authenticate the user.

Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

Role authorization

Process of granting an assigned set of roles to authenticated users.

Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

Oracle Database supports user authentication and role authorization in Windows domains. Table 10-2 describes these basic features.

Table 10-2 Basic Features of User Authentication and Role Authorization

Feature

Description

Authentication of external users

Users are authenticated by the database using the user's Windows login credentials enabling them to access Oracle Database without being prompted for additional login credentials.

Authorization of external roles

Roles are authorized using Windows local groups. Once an external role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. Initialization parameter OS_ROLES is set to false by default. You must set OS_ROLES to true to authorize external roles.

About Using Authentication and Authorization Methods

Table 10-3 describes user authentication and role authorization methods to use based on your Oracle Database environment:

Table 10-3 User Authentication and Role Authorization Methods

Method

Database Environment

Enterprise users and roles

You have many users connecting to multiple databases.

Enterprise users have the same identity across multiple databases. Enterprise users require use of a directory server.

Use enterprise roles in environments where enterprise users assigned to these roles are located in many geographic regions and must access multiple databases. Each enterprise role can be assigned to multiple enterprise user in the directory. If you do not use enterprise roles, then you must assign database roles manually to each database user. Enterprise roles require use of a directory server.

External users and roles

You have a smaller number of users accessing a limited number of databases. External users must be created individually in each database and do not require use of a directory server.

External roles must also be created individually in each database, and do not require use of a directory server. External roles are authorized using group membership of the users in local groups on the system.

See Also:
Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide for more information on Enterprise users and roles

Overview of Operating System Authentication Enabled at Installation

When you install Oracle Database, a special Windows local group called ORA_DBA is created (if it does not already exist from an earlier Oracle Database installation) and your Windows user name is automatically added to it. Members of local group ORA_DBA automatically receive the SYSDBA privilege. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORA_DBA group is also created for each Oracle home called ORA_HOMENAME_DBA group. This group is automatically populated with the Oracle Home User for the Oracle home.

Note:
If you use a domain account for database administration, then that domain account must be granted local administrative privileges and ORA_DBA membership explicitly. It is not sufficient for the domain account to inherit these memberships from another group. You must ensure that the user performing the installation is in the same domain as this domain account. If not, it results in an NTS authentication failure.

Membership in ORA_DBA enables you to:

- Connect to local Oracle Database servers without a password with the command

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

- Connect to remote Oracle Database servers without a password with the command

SQL> CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSDBA

where net_service_name is the net service name of the remote Oracle Database server

- Perform database administration procedures such as starting and shutting down local databases

- Add additional Windows users to ORA_DBA, enabling them to have the SYSDBA privilege

11 Administering External Users and Roles on Windows

External users and roles are in general defined by something external to Oracle Database. In a Windows environment, they are defined by the operating system.

This chapter describes external user and external role creation and management using either Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows or by a combination of Oracle Database command-line tools, Registry Editor, and other Windows tools.

See Also:
See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide for more information about tools available for administering enterprise users and roles.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

- Overview of Manually Administering External Users and Roles

Overview of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows runs from Microsoft Management Console and enables you to configure the following Oracle Database users and roles so that the Windows operating system can authenticate them, and they can access Oracle Database without a password:

- Regular Windows domain users and global groups as external users

- Windows database administrators (with the SYSDBA privilege)

- Windows database operators (with the SYSOPER privilege)

In addition, Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows can create and grant local and external database roles to Windows domain users and global groups.

With Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, none of the following needs to be done manually:

- Create local groups that match the database system identifier and role

- Assign domain users to these local groups

- Authenticate users in SQL*Plus with

SQL> CREATE USER username IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY

This section describes how to perform the following tasks with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

- Managing a Remote Computer

- Adding a Computer and Saving Your Configuration

- Granting Administrator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

- Granting Operator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

- Connecting to a Database

- Viewing Database Authentication Parameter Settings

- Creating an External Operating System User

- Creating a Local Database Role

- Creating an External Operating System Role

- Granting Administrator Privileges for a Single Database

- Granting Operator Privileges for a Single Database

Managing a Remote Computer

If you want to use Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows to manage a remote computer, you must have administrator privileges for the remote computer. Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows always creates users in Oracle Database with the domain name as the prefix. If you are managing Oracle Databases remotely, you must set registry parameter OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN to true on the remote computer. This parameter is located in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

If a computer is not identified with a Domain Name System (DNS) domain name, you will receive the following error message:

Calling query w32RegQueries1.7.0.17.0  RegGetValue
Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SubKey = SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Value = Domain
Query Exception: GetValueKeyNotFoundException
Query Exception Class: class oracle.sysman.oii.oiil.OiilQueryException
...

To assign a DNS name or change the primary DNS suffix, refer to your Microsoft documentation.

Adding a Computer and Saving Your Configuration

When you use Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows for the first time, it adds the local computer to its navigation tree. You can then add other computers.

To add a computer to the Microsoft Management Console tree:

1. From the Start, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.
Microsoft Management Console starts.

2. Double-click Oracle Managed Objects.
The Computer icon appears.

3. Right-click Computers.

4. Select New and then select Computer.
The Add Computer dialog appears.

5. Specify the domain and computer name for the computer on which Oracle Database is installed.

6. Click OK.

7. Double-click Computers to display the computer you added.

8. Double-click the computer you added. Several nodes for authenticating database administrators and operators appear.
The OS Database Administrators - Computer node creates an operating system-authenticated database administrator with SYSDBA privileges for every database instance on the computer. The OS Database Operators - Computer node creates an operating system-authenticated database operator with SYSOPER privileges for every database instance on the computer.

9. Save your configuration in a console file by choosing File, then Save in the Console main menu. You can now authenticate database administrators and operators for all instances on the computer.

Granting Administrator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

To grant database administrator (SYSDBA) privileges to database administrators (DBAs) for all databases on a computer:

Note:
If you use a domain account for database installation, then the domain user must be granted local administrative privileges. It is not sufficient for the domain user to inherit membership privileges from another group. You must ensure that the user performing the installation is in the same domain, if not it results in an NTS authentication failure.

1. From the Start, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.
Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows starts.

2. Right-click OS Database Administrators - Computer.

3. Click Add/Remove.
The OS Database Administrators - Computer for host name dialog appears.

4. In the NT Domain Users and Groups area, from the Domain list, select the domain of the user to whom you want to grant the SYSDBA system privilege.

5. Select the user.

6. Click Add.
The user now appears in the OS Database Administrators - Computer window.

7. Click OK.

Granting Operator Privileges for All Databases on a Computer

To grant database operator (SYSOPER) privileges to DBAs for all databases on a computer:

1. From the Start, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.
Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows starts.

2. Right-click OS Database Operators - Computer.

3. Click Add/Remove.
The OS Database Operators - Computer for host name dialog appears.

4. In the NT Domain Users and Groups area, from the Domain list, select the domain of the user to whom you want to grant the SYSOPER system privilege.

5. Select the user.

6. Click Add.
The user now appears in the OS Database Operators - Computer window.

7. Click OK.

Connecting to a Database

To enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) when connecting to Oracle Database, start the Oracle Database service and the listener service in the same user account as the wallet created in Oracle Wallet Manager. Do not use the default user account in the Windows Services dialog. If the Oracle Database service and the listener service are started in the default user accounts, then SSL does not work, and the listener does not start.

See Also:
Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about SSL support

To connect to a database:

1. Right-click the database instance you want to access in the Microsoft Management Console scope pane. In the example here, a connection is to be made to ORCL:

2. Choose Connect Database.
If you connect to Oracle Database, the following Windows nodes appear under the instance. If these nodes do not appear, double-click the instance.

- External OS Users

- Local Roles

- External OS Roles

- OS Database Administrators

- OS Database Operators

Troubleshooting Connection Problems

When connecting to a local computer, Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows first tries to connect to the database as a SYSDBA, using the Bequeath networking protocol. When connecting to a remote computer, Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows first tries to connect to the database using Windows native authentication as a SYSDBA, using the TCP/IP networking protocol (port 1521 or the deprecated 1526). If it is unsuccessful, one or more dialogs appear and prompt you to enter information to connect to the database.

The dialog shown here appears because the Windows domain user with which you are attempting to connect to Oracle Database is not recognized as an authenticated user with SYSDBA privileges. Enter an Oracle Database username and password to access the database. To avoid being prompted with this dialog again, configure your domain user to be a database administrator authenticated by the Windows operating system.

The next dialog appears either because you are not using the TCP/IP networking protocol to connect to a remote installation of Oracle Database or because Oracle Database is not running. Using a protocol other than TCP/IP (Named Pipes for example) causes this dialog to appear each time you attempt a remote connection.

If you do not want this dialog to appear each time, then change to the TCP/IP protocol and make sure the Oracle Net Services listener for the database is listening on the default port 1521 (or the deprecated default port 1526). Otherwise, this dialog appears every time. Ensure also that Oracle Database is started.

1. Enter the net service name with which to connect to Oracle Database. You must enter a net service name regardless of the authentication method you select.

2. If you want to access the database with an Oracle Database user name and password, select the Database Authenticated option. This user name and password must exist in Oracle Database and have the SYSDBA privilege.

3. If you want to access the database with the Windows domain user with which you are currently logged in, select the OS Authenticated Connection as SYSDBA option. This domain user must already be recognized by Windows as an authenticated user with SYSDBA privileges. Otherwise, your logon fails.

Note:
Oracle Net Services provides a Trace Assistant tool that helps diagnose connection problems by converting existing trace file text into a more readable format. See "Using the Trace Assistant to Examine Trace Files" in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide.

Viewing Database Authentication Parameter Settings

To view database authentication parameter settings:

1. Right-click the database.

2. Choose Properties.

3. The Properties dialog appears displaying the following parameter values:

- OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX

- OS_ROLES

OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX is an init.ora file parameter that authenticates external users attempting to connect to Oracle Database with the user's Windows user name and password. The value of this parameter is attached to the beginning of every user's Windows user name.

By default, the parameter is set to none ("") during Oracle Database creation. Therefore, a Windows domain user name of jones is authenticated as user name jones. If you set this parameter to xyz, then Windows domain user jones is authenticated as user xyzjones.

OS_ROLES is an init.ora file parameter that, if set to true, enables the Windows operating system to manage authorization of an external role for a database user. By default, OS_ROLES is set to false. You must set OS_ROLES to true and restart Oracle Database before you can create external roles. If OS_ROLES is set to false, Oracle Database manages granting and revoking of roles for database users.

If OS_ROLES is set to true, and you assign an external role to a Windows global group, then it is granted only at the Windows global group level, and not at the level of the individual user in this global group. This means that you cannot revoke or edit the external role assigned to an individual user in this global group through the Roles tab of the User Name Properties dialog at a later time. Instead, you must use the field in the Assign External OS Roles to a Global Group dialog to revoke the external role from this global group (and therefore all its individual users).

External roles assigned to an individual domain user or local roles (with OS_ROLES set to false) assigned to an individual domain user or Windows global group are not affected by this issue. They can be edited or revoked.

If OS_ROLES is set to true, you cannot grant local roles in the database to any database user. You must grant roles through Windows. See "Creating a Local Database Role" and "Creating an External Operating System Role" for more information.

Creating an External Operating System User

The External OS Users node of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows enables you to authenticate a Windows user to access Oracle Database as an external user without being prompted for a password. External users are typically regular database users (not database administrators) to which you assign standard database roles (such as DBA), but do not want to assign SYSDBA (database administrator) or SYSOPER (database operator) privileges.

To create an external operating system user:

1. Follow the steps in "Connecting to a Database" to connect to a database.

2. Right-click External OS Users. A contextual menu appears.

3. Choose Create.
Create External OS User Wizard starts, and the first of three wizard dialogs appears. The first dialog is for Windows Users and Groups.

4. In NT Domain Users and Groups select the domain in which your Windows domain users and global groups are located.

5. Select the Windows domain users and global groups to which to grant access to the database.

6. Click Add. The selected users and groups now appear in the New External OS Users list.

7. Click Next. The Profile and Tablespace dialog appears.

8. In the Assigned Profile list, select a profile for the new external users. A profile is a named set of resource limits. If resource limits are enabled, Oracle Database limits database usage and instance resources to whatever is defined in the user's profile. You can assign a profile to each user and a default profile to all users who do not have specific profiles.

9. In Tablespace Quota double-click the tablespace to assign a tablespace quota.

10. Click Next. The Roles dialog appears.

11. In Available Roles select the database roles to grant to the new external users.

12. Click Grant.

13. Click Finish.

14. Right-click the external user for which you want to view information and select Properties.
The assigned properties appear.

Note:
If you select a Windows global group for authentication when using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, all users currently in the group are added to Oracle Database. If at a later time, you use a Windows tool to add or remove users in this Windows global group, these updates are not reflected in Oracle Database. The newly added or removed users must be explicitly added or removed in Oracle Database with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows.

Creating a Local Database Role

The Local Roles node of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows enables you to create a role and have it managed by the database. Once a local role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. To create a local database role:

1. Follow the steps in "Connecting to a Database" to connect to a database.

2. Right-click Local Roles for the database for which you want to create a local role.

3. Choose Create.
Create Local Role Wizard starts, and the first of three wizard dialogs appears. The first dialog is for Name and Authentication.

4. Enter a local role name to use.

5. In Authentication select None if you want a user to use this local role without being required to enter a password.
Select Password if you want the user of this role to be protected by a password. These roles can only be used by supplying an associated password with the SET ROLE command. See Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for additional information.

Enter the password to use with this role.

Confirm the password by entering it a second time.

6. Click Next. The System Privileges dialog appears.

7. In Available System Privileges select the system privileges you want to assign to the local role.

8. Click Grant to grant the selected system privileges to the local role.
The Granted System Privileges field displays the list of system privileges granted to the local role. To revoke a system privilege, make an appropriate selection, then choose Revoke.

9. If you want to grant Admin Option to this role, click the value in the Admin Option column to display a list. This enables you to select Yes.

10. Click Next. The Roles dialog appears.

11. In Available Roles select the roles you want to assign to the local role. Both local roles and external roles appear in this list.

12. Click Grant to grant the selected roles to the role.
The Granted Roles field displays the list of roles granted to the role. Both local roles and external roles can appear in this list. To revoke roles, make appropriate selections, then choose Revoke.

13. Click Finish.

Creating an External Operating System Role

The External OS Roles node of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows enables you to create an external role and have it managed by the Windows operating system. Once an external role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. To create an external role:

1. Follow the steps in "Connecting to a Database" to connect to a database.

2. Right-click External OS Roles for the database for which to create an external role.

3. Choose Create.
Create External OS Role Wizard starts, and the first of three wizard dialogs appears. The first dialog is for Name. Authentication: External appears in this dialog to indicate that only external roles can be created.

Note:
Create External OS Role Wizard is available only if init.ora parameter OS_ROLES is set to true. If it is set to false, then you must first change it to true and then restart Oracle Database.

4. Enter an external role name to use. An external role is a role that is managed by the Windows operating system.

5. Click Next.
The System Privileges dialog appears.

6. In Available System Privileges select the system privileges you want to assign to the external role.

7. Choose Grant to grant the selected system privileges to the external role.

8. The Granted System Privileges field displays the list of system privileges granted to the external role. To revoke a system privilege, make an appropriate selection, then click Revoke.

9. If you want to grant Admin Option to this role, choose the value in the Admin Option column to display a list. This enables you to select Yes.

10. Click Next.
The Roles dialog appears.

11. In Available Roles select the roles you want to assign to the external role. Both local roles and external roles appear in this list.

12. Click Grant to grant the selected roles to the external role.
The Granted Roles field displays the list of roles granted to the external role.

13. Click Finish.

Granting Administrator Privileges for a Single Database

The OS Database Administrators node of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows enables you to authorize a Windows user with SYSDBA privileges for a specific instance on a computer. To grant administrator (SYSDBA) privileges for a single database:

1. Follow the steps in "Connecting to a Database" to connect to a database.

2. Right-click OS Database Administrators.

3. Choose Add/Remove.
The OS Database Administrators for instance dialog appears. In the example shown here, the instance is MARK:

4. In Domain Users and Groups select the domain of the user to which to grant SYSDBA privileges from the Domain list.

5. Select the user.
The user now appears in OS Database Administrators.

6. Click OK.

Granting Operator Privileges for a Single Database

The OS Database Operators node of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows enables you to authorize a Windows user with SYSOPER privileges for a specific instance on a computer. To grant operator (SYSOPER) privileges for a single database:

1. Follow the steps in "Connecting to a Database" to connect to a database.

2. Right-click OS Database Operators.

3. Choose Add/Remove.
The OS Database Operators for instance dialog appears. In the example shown here, the instance is MARK:

4. In Domain Users and Groups select the domain of the user to which to grant SYSOPER privileges from the Domain list.

5. Select the user.

6. Click Add.
The user now appears in OS Database Operators.

7. Click OK.

Overview of Manually Administering External Users and Roles

Instead of using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, you can manually configure administrators, operators, users, and roles to be authenticated by the operating system. Manual configuration involves using Oracle Database command-line tools, editing the registry, and creating local groups in Active Directory Users and Computers.

All of the following can be manually configured to access Oracle Database without a password:

- External operating system users

- Windows database administrators (with SYSDBA privilege)

- Windows database operators (with SYSOPER privilege)

In addition, you can manually create and grant local and external database roles to Windows domain users and global groups.

This section describes:

- About Manually Creating an External Operating System User

- Overview of Manually Granting Administrator, Operator, and Task-Specific Privileges for Databases

- Managing New Users and User Groups

- Overview of Manually Creating an External Role

- About Manually Migrating Users

Note:
Use extreme care when manually configuring administrators, operators, users, and roles to be authenticated by the operating system. If possible, use Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows to perform configuration procedures.

About Manually Creating an External Operating System User

This section describes how to authenticate external operating system users (not database administrators) using Windows, so that a password is not required when accessing the database. When you use Windows to authenticate external operating system users, your database relies solely on the operating system to restrict access to database user names.

Note that if a Windows Local User is used as the Oracle Home User for an Oracle home, then external user authentication of the Windows Local users is only supported from the same computer. Oracle recommends using Windows Domain User or Windows built-in user as the Oracle Home User to support external authentication of the Windows Domain User from the same computer or a different computer.

In the following procedure, two Windows user names are authenticated:

- Local user jones

- Domain user jones on domain sales

Local user jones logs into its local Windows client computer to access an Oracle Database server, which can be on a different computer. To access other databases and resources on other computers, the local user must provide a user name and password each time.

Domain user jones on domain sales logs into a sales domain that includes many other Windows computers and resources, one of which contains an Oracle Database server. The domain user can access all the resources the domain provides with a single user name and password.

The procedure is divided into two sets of tasks performed on different computers:

- Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

Perform the following external user authentication tasks on the Oracle Database server:

1. Add parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX to your init.ora file.
The OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX value is prefixed to local or domain user names attempting to connect to the server with the user's operating system name and password. The prefixed user name is compared with Oracle Database user names in the database when a connection request is attempted. Using parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX with Windows native authentication methods is the recommended method for performing secure, trusted client connections to your server.

2. Set a value for OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX. Your choices are:

- Any character string
If you specify xyz, as in this procedure's example, then xyz is prefixed to the beginning of the Windows user name (for example, xyzjones for local user jones or xyzsales\jones for domain user jones on domain sales). String values are case insensitive.

- "" (two double quotes with no space between)
This option is recommended, because it eliminates the need for any prefix to Windows user names (for example, jones for local user jones or sales\jones for domain user jones on domain sales).

- No value specified
If you do not specify a value for OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, it defaults to OPS$ (for example, OPS$jones for local user jones or OPS$sales\jones for domain user jones on domain sales).

3. Create a Windows local user name for jones with the Computer Management tool, or create a Windows domain user name for jones with Active Directory Users and Computers (if the appropriate name does not currently exist). See your operating system documentation for detailed instructions.

4. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

5. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

6. Connect to the database with the SYSTEM database administrator (DBA) name:

SQL> CONNECT SYSTEM
Enter password: system_password

Unless you have changed it, the SYSTEM password is MANAGER by default.

7. Create a local external user by entering:

SQL> CREATE USER xyzjones IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY;

where xyz is the value you chose for initialization parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, and jones is the Windows local user name.

8. Grant a local external user database roles by entering:

SQL> GRANT DBA TO xyzjones;

Note:
External authentication of Windows Local users is supported from the same computer only. While external authentication of Windows Domain user is supported from the same computer or a different computer.

9. Create a domain external user by entering:

SQL> CREATE USER "XYZSALES\JONES" IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY;

where XYZ is the value you chose for initialization parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, and SALES\JONES is the domain name and Windows domain user name. Double quotes are required and the entire syntax must be in uppercase.

10. Grant a domain external user database roles by entering:

SQL> GRANT DBA TO "XYZSALES\JONES";

Double quotes are required and the entire syntax must be in uppercase.

11. Log on to the Windows system using the Windows local user jones or domain user SALES\JONES.

12. Connect to the database with the SYSDBA name:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

13. Shut down the database:

SQL> SHUTDOWN

14. Restart the database:

SQL> STARTUP

This causes the change to parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX to take effect.

Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

Perform the following external user authentication tasks on the client computer:

1. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

2. Use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to configure a network connection from your client computer to the Windows server on which Oracle Database is installed. See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for instructions.

3. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

4. Connect to your Windows server:

SQL> CONNECT /@connect_identifier

where connect_identifier is the net service name for Oracle Database.

Oracle Database searches the data dictionary for an automatic login user name corresponding to the Windows local or domain user name, verifies it, and enables connection as xyzjones or xyzsales\jones.

5. Verify that you have connected to Oracle Database as domain user jones by viewing the roles assigned in steps 12 or 14 of "Performing External User Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server".

SQL> SELECT * FROM USER_ROLE_PRIVS;

which outputs for local user jones:

USERNAME                       GRANTED_ROLE                   ADM DEF OS_
------------------------------ ------------------------------ --- --- ---
XYZJONES                       DBA                            NO  YES NO
1 row selected.

or, for domain user jones:

USERNAME                       GRANTED_ROLE                   ADM DEF OS_
------------------------------ ------------------------------ --- --- ---
XYZSALES\JONES                 DBA                            NO  YES NO
1 row selected.

Because the Oracle Database user name is the whole name xyzjones or xyzsales\jones, each object created by xyzjones or xyzsales\jones (that is, table, view, index, and so on) is prefixed by this name. For another user to reference the table shark owned by xyzjones, for example, the user must enter:

SQL> SELECT * FROM xyzjones.shark

Note:
Automatic authorization is supported for all Oracle Net protocols.

Overview of Manually Granting Administrator, Operator, and Task-Specific Privileges for Databases

This section describes how to enable Windows to grant the database administrator (SYSDBA), database operator (SYSOPER), database administrator for ASM (SYSASM), and new task-specific and less privileged than the ORA_DBA/SYSDBA system privileges to administrators. With these privileges, the administrator can issue the following commands from a client computer and connect to Oracle Database without entering a password:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSOPER
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSASM
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSBACKUP
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDG
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSKM

To enable this feature, the Windows local or domain user name of the administrator must belong to one of the Windows local groups listed in Table 11-1 .

Table 11-1 Windows Local Groups with SYSDBA, SYSOPER, SYSASM, SYSDG, SYSBACKUP, and SYSKM Privileges

Local Group

System Privileges

ORA_OPER

SYSOPER privileges for all databases on a computer

ORA_DBANote

SYSDBA privileges for all databases on a computer

ORA_SID_OPER

SYSOPER privileges for a single database (identified by SID)

ORA_SID_DBA

SYSDBA privileges for a single database (identified by SID)

ORA_HOMENAME_DBA

SYSDBA privileges for all database instances of the specified Oracle home.

ORA_HOMENAME_OPER

SYSOPER privileges for starting up and shutting down all databases instances that run from a specified Oracle home.

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSDG

SYSDG privilege for all database instances that run from the particular Oracle home

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSBACKUP

SYSBACKUP privilege for all database instances that run from the particular Oracle home

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSKM

SYSKM privilege for all database instances that run from the particular Oracle home

ORA_ASMADMIN

SYSASM privileges for all ASM instances on a computer

ORA_ASMDBA

SYSDBA privileges for all ASM instances on a computer

ORA_ASMOPER

SYSOPER privileges for all ASM instances on a computer

Note

All the groups mentioned in the table above are automatically created during installation and the Oracle Home User is automatically added to ORA_HOMENAME_DBA group. See section "Overview of Operating System Authentication Enabled at Installation" for information.

See Also:

- Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

- Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

The manual procedure for enabling administrators to connect as SYSOPER, SYSDBA, SYSASM, SYSDG, SYSKM, or SYSBACKUP without a password is divided into two sets of tasks performed on different computers:

- Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

1. Add your administrator user names to this group. The client logs in using one of these user names so that it is granted the required system privilege.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on managing users and groups

2. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Client Computer

1. Log in as a Windows domain user who is a member of one of the Windows local group on the server, according to the system privilege that you want Windows to grant. The administrator must add this domain user to the required Windows local group as mentioned in step 1 of Running System Privilege Authentication Tasks on the Oracle Database Server. Windows local group membership is created on the server system where Oracle Database runs.

2. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

3. Use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to configure a network connection from your client computer to the Windows server on which Oracle Database is installed. See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for instructions.

4. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

5. Connect to Oracle Database:

SQL> SET INSTANCE net_service_name

where net_service_name is the Oracle Net net service name for Oracle Database.

6. Enter either of the following SQL*Plus commands so that you connect to the database with the required system privilege:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSOPER
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSASM
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDG
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSKM
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSBACKUP

You are now connected to the Windows server. If you connect with SYSDBA, you are given DBA privileges.

Managing New Users and User Groups

During Oracle Database installation, ORA_INSTALL, ORA_DBA, ORA_OPER, ORA_HOMENAME_DBA, ORA_HOMENAME_OPER, ORA_HOMENAME_SYSDG, ORA_HOMENAME_SYSBACKUP, ORA_HOMENAME_SYSKM, ORA_ASMADMIN, ORA_ASMDBA, and ORA_ASMOPER user groups are automatically created with the required privileges.

See Also:

- "About Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

- "Creating Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups and Users" in Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide

Overview of Manually Creating an External Role

This section describes how to grant Oracle Database roles to users directly through Windows (known as external roles). When you use Windows to authenticate users, Windows local groups can grant these users external roles.

All privileges for these roles are active when the user connects. When using external roles, all roles are granted and managed through the operating system. You cannot use both external roles and Oracle Database roles at the same time.

Consider the following example. With external roles enabled, you log on to a Windows domain with domain user name sales\jones (sales is the domain name and jones is the domain user name). You then connect to Oracle Database as Oracle Database user smith. In this case, you receive the roles granted to sales\jones but not the roles granted to smith.

The procedure for manually creating an external role is divided into two sets of authorization tasks performed on different computers:

- Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

- Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Client Computer

Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Oracle Database Server

1. Add initialization parameter OS_ROLES to the init.ora file.

2. Set OS_ROLES to true.
The default setting for this parameter is false.

3. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

4. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

5. Connect to your Windows server:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

6. Create a new database role. You can give this new role whatever name you want. In this example the role is named DBSALES3:

SQL> CREATE ROLE DBSALES3 IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY;

7. Grant to DBSALES3 whatever Oracle Database roles are appropriate to your database environment:

SQL> GRANT DBA TO DBSALES3 WITH ADMIN OPTN;

8. Connect to the database as SYSDBA:

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

9. Shut down the database:

SQL> SHUTDOWN

10. Restart the database:

SQL> STARTUP

11. Create a Windows local group with the following syntax:

ORA_sid_rolename[_D][_A]

For this command, note the following:

- sid identifies the database instance

- rolename identifies the database role granted

- D indicates that this database role is to be a default role of the database user

- A indicates that this database role includes ADMIN OPTN

Characters D and A are optional. If specified, they must be preceded by an underscore.

For this example, ORA_orcl_dbsales3_D is created.

12. Add one or more Windows local or domain user names to this group.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on managing users and groups

You can create multiple database roles and grant them to several possible Windows groups with differing options, as shown in the following table. Users connecting to the ORCL instance and authenticated by Windows as members of all four of these Windows local groups will have the privileges associated with dbsales3 and dbsales4 by default (because of option _D). If these users first connect as members of dbsales3 or dbsales4 and use the SET ROLE command, then they can also gain access to database roles dbsales1 and dbsales2. But if these users try to connect with dbsales1 or dbsales2 without first connecting with a default role, they are unable to connect. Finally, these users can grant dbsales2 and dbsales4 to other roles (because of option _A).

Database Roles

Windows Groups

dbsales1

ORA_ORCL_dbsales1

dbsales2

ORA_ORCL_dbsales2_a

dbsales3

ORA_ORCL_dbsales3_d

dbsales4

ORA_ORCL_dbsales4_da

Note:
When Oracle Database converts the group name to a role name, it changes the name to uppercase.

Performing External Role Authorization Tasks on the Client Computer

1. Create a Windows local or domain user name with the same user name and password that exist on the Windows server (if the appropriate user name does not currently exist).

2. Ensure that parameter SQLNET.AUTHENTICATN_SERVICES in file sqlnet.ora contains nts.

3. Use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to configure a network connection from your client computer to Oracle Database. See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for instructions.

4. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus /NOLOG

5. Connect to the correct instance:

SQL> SET INSTANCE connect_identifier

where connect_identifier is the net service name for the Oracle Database connection that you created in Step 3.

6. Connect to Oracle Database:

SQL> CONNECT SMITH
Enter password: password

You are connected to the Windows server over net service with Oracle Database user name smith. Roles applied to Oracle Database user name smith consist of all roles defined for the Windows user name that were previously mapped to the database roles (in this case, ORA_DBSALES3_D). All roles available under an authenticated connection are determined by the Windows user name and the Oracle-specific Windows local groups to which the user belongs (for example, ORA_SID_DBSALES1 or ORA_SID_DBSALES4_DA).

Note:
OSDBA and OSOPER are generic names for two special operating system groups that control database administrator logins when using operating system authentication. Windows-specific names for OSDBA and OSOPER are described in "Overview of Manually Granting Administrator, Operator, and Task-Specific Privileges for Databases". See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about OSDBA and OSOPER.

About Manually Migrating Users

You can migrate local or external users to enterprise users with User Migration Utility. Migrating from a database user model to an enterprise user model provides solutions to administrative, security, and usability challenges in an enterprise environment. In an enterprise user model, all user information is moved to an LDAP directory service, which provides the following benefits:

- Centralized storage and management of user information

- Centralized user authentication

- Enhanced security

User Migration Utility is a command-line tool. Its syntax is of the form:

C:\ umu parameters

To get a list of User Migration Utility parameters, enter:

C:\ umu help=yes

See Also:
"Using the User Migration Utility" in Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide

12 Storing Oracle Wallets in the Windows Registry

This chapter describes storing and retrieving of Oracle Wallets in the Windows registry.

About Storing Private Keys and Trust Points

Oracle Wallets store private keys, trust points, and digital certificates used in public key applications for authentication and encryption. Oracle Wallet Manager creates and manages Oracle Wallets. Oracle public key applications use obfuscated Oracle Wallets for authentication and encryption.

About Storing User's Profile

In Windows domain, a user's profile is stored on the local computer. When a local user logs on to that computer, that user's profile on the local computer is uploaded into the user profile in that computer's registry. When a user logs out, that user's profile stored on the local file system is updated, ensuring that the Windows Domain user or Windows Local user always has the most recent user profile version.

About Registry Parameters for Wallet Storage

Parameter WALLET_LOCATN in file sqlnet.ora specifies the location of the obfuscated Oracle Wallet for use by Oracle PKI applications. For example, the WALLET_LOCATN parameter for storing an Oracle Wallet in the registry in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\SALESAPP

would be:

WALLET_LOCATN =  (SOURCE= (METHOD=REG) (METHOD_DATA= (KEY=SALESAPP)))

Continuing the example, the encrypted Oracle Wallet would be stored in the registry in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\SALESAPP\EWALLET.P12

and the obfuscated Oracle Wallet would be stored in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\SALESAPP\CWALLET.SSO

On Windows operating systems, if there is no value specified for parameter WALLET_LOCATN, then Oracle PKI applications first look for the obfuscated wallet in registry key:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\DEFAULT

If no obfuscated wallet is found there, Oracle PKI applications look for it in the file system of the local computer at location:

%USERPROFILE%\ORACLE\WALLETS

Regardless of location, wallets are always stored in the same format. All functionality is the same except for the location of the wallets.

About Oracle Wallet Manager

Oracle Wallet Manager creates and manages Oracle Wallets. If you want to use the Windows registry for Oracle Wallets, then you must select the Use Windows System Registry check box. If Windows System Registry is selected, then the tool shows a list of existing keys when it opens a wallet or saves a new wallet. The list appears in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS

You can select one of the existing locations or enter the name for a new location (registry key). If you enter a new key called key1, for example, then the tool creates the following registry key:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\KEY1

The encrypted wallet will be stored in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\KEY1\EWALLET.P12

The obfuscated wallet will be stored in:

\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\WALLETS\KEY1\CWALLET.SSO

If you do not select the Use Windows System Registry check box, then the tool displays all the available drives and directories on the local computer. You can select one of the existing directories or enter a new directory. The tool stores the encrypted or obfuscated wallet in the selected directory or creates the directory if it does not exist.

See Also:
Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide for more information about using Oracle Wallet Manager

Sharing Wallets and sqlnet.ora Files Among Multiple Databases

Multiple nonreplicated databases cannot share wallets. If sqlnet.ora files contain wallet location information, then databases also cannot share sqlnet.ora files.

The only exception to this rule is password-authenticated or Kerberos-authenticated enterprise user security with default database-to-directory connection configuration that uses passwords. This configuration keeps database wallets in the default location, where Database Configuration Assistant creates them. In this situation, no wallet location information is stored in the sqlnet.ora file, and the wallet can be shared among multiple databases.

Note:
If SSL is used for enterprise user authentication, then the wallet location must be specified in the sqlnet.ora file. So, sqlnet.ora files cannot be shared by multiple databases for SSL-authenticated enterprise users.

13 Oracle PKI Integration with Windows

This chapter describes integration of Oracle public key infrastructure (PKI) with public key infrastructure (Windows PKI) on Windows operating systems.

This chapter contains the following topics:

- About Oracle Public Key Infrastructure

- About Windows Public Key Infrastructure

About Oracle Public Key Infrastructure

Oracle public key infrastructure (PKI) is used by Oracle Enterprise Security Manager, LDAP-enabled Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle's Secure Socket Layer (SSL) authentication, Oracle Database, and Oracle WebLogic Server.

Note:
Oracle Security Manager is installed only with Oracle Database Client.

Oracle PKI includes the following components:

- Oracle Wallets

- Oracle Wallet Manager (OWM)

Oracle Wallets store digital certificates, trust points, and private keys used in public key applications for encryption, decryption, digital signature, and verification.

About Windows Public Key Infrastructure

This section describes Windows public key infrastructure.

This section contains these topics:

- About Microsoft Certificate Stores

- About Microsoft Certificate Services

- Using Microsoft Certificate Stores with Oracle PKI Applications

Note:
Microsoft Certificate Store integration works only with digital certificates that use Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider. To create these certificates, you must install Windows High Encryption Pack and select Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider. Also, when there are multiple certificates available for the same key usage (signature/key exchange), the first certificate retrieved will be used for Oracle SSL.

About Microsoft Certificate Stores

Microsoft Certificate Stores are repositories for storing digital certificates and their associated properties. Windows operating systems store digital certificates and certificate revocation lists in logical and physical stores. Logical stores contain pointers to public key objects in physical stores. Logical stores enable public key objects to be shared between users, computers, and services without requiring storage of duplicates of objects for each user, computer, or services. Public key objects are physically stored in the registry of the local computer or, for some user certificates, in Active Directory. Standard system certificate stores defined by Microsoft include:

- MY or Personal

- CA

- ROOT

MY or Personal holds a user's certificates for which the associated private key is available. The MY certificate store maintains certificate properties that indicate the Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) associated with the private key. An application uses this information to obtain the private key from the CSP for the associated certificate. CA holds issuing or intermediate certificate authority (CA) certificates. ROOT holds only self-signed CA certificates for trusted root CAs.

About Microsoft Certificate Services

Microsoft Certificate Services (MCS) consists of the following modules:

- Server Engine

- Intermediary

- Policy

Server Engine handles all certificate requests. It interacts with other modules at each processing stage to ensure that the proper action is taken based on the state of the request. The Intermediary module receives requests for new certificate from clients and then submits them to Server Engine. The Policy module contains the set of rules controlling the issuance of certificates. This module may be upgraded or customized as needed.

Using Microsoft Certificate Stores with Oracle PKI Applications

Wallet Resource Locator (WRL) specifies that parameter WALLET_LOCATN in file sqlnet.ora identifies a particular PKI. You can choose between using Oracle Wallet or Microsoft Certificate Stores by setting parameter WALLET_LOCATN in sqlnet.ora. To use credentials from Microsoft Certificate Stores, set parameter WALLET_LOCATN in sqlnet.ora to:

WALLET_LOCATN = (SOURCE = (METHOD=MCS))

The Oracle application uses Oracle's TCP/IP with SSL protocol (TCPS) to connect to Oracle Server. The SSL protocol uses X.509 certificates and trust points from the user's Microsoft Certificate Store for SSL authentication.

14 Using Oracle Database with Microsoft Active Directory

This chapter describes how to configure and use Microsoft Active Directory as the LDAP directory.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Overview of Microsoft Active Directory Support

- Overview of Oracle Components That Integrate with Active Directory

- Overview of Requirements for Using Oracle Database with Active Directory

- Configuring Client Computers and Oracle Database to Use Active Directory

- About Testing Connectivity

- Overview of Access Control List Management for Oracle Directory Objects

Overview of Microsoft Active Directory Support

This section describes how Microsoft Active Directory is used as an LDAP directory server by Oracle Database.

This section contains these topics:

- About Microsoft Active Directory

- About Accessing Active Directory

About Microsoft Active Directory

Active Directory is the LDAP-compliant directory server included with Windows server operating systems. Active Directory stores all Windows operating system information, including users, groups, and policies. Active Directory also stores information about network resources (such as databases) and makes this information available to application users and network administrators. Active Directory enables users to access network resources with a single login. The scope of Active Directory can range from storing all the resources of a small computer network to storing all the resources of several wide areas networks (WANs).

About Accessing Active Directory

When using Oracle features that support Active Directory, ensure that the Active Directory computer can be successfully reached using all possible TCP/IP host name forms to reach the domain controller. For example, if the host name of the domain controller is server1 in the domain example.com, then ensure that you can ping that computer using all of the following:

- server1.example.com

- example.com

- server1

Active Directory often issues referrals back to itself in one or more of these forms, depending upon the operation being performed. If any of the forms cannot reach the Active Directory computer, then some LDAP operations may fail.

Overview of Oracle Components That Integrate with Active Directory

The following Oracle Database features support or have been specifically designed to integrate with Active Directory:

- About Directory Naming

- About Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers

- About Integration with Windows Tools

- About User Interface Extensions for Oracle Net Directory Naming

- About Enhancement of Directory Object Type Descriptions

- About Integration with Windows Login Credentials

- Overview of Oracle Directory Objects in Active Directory

About Directory Naming

Oracle Database provides Oracle Net Services directory naming, which makes use of a directory server. This feature has been enabled to work with Microsoft Active Directory. Directory Naming enables clients to connect to the database making use of information stored centrally in an LDAP-compliant directory server such as Active Directory. For example, any net service name previously stored in the tnsnames.ora file can now be stored in Active Directory.

About Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant provides automatic discovery of directory servers. When you select Active Directory as the directory server type, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant automatically discovers the directory server location and performs related tasks.

See Also:
"Configuring Client Computers and Oracle Database to Use Active Directory" for more information about Active Directory configuration

About Integration with Windows Tools

Oracle Database services, net service names, and enterprise role entries in Active Directory can be displayed and tested in two Windows tools:

- Windows Explorer

- Active Directory Users and Computers

Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of files, directories, and local and network drives on your computer. It can display and test Oracle Database service and net service name objects.

Active Directory Users and Computers is an administrative tool installed on Windows servers configured as domain controllers. This tool enables you to add, modify, delete, and organize Windows accounts and groups, and publish resources in the directory of your organization. Like Windows Explorer, it can display and test Oracle Database service and net service name objects. Additionally, it can manage access control.

See Also:

- "Testing Connectivity from Microsoft Tools"

- "Overview of Access Control List Management for Oracle Directory Objects"

About User Interface Extensions for Oracle Net Directory Naming

The property menus of Oracle Database service and net service name objects in Windows Explorer and Active Directory Users and Computers have been enhanced. When you right-click these Oracle directory objects, you now see two new options for testing connectivity:

- Test

- Connect with SQL*Plus

The Test option tests whether the user name, password, and net service name you initially entered can actually connect to Oracle Database. The Connect with SQL*Plus option starts SQL*Plus, which enables you to perform database administration, run scripts, and so on.

See Also:
"Testing Connectivity from Microsoft Tools"

About Enhancement of Directory Object Type Descriptions

Oracle directory object type descriptions in Active Directory have been enhanced to make them easier to understand. In the right pane of Figure 14-1, for example, the Type column reveals that sales is an Oracle Net Service name.

About Integration with Windows Login Credentials

Oracle database and configuration tools can use the login credentials of the Windows user currently logged on to connect to Active Directory without having to re-enter the login credentials. This feature has the following benefits:

- Oracle clients and databases can securely connect to Active Directory and retrieve the net service name.

- Oracle configuration tools can connect automatically to Active Directory and configure Oracle Database and net service name objects. The enabled tools include Oracle Net Configuration Assistant and Database Configuration Assistant.

- Oracle clients can make secure access over the internet to avoid anonymous binds to the directory. The enhanced security enables the sites to restrict access to Database Service by setting access control (ACL) on Database Service DN in Directory Server. The enhancement gives clients the option to use authenticated binds for LDAP name lookup. Clients will have access to Database Service object if the object (DN of Database Service Entry) has been configured with restrictive access control.

Configuration on machines that require authenticated name lookups

Add the following entry in sqlnet.ora to enable authenticated name lookup:

names.ldap_authenticate_bind = TRUE

Overview of Oracle Directory Objects in Active Directory

If Oracle Database and Oracle Net Services are installed and configured to access Active Directory, then Active Directory Users and Computers displays Oracle directory objects, as illustrated in Figure 14-1:

Figure 14-1 Oracle Directory Objects in Active Directory Users and Computers

Table 14-1 describes the Oracle directory objects appearing in Figure 14-1.

Table 14-1 Oracle Directory Objects

Object

Description

oranet.dev

The domain in which you created your Oracle Context. This domain (also known as the administrative context) contains various Oracle entries to support directory naming. Oracle Net Configuration Assistant automatically discovers this information during Oracle Database integration with Active Directory.

OracleContext

The top-level Oracle entry in the Active Directory tree. It contains Oracle Database service and net service name object information. All Oracle software information is placed in this folder.

orcl

The Oracle Database service name used in this example.

Products

Folder for Oracle product information.

sales

The net service name object used in this example.

Users

Folder for the Oracle security groups. See "Overview of Access Control List Management for Oracle Directory Objects" for more information. Enterprise users and roles created with Oracle Enterprise Security Manager also appear in this folder.

Overview of Requirements for Using Oracle Database with Active Directory

To use Net Directory Naming with Active Directory, you must have supported Windows operating system and Oracle software releases, and you must create Oracle schema objects and an Oracle Context. These requirements are discussed in the following sections:

- Creating Oracle Schema Objects

- Creating an OracleContext

- About Directory Naming Software Requirements

Note:

- The Oracle schema objects and Oracle Context can both be created by running Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.

- Regardless of the Oracle Database Client and Oracle Database releases you are using, you must be running in a Windows Server domain to integrate Net Directory Naming with Active Directory.

Creating Oracle Schema Objects

You must create Oracle schema objects to use net directory naming features with Active Directory. Schema objects are sets of rules for Oracle Net Services and Oracle Database entries and their attributes stored in Active Directory. The following restrictions apply to creating Oracle schema objects to use with Active Directory:

- Only one Oracle schema object can be created for each forest.

- The Windows server domain controller must be the operations master that allows schema updates. See your operating system documentation for instructions.

To create an Oracle schema object:

1. Log in as a member of Schema Administrator group or as a member who has rights to update the schema into schema master domain. The logged in client computer must be a part of the schema master domain. Schema master domain administrators are schema administrators by default.

2. Use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to create the Oracle schema object. You can create your schema object during or after database installation.

If the Active Directory display is not configured to accept all 24 default languages, then Oracle schema object creation can fail while Oracle Net Configuration Assistant is configuring Active Directory as the directory server. Before running Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to complete directory access configuration, verify that the display specifiers for all 24 languages are populated by entering the following at the command prompt:

ldifde -p OneLevel -d cn=DisplaySpecifiers,cn=Configuration,domain context -f
temp file

For this command, note the following:

- domain context is the domain context for this Active Directory server.
For example, dc=example,dc=com.

- temp file is a file where you want to put the output.

If the command reports that fewer than 24 entries were found, then you can still use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant. However, the report will indicate that Oracle schema object creation failed, rather than simply reporting that display specifiers for some languages were not created.

When the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant report shows failure due to less than 24 entries found, create display specifiers manually.

Creating Display Specifiers Manually

When Oracle Net Configuration Assistant creates the Oracle schema object in Active Directory, the display specifiers for Oracle entries are not created. This means you cannot view Oracle database entries in Active Directory interfaces.

You can manually add these entries into Active Directory after the Oracle schema object has been created by doing the following, using the same Windows user identification you used when creating the Oracle schema object with Net Configuration Assistant:

1. Open a command shell.

2. Change directory to ORACLE_HOME\ldap\schema\ad.

3. Copy adDisplaySpecifiers_us.sbs to adDisplaySpecifiers_us.ldif.

4. Copy adDisplaySpecifiers_other.sbs to adDisplaySpecifiers_other.ldif.

5. Edit each of these .ldif files, replacing all occurrences of %s_AdDomainDN% with the domain DN for the specific Active Directory into which you want to load the display specifiers (for example, dc=example,dc=com).

6. Run the following commands:

ldapmodify -h ad hostname -Z -f adDisplaySpecifiers_us.ldif
ldapmodify -h ad hostname -Z -f adDisplaySpecifiers_other.ldif

where ad hostname is the host name of the Active Directory domain controller to which you want to load the display specifiers.

See Also:
"About Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers"

Creating an OracleContext

You must create an Oracle Context to use net directory naming features with Active Directory. Oracle Context is the top-level Oracle entry in the Active Directory tree. It contains Oracle Database service and Oracle Net service name object information.

- You can create only one Oracle Context for each Windows server domain (administrative context).

- You must have the right to create domain and enterprise objects to create the Oracle Context in Active Directory with Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.

- Use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to create your Oracle Context. You can create the Oracle Context during or after Oracle Database Custom installation.

See Also:

- Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for installation procedures

- Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for configuration procedures

Running Oracle Network Configuration Assistant

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant is a graphical, wizard-based tool used to configure and manage Oracle Network configurations.

To start Oracle Net Configuration Assistant:

1. Click Start, then click All Programs.

2. Click Oracle - HOMENAME, Configuration and Migration Tools, then Net Configuration Assistant.

3. Select the Directory Usage Configuration option, then click Next.

4. Select Directory Type Microsoft Active Directory, then click Next.

Note:
The Microsoft Active Directory configuration option is only available in the Windows version of Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.

5. Select the option to configure the directory server for Oracle usage and to create or upgrade the Oracle Schema and Context, then click Next.

6. Enter the Active Directory host name, then click Next.

7. Select the option to upgrade the Oracle Schema, then click Next.
The next page should denote successful Directory configuration.

Directory usage configuration complete!
The distinguished name of your default Oracle Context is:
cn=OracleContext,DC=home,DC=com

8. Click Next, then click Finish.

9. The earlier message may only denote partial success:

The Assistant is unable to create or upgrade the Oracle Schema
for the following reason: ConfigException: Oracle Schema creation
was successful, but Active Directory Display Specifier creation
failed.oracle.net.config.ConfigException; TNS-04420: Problem
running LDAPMODIFY

Click OK, then click Finish.

10. If you receive the preceding error, disregard the message and re-run Oracle Net Configuration Assistant using the originally supplied values.
The wizard should complete denoting successful Directory configuration:

Directory usage configuration complete!
The distinguished name of your default Oracle Context is:
cn=OracleContext,DC=home,DC=com

Click Next, then click Finish.

About Directory Naming Software Requirements

Directory naming method maps connect identifiers to connect descriptors contained in Microsoft Active Directory server. A directory server provides central administration of database services and net service names, making it easier to add or relocate services.

Use Oracle Enterprise Manager or Oracle Net Manager to create net service names. To use Microsoft Active Directory naming method, the Oracle Database Client must run on supported Windows operating systems. While you must have Oracle Database that is required for registering the database service as an object in Active Directory. The database server can run on any of the supported operating system, not necessarily Windows operating system.

By default, directory naming adaptor connects anonymously to active directory. Authenticated naming method requires client computer to be a part of the active directory domain to resolve a database service or net service name to a connect descriptor stored in a central directory server of its domain.

NAMES.LDAP_AUTHENTICATE_BIND=true parameter in sqlnet.ora file enables authenticated naming method.

See Also:
"Configuring the Directory Naming Method" in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information

Configuring Client Computers and Oracle Database to Use Active Directory

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant enables you to configure client computers and Oracle Database to access a directory server. When you choose directory access configuration from Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, it then prompts you to specify a directory server type to use. When you select Active Directory as the directory server type, the Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers feature of Oracle Net Configuration Assistant automatically:

- Discovers the Active Directory server location

- Configures access to the Active Directory server

- Creates the Oracle context (also known as your domain)

Note:
Oracle Net Configuration Assistant does not configure DIRECTORY_SERVERS parameter in ldap.ora, in which case, clients automatically discover the Active Directory server for Net Naming.

If the Active Directory server already has an Oracle Context, then select the following nondefault option:

Select the directory server you want to use, and configure the directory server for Oracle usage. (Create or upgrade Oracle schema objects and Oracle Context as necessary.)

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant will report that the Oracle Context does not exist. Ignore this and choose to create the Oracle Context anyway. Directory access configuration will complete without trying to re-create the existing Oracle Context.

Note:
Regardless of the Oracle Database Client and Oracle Database releases you are using, you must be running in a Windows Server domain to take advantage of the automatic directory server discovery features of Oracle Net Configuration Assistant. Oracle Net Configuration Assistant does not automatically discover your directory server, and instead prompts you for additional information, such as the Active Directory location.

See Also:

- "Creating Oracle Schema Objects" for information about possible failures during configuration

- "Overview of Requirements for Using Oracle Database with Active Directory"

- "About Automatic Discovery of Directory Servers"

- Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for configuration procedures

About Testing Connectivity

This section describes how to connect to an Oracle Database server through Active Directory.

This section contains these topics:

- Testing Connectivity from Client Computers

- Testing Connectivity from Microsoft Tools

Testing Connectivity from Client Computers

When using Oracle Net directory naming, client computers connect to a database by specifying the database or net service name entry that appears in the Oracle Context. For example, if the database entry under the Oracle Context in Active Directory is orcl, and the client and the database are in the same domain, then a user connects to the database through SQL*Plus by entering the following connect string:

SQL> CONNECT username@orcl
Enter password: password

If the client and the database are in different domains, then a user connects to the database through SQL*Plus by entering:

SQL> CONNECT username@orcl.domain
Enter password: password

where domain is the domain in which the Oracle Database server is located.

The LDAP naming adapter has an internal function which we call simplified naming, which will attempt to translate a DNS-style name into an x500 (LDAP) style name (DN) based on the naming convention used in ldap.ora:DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT.

It relies on ldap.ora:default_admin_context using either an org form or a domain component (dc) form. This cues the mechanism to use either of the following conventions to convert the domain name to an x500 DN:

- 'dc=, dc='

- 'ou=, o='

- 'ou=, o=, c='

For example,

SQL> CONNECT SMITH@hr.example.com
Enter password: password

The following values for default_admin_context will result in the associated DN:

DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT="o=stdev"

The resulting DN is

cn=HR,cn=OracleContext,ou=EXAMPLE,o=COM

DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT="dc=oracle, dc=com"

The resulting DN is

cn=HR,cn=OracleContext,dc=EXAMPLE,dc=COM

DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT="o=oracle,c=us"

The resulting DN is

cn=HR,cn=OracleContext,o=EXAMPLE,c=COM

Note:
The value of the default_admin_context is not used literally, since the queried-name is given in a fully qualified form. The default_admin_context determines which style DN is produced, or which left-hand-side to use when converting each domain in the given DN component.

DNS-style conventions enable client users to access an Oracle Database server through a directory server by entering minimal connection information, even when the client computer and Oracle Database server are in separate domains. Names following the X.500 convention are longer, especially when the client and Oracle Database server are located in different domains (also known as administrative contexts).

See Also:

- "Configuration Management Concepts" in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information about X.500 naming conventions

- "Minimum Requirements for Passwords" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

Testing Connectivity from Microsoft Tools

Oracle directory objects in Active Directory are integrated with two Microsoft tools:

- Windows Explorer

- Active Directory Users and Computers

You can test connectivity to an Oracle Database server from within these Microsoft tools by connecting to it, or you can just test the connection with actually connecting. To test connectivity:

1. Start Windows Explorer or Active Directory Users and Computers.
To start Windows Explorer:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Accessories, and then select Windows Explorer.

2. Expand Network.

3. Expand Directory.

To start Active Directory Users and Computers:

From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Administrative Tools, and then select Active Directory Users and Computers.

Note:
All clients accessing an Oracle Database server through Active Directory require read access on all net service name objects in the Oracle Context. If Oracle Net will not be configured to require authentication for name lookup, then clients must be able to authenticate anonymously with Active Directory. With Windows Server domain, this will require changing the Active Directory default setting so that anonymous access will be allowed. If anonymous access is not going to be allowed to this directory the clients must be configured to authenticate and net service objects must have access control definitions which allow clients to read them as appropriate.

See also:
Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information

2. Expand the domain in which your Oracle Context is located.

3. Expand your Oracle Context.

4. Right-click a database service or Oracle Net Service name object.
A menu appears with several options. This section covers only the Test and Connect with SQL*Plus options.

5. If you want to test the database connection without actually connecting to it, then choose Test. A status message appears describing the status of your connection attempt.

6. If you want to test the database connection by actually connecting to it, then choose Connect with SQL*Plus. The Oracle SQL*Plus Logon dialog appears.

7. Enter your user name and password, then click OK. A status message appears describing the status of your connection attempt.

Overview of Access Control List Management for Oracle Directory Objects

This section identifies security groups specific to Oracle directory objects within Active Directory and explains how to add and delete security group members.

This section contains these topics:

- Overview of Security Groups

- Setting ACLs on Net Service Entries

- Adding and Deleting Security Group Members

Overview of Security Groups

Security groups are automatically created when the Oracle Context is created in Active Directory. The user configuring access (and thus creating the Oracle Context) is automatically added to each group. Following are a list of relevant groups:

- About OracleDBCreators

- About OracleNetAdmins

- About Oracle Net Services Objects

About OracleDBCreators

The OracleDBCreators group is for the person registering the Oracle Database server. The domain administrator is automatically a member of this group. Users in this group can:

- Create new Oracle Database objects in the Oracle Context.

- Modify the Oracle Database objects that they create.

- Read, but not modify, the membership for this group.

About OracleNetAdmins

Users in the OracleNetAdmins group can:

- Create, modify, and read Oracle Net Services objects and attributes.

- Read the group membership of this group.

About Oracle Net Services Objects

In Oracle Database Client 11g or later, directory clients may optionally be configured to authenticate with the directory while resolving DB names to connect strings. This makes it possible for Oracle Net Services objects to be protected using ACLs.

There are many ways in which the identities of users may be defined in the directory, and how those users or certain groups of users may be given access to some or all Net Services. Oracle Database supplies no predefined groups, and has no procedures in the config tools for defining read-access restrictions on this data, so administrators must use standard object management tools from their directory system to manually create any necessary groups and ACLs. Existing identity structures may be referred to by Net Service ACLs.

Because the access definitions for objects are complex and may involve security properties which are inherited from parent nodes in the Directory Information Tree (DIT), Oracle recommends that the administrators should refer to the relevant tools and documentation for the directory system they are using, and formulate or integrate access management for Oracle Net Services objects into a directory-wide policy and security implementation.

Note:
Pre-11g clients can only bind to the directory as anonymous, so any ACL protection on Net Services will disable older clients. Access Control can only be implemented if all clients requiring access to these objects are 11g or later.

Setting ACLs on Net Service Entries

Use the Dsacls tool to set ACLs on Directory Object.

The Dsacls.exe command-line displays and changes permissions (access control entries) in the Access Control List (ACL) of objects in Active Directory. This command-line tool will be included in Support Tools on the product media.

Examples:

To enable an anonymous generic read on the orcl service, run the following command:

dsacls "CN=orcl,CN=OracleContext,OU=Example,O=Com" /G "anonymous logon":GR

To enable a generic read on the orcl service for the user smith in EXAMPLE domain, run the following command:

dsacls "CN=orcl,CN=OracleContext,OU=Example,O=Com" /G example\smith:GR

To disable an anonymous generic read on the orcl service, run the following command:

dsacls "CN=orcl,CN=OracleContext,OU=Example,O=Com" /R "anonymous logon"

To disable a generic read on the orcl service for the user smith in EXAMPLE domain, run the following command:

dsacls "CN=orcl,CN=OracleContext,OU=Example,O=com" /R example\smith

See Also:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281146 for complete description of the Dsacls.exe command-line tool.

Adding and Deleting Security Group Members

You can add or remove users in the security groups with Active Directory Users and Computers.

Note:
Use Active Directory Users and Computers to perform the procedures described in this section. Windows Explorer does not provide the necessary functionality.

To add or remove users:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Administrative Tools, and then select Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Choose Advanced Features from the View main menu.
This enables you to view and edit information that is usually hidden.

3. Expand the domain (administrative context) in which your Oracle Context is located.

4. Expand Users.
The security groups appear in the right window pane.

5. Right-click the Oracle security group that you want to view or modify.
A menu appears with several options.

6. Choose Properties.

7. Choose the Members tab.
The Properties dialog for the group you selected appears (in this example, OracleDBCreators).

8. To add users, click Add.
The Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog appears.

9. Select the users or groups you want to add and click Add.
Your selections appear in the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog.

10. To remove a user, select the user name from the Members list and click Remove.

11. When you are finished adding and removing users, click OK.

15 Oracle Database Specifications for Windows

Oracle Database for Windows uses initialization parameters to enable various features of the database every time an instance is started.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Initialization Parameter File Overview

- Using Sample File for Database Creation

- About SGA_MAX_SIZE Parameter

- Overview of Initialization Parameters Without Windows-Specific Values

- Displaying Initialization Parameter Values

- About Unmodifiable Database Initialization Parameters

- Calculating Database Limits

Initialization Parameter File Overview

An initialization parameter file is an ASCII text file containing parameters. By changing parameters and values in an initialization parameter file, you can specify, for example:

- Amount of memory Oracle Database uses

- Whether to archive filled online redo logs

- Which control files currently exist

Every database instance has a corresponding initialization parameter file and an ORACLE_SID registry parameter that points to the system identifier for the instance.

The initialization parameter file name takes the form init.ora. A single instance might have several initialization parameter files, each having some differences that affect system performance.

Note:
Your init.ora file for initialization parameters is set by Oracle Universal Installer during database installation. These parameter settings may vary depending on your hardware configuration. For descriptions of all initialization parameters and instructions for setting and displaying their values, see Oracle Database Reference.

About the Location of the Initialization Parameter File

If you do not specify a different initialization file with option PFILE at database startup, then by default Oracle Database uses initialization parameter files located in

ORACLE_HOME\Database\init.ora

Note:
If you create a database manually using a SQL script, then you are required to create an initialization parameter file or copy an existing initialization parameter file and modify the contents. If you use Database Configuration Assistant to create a database, then the initialization parameter file is automatically created for you.

About Editing The Initialization Parameter File

To customize Oracle Database functions, you may be required to edit the initialization parameter file. Use only an ASCII text editor to modify the file.

About Database Configuration Assistant Renaming init.ora

When you create a database using Database Configuration Assistant, a Server Parameter File (SPFILE) is created from the initialization parameter file, and the initialization parameter file is renamed. Oracle does not recognize the renamed file as an initialization parameter file, and it is not used after the instance is started.

If you want to modify an instance created with Database Configuration Assistant after it starts, you must use ALTER SYSTEM statements. You cannot change the Server Parameter File itself, because it is a binary file that cannot be browsed or edited using a text editor. The location of the newly-created Server Parameter File is ORACLE_HOME\database. The Server Parameter File file name is spfileSID.ora.

See Also:
"Managing Initialization Parameters Using a Server Parameter File" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

Using Sample File for Database Creation

Oracle Database provides an annotated sample initialization parameter file with alternative values for initialization parameters. These values and annotations are preceded by comment signs (#), which prevent them from being processed. To activate a particular parameter, remove the preceding # sign. To clear a particular parameter, edit the initialization parameter file to add a comment sign. The sample file is called initsmpl.ora and is located in

ORACLE_HOME\admin\sample\pfile.

If you installed a starter database, then the initialization parameter file used by the starter database is located in the same directory. You can use either initsmpl.ora or the starter database init.ora as a basis for creating a new Oracle Database initialization parameter file.

To use sample file initsmpl.ora as part of database creation:

1. Rename the sample file init.ora.

2. Edit this file to reflect the correct location of your database control files and the name of your database, as a minimum.

Here are two examples of activation and de-activation of alternative parameters. Several initialization parameters are specified with three different values to create a small, medium, or large System Global Area, respectively. The parameter that creates a small SGA is active in this first example:

db_block_buffers = 200  # SMALL
# db_block_buffers = 550  # MEDIUM
# db_block_buffers = 3200 # LARGE

To create a medium-sized SGA, comment out the small parameter definition and activate the medium parameter definition. Edit the initialization parameter file as in this second example:

# db_block_buffers = 200  # SMALL
db_block_buffers = 550  # MEDIUM
# db_block_buffers = 3200 # LARGE

About SGA_MAX_SIZE Parameter

Parameter SGA_MAX_SIZE holds the maximum size that System Global Area (SGA) can reach for a particular instance. Oracle Database can change its SGA configuration while the instance is running. This allows sizes of buffer cache, shared pool, and large pool to be changed without instance shutdown.

Oracle Database can start instances underconfigured and allow the instance to use more memory by growing SGA up to a maximum of SGA_MAX_SIZE. If no SGA_MAX_SIZE value is specified, then Oracle Database selects a default value that is the sum of all components specified or defaulted at initialization time. If SGA_MAX_SIZE specified in the initialization parameter file is less than the sum of all components specified or defaulted to at initialization time, then the setting of SGA_MAX_SIZE in the initialization parameter file serves as an upper bound.

See Also:

- Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for more information about SGA initialization parameters

- Oracle Database Concepts for more information about SGA and its components

Memory allocated for the SGA of an instance is displayed on instance startup when using Oracle Enterprise Manager (or SQL*Plus). You can also display the SGA size of the current instance by using the SQL*Plus SHOW statement with the SGA clause.

Overview of Initialization Parameters Without Windows-Specific Values

Oracle Database Reference describes default values for many initialization parameters as being operating system-specific. However, not all parameters that it describes as having operating system-specific values affect Windows. In these cases, Windows uses either the default value set in the Oracle Database kernel or does not use the parameter. Table 15-1 describes these initialization parameters:

Table 15-1 Initialization Parameters Without Windows-Specific Values

Parameter

Description

AUDIT_FILE_DEST

Supported on Windows to write XML format audit files

DB_WRITER_PROCESSES

Supported, but typically unnecessary due to Windows asynchronous I/O capabilities

COMPATIBLE_NO_RECOVERY

Uses default value set in Oracle Database kernel (no Windows-specific value)

BACKGROUND_CORE_DUMP

Specifies whether Oracle Database includes SGA in core file for Oracle Database background processes

SHADOW_CORE_DUMP

Specifies whether Oracle Database includes SGA in core file for foreground (client) processes

CORE_DUMP_DEST

Specifies directory where Oracle Database dumps core files

CPU_COUNT

Oracle Database automatically sets value to number of processors available for your Oracle Database instance

HI_SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS

Not applicable to Windows

SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS

Not applicable to Windows

LARGE_POOL_SIZE

Uses maximum value limited by available memory

LOG_BUFFER

Starter database uses value set in Oracle Database kernel (no Windows-specific value). The Custom database creation option of Database Configuration Assistant enables you to customize the value for this parameter.

SPIN_COUNT

Uses default value set in Oracle Database kernel (no Windows-specific value)

Displaying Initialization Parameter Values

Windows-specific parameter values can be viewed by using an ASCII editor to open the initialization parameter file:

ORACLE_HOME\admin\db_name\pfile\init.ora

To display any parameter value (whether set in the initialization parameter file or the Oracle Database kernel), enter the following command at the SQL*Plus command prompt:

SQL> SHOW PARAMETER parameter_name

where parameter_name is the name of a specific initialization parameter.

About Unmodifiable Database Initialization Parameters

Check the initialization parameters in Table 15-2 when creating a new database. They cannot be modified after you have created the database. See Chapter 4, "Postinstallation Database Creation on Windows" for details on creating a new database, including the part of the procedure where you modify these parameters.

Table 15-2 Unmodifiable Database Initialization Parameters

Parameter

Description

CHARACTER SET

Specifies database Globalization Support character set to use. This parameter can be set only when you create the database.

DB_BLOCK_SIZE

Specifies size in bytes of standard Oracle Database blocks.

DB_NAME

Specifies name of the database to be created. Database name is a string of eight characters or less. You cannot change the name of a database.

Note:
Not an initialization parameter, but rather a clause in the CREATE DATABASE statement. See Chapter 4, "Postinstallation Database Creation on Windows" for an example of using this clause.

Calculating Database Limits

Use size guidelines in this section to calculate Oracle Database limits.

Table 15-3 Block Size Guidelines

Type

Size

Maximum block size

16,384 bytes or 16 kilobytes (KB)

Minimum block size

2 kilobytes (KB)

Maximum blocks for each file

4,194,304 blocks

Maximum possible file size with 16 K sized blocks

64 Gigabytes (GB)
(4,194,304 * 16,384) = 64 gigabytes (GB)

Table 15-4 Maximum Number of Files for Each Database

Block Size

Number of Files

2 KB

20,000

4 KB

40,000

8 KB

65,536

16 KB

65,536

Table 15-5 Maximum File Sizes

Type

Size

Maximum file size for a FAT file

4 GB

Maximum file size in NTFS

16 Exabytes (EB)

Maximum database size

65,536 * 64 GB equals approximately 4 Petabytes (PB)

Maximum control file size

20,000 blocks

16 Configuration Parameters and the Registry

This chapter describes the use of Windows Registry for various Oracle Database for Windows components. It also lists recommended values and ranges for configuration parameters. Note that Windows Registry is referred to as registry in the chapter.

This chapter contains these topics:

- About Configuration Parameters

- Registry Overview

- Registry Parameters Overview

- Overview of Oracle RAC Registry Parameters

- Managing Registry Parameters with regedit

- About Managing Registry Parameters with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

About Configuration Parameters

Oracle Database for Windows uses configuration parameters to locate files and specify run-time parameters common to all Oracle products. When an Oracle program or application requires a translation for a particular configuration variable, Oracle Database for Windows uses the associated parameter. All Oracle parameters are stored in the registry.

Registry Overview

Oracle Database for Windows stores its configuration information in a repository (the registry) that is organized in a tree format. The tree format consists of keys in the registry and parameter values for the keys. Keys and parameter values can be viewed and modified in Registry Editor.

Keys are folders that appear in the left pane of a Registry Editor window. A key contains subkeys or parameters.

Caution:
Although Registry Editor lets you view and modify registry keys and parameter values, you typically are not required to do so. In fact, you can render your system useless if you make incorrect changes. Therefore, only advanced users should edit the registry. Back up your system before making any changes in the registry.

Parameters in Registry Editor appear as a string, consisting of three components:

- Parameter name

- Value class or type of entry

- Value itself

For example, parameter ORACLE_SID can have the following entry in the registry:

ORACLE_SID:reg_sz:orcl1

Value classes for Oracle Database for Windows parameters are:

- String value with a REG_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ (for an expandable string), or a REG_MULTI_SZ (for multiple strings) prefix to identify a parameter value entry as a data string

- Binary value with a REG_BINARY, REG_DWORD or REG_QWORD prefix to identify a value entry as a dword or qword (hexadecimal data) entry

Most Oracle Database for Windows parameter values are string types. Use Oracle Universal Installer defaults when a type is not given.

Registry Parameters Overview

This section describes Oracle Database for Windows registry parameters for the following keys. Other products, such as Oracle Enterprise Manager, have additional keys and parameters that are not described in this chapter.

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

- About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

To modify these registry values, see "Managing Registry Parameters with regedit".

About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME

Each time you install Oracle products into a new Oracle home on your computer, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME is created. This subkey contains parameter values for most Oracle products.

Note:
See Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture", in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for details on the PATH variable and registry values when you are working with multiple Oracle homes.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME includes the following parameters for an Oracle home directory. Depending on products you install, additional parameters can also be created. See your Windows development manuals.

MSHELP_TOOLS

Specifies the location of Windows help files. The default value is

ORACLE_HOME\mshelp

NLS_LANG and Other Globalization Parameters

Specifies supported language, territory, and character set. This parameter specifies the language in which messages appear, the territory and its conventions for calculating week and day numbers, and the character set displayed. Oracle Universal Installer sets this value during installation based on the language setting of the operating system.

The default value for NLS_LANG, if not set, is AMERICAN_AMERICA.US7ASCII.

There are other globalization parameters that can be set along NLS_LANG to override some values implicitly determined by NLS_LANG. These parameters are:

NLS_DATE_FORMAT
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS
NLS_CURRENCY
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY
NLS_SORT

The following parameters can also be set along NLS_LANG to determine globalization behavior that is independent from the value of NLS_LANG:

NLS_CALENDAR
NLS_COMP
NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS

Note:
All globalization parameters set in the environment and Registry for a database client are ignored if NLS_LANG is not set.

See Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for more information about NLS_LANG and other globalization parameters

ORA_CWD

Specifies current working directory. For example, if you set this parameter and then use ORADIM, a log file called oradim.log is created in this directory. This parameter must be manually set.

ORA_SID_AUTOSTART

Starts Oracle Database when OracleServiceSID service is started. The default value is true.

ORA_SID_PFILE

Specifies full path to initialization parameter file. The default value is ORACLE_BASE\admin\DB_NAME\pfile\init.ora

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN

When set to true, the default value, this parameter shuts down the instance of Oracle Database identified by SID when OracleServiceSID is stopped manually—using either the Control Panel or Net stop command.

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT

Sets maximum time (in seconds) to wait for shutdown to complete before the service for a particular SID stops. The default value is 30.

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE

Specifies mode in which Oracle Database is shut down when you stop OracleServiceSID. Valid values are a (abort), i (immediate), and n (normal). The default value is i.

ORA_TZFILE

Specifies location of time zone file. Each file contains:

- Valid time zone names

- Offset from UTC

- Abbreviation for standard time

- Abbreviation for daylight savings time

In previous releases, the default value for ORA _TZFILE was

ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\oracore\zoneinfo\timezlrg.dat

Starting with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2), the default value is

ORACLE_HOME\oracore\zoneinfo\timezlrg_11.dat

The timezone_version_number.dat data files contain most commonly used time zones and are smaller for better database performance. The new default, timezlrg_version_number.dat, includes time zones not defined in the smaller file.

See Also:
Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for additional details about time zone files

ORACLE_AFFINITY

Specifies Windows processor affinity of each thread within the Oracle Database process. This parameter must be manually added. Oracle recommends consulting Oracle Support Services before changing this parameter. The format is:

namen:[[processorgroup0][processorgroup1][..2][..3],]{cpumask0[ cpumask1 cpumask2 cpumask3] | ALL};
name1:[[0][1][2][3],]{cpumask0[ cpumask1 cpumask2 cpumask3] | ALL};
name2:[[0][1][2][3],]{cpumask0[ cpumask1 cpumask2 cpumask3] | ALL};

Where, processorgroup is an optional parameter designating Windows CPU group. On systems with 64+ logical CPUs, Windows divides all available CPUs into 4 groups (0,1,2,3) with each group containing no more than 64 logical CPUs. By default, a process utilizes single processor group. The processorgroup parameter enables Oracle to use more than 64 logical CPUs. Refer to the specific hardware configuration to determine the valid processor groups.

Each namen setting must be the name of a background thread, USER for non-background (shadow) threads, or DEF for any thread type not handled specifically. Valid background thread names include DBW0, LGWR, PMON, SMON, ARCH, RECO, CKPT, TRWR, J000 through J999, P000 through P481, and any other name found in the NAME column of the v$bgprocess data dictionary view.

The cpumask sets the affinity mask of the Oracle Database process. Each affinity setting must be a valid affinity mask or its numeric equivalent for the corresponding thread name. Process affinity masks are used only when Oracle Services are first started. Each thread's affinity is set only when the individual thread is started (for example, at database startup time for the background threads).

Few examples, to use multiple processor groups in a system with 160 logical CPUs, ORACLE_AFFINITY registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME may be defined as follows:

USER:123,ALL;DEF:0,4294967295;

Where, USER, DEF are thread class names; 0,1,2,3 are valid CPU groups in the system, and 4294967295 is a valid affinity mask in the corresponding CPU group.

Affinitizes USER (foreground) threads to all CPUs in processorgroup1 or to all CPUs in processorgroup2 or to all CPUs in processorgroup3 while alternating between the processor groups for each new foreground thread. Affinitizes DEF class threads to CPUs 0-31 in processorgroup0.

USER:02,1048575 4294901760;DEF:1,1048575;

Affinitizes USER class threads either to CPUs 0-19 in processorgroup0 or to CPUs 16-31 in processorgroup2. Affinitizes DEF class threads to CPUs 0-19 in processorgroup1.

USER:0123,ALL;DEF:0123,4294967295;

Affinitizes USER class threads to all the CPUs of all processor groups while alternating between the processor groups for each new foreground thread. Affinitizes DEF class threads to CPUs 0-31 in all the processor groups while alternating between the processor groups for each new DEF class thread.

USER:012,4294967295 1048575 1048575;

Affinitizes USER class threads to CPUs 0-31 in processorgroup0, CPUs 0-19 in processorgroup1 and CPUs 0-19 in processorgroup2 while alternating between the processor groups for each new foreground thread.

ORACLE_BASE

Specifies the top-level Oracle directory (for example, C:\app\username\product\12.1.0) that contains ORACLE_HOME, admin, and oradata. The default is ORACLE_BASE.

ORACLE_GROUP_NAME

Specifies the name of the group containing icons of the Oracle products installed. The parameter is added to your registry when you first install Oracle products, even if Oracle Universal Installer does not create a program group for Oracle products you have installed (for example, if you have installed only Oracle Net software). The default value is Oracle - HOMENAME.

ORACLE_HOME

Specifies Oracle home directory in which Oracle products are installed. This directory is immediately beneath the Oracle base directory in the Oracle directory hierarchy. The default value is the drive letter and name that you specify during installation.

ORACLE_HOME_KEY

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE location of Oracle parameters. The default value is software\oracle\HOMEID.

ORACLE_HOME_USER

A string type entry that holds the Oracle Home User value. If Windows built-in account is used as the Oracle Home User, then the string holds NT Authority\System and the user is not supposed to specify it explictly.

ORACLE_HOMENAME

Specifies home name of Oracle home directory in which Oracle products are installed. The default value is the name that you specify during installation.

ORACLE_PRRITY

Determines Windows scheduling priorities of threads within the Oracle Database management system process. The format is:

name1:priority1;name2:priority2 . . .

The name class sets the priority class of the Oracle Database process. Threads can be assigned priority either collectively or individually. The collective name user designates non-background (shadow) threads; the collective name def designates any thread type not handled specifically. Valid individual background thread names include DBW0, LGWR, PMON, SMON, ARCH0, RECO, CKPT, TRWR, SNP0 through SNP9, and any other name found in the NAME column of the v$bgprocess data dictionary view.

The default value is class:normal; def:normal.

Note:
ORACLE_PRRITY is not automatically created for you in the registry. When it is not defined in the registry, Windows default values are used for thread priorities.

ORACLE_SID

Specifies the name of the Oracle Database instance on the host computer. The value of this parameter is the SID for the instance. The default value is specified by the entry in the Database Identification window of Oracle Universal Installer.

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN

Enables user authentication. When it is set to true, it enables the server to differentiate between one username and another, whether they are local users, domain users, or domain users on another domain in your network. When it is set to false, the domain is ignored, and the local user becomes the default value of the operating system user returned to the server. The default value is true.

RDBMS_ARCHIVE

Specifies the location of backup database files. The default value is ORACLE_HOME\database\archive.

RDBMS_CONTROL

Specifies the location of backup database control files. The default value is ORACLE_HOME\database.

SQLPATH

Specifies the location of SQL scripts. The default value is ORACLE_HOME\dbs.

About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

This subkey contains the following parameter:

INST_LOC

Specifies the location of Oracle Universal Installer files. The default value is System Drive:\program files\oracle\inventory.

About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet contains four keys:

- Control

- Enum

- HardwareProfiles

- Services

The first three are used by the operating system. You can edit only the Services subkey, which contains Parameters for Oracle Database Services.

Parameters for Oracle Database Services

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES subkey contains additional subkeys that correspond to each Oracle Database service.

Each service subkey contains the following parameters:

- DisplayName specifies the service name of the instance whose SID is SID. The default value is the name of the service. For example, OracleServiceORCL1, where ORCL1 is the SID.

- ImagePath specifies the fully qualified path name of the executable started by the service and any command-line arguments passed into the executable at run time. The default value is the path to the executable file of the product.

- ObjectName specifies the logon user account and computer to which the service should log on. The default value is LocalSystem.

Overview of Oracle RAC Registry Parameters

Oracle RAC registry values are based on the clusterware. If you are not using the clusterware, then some of this information may not be applicable to your particular cluster environment.

Note:
Oracle RAC is only supported on 64-bit Windows server operating systems.

About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\OCR

This subkey contains the following values:

- OCRROOT points to the location of the Oracle Cluster Registry file

- LOCAL_ONLY which is set to False for a cluster installation and True for a single-instance database installation

Managing Registry Parameters with regedit

Caution:
Do not edit your registry unless absolutely necessary. If an error occurs in your registry, then Oracle Database for Windows can stop functioning, and the registry itself can become unusable.

Modifying a Parameter Value with regedit

To edit Oracle-related settings:

1. Start Registry Editor in one of two ways:

- From the command prompt, enter:

C:\> regedit

- From the Start menu, select Run, enter regedit in the Open field, and click OK.

The Registry Editor window appears.

2. Navigate to the values you want to view or modify by double-clicking appropriate keys.
The left-hand side of the window shows the hierarchy of registry keys, and the right-hand side of the window shows various values associated with a key.

3. Double-click the parameter to change the value data to the new SID.
The Edit String dialog appears:

4. Make any necessary edits.

5. Click OK.

6. Choose Exit from the Registry Editor menu.

Adding a Registry Parameter with regedit

To add a parameter to the registry:

1. Start Registry Editor in one of the two ways:

- From the command prompt, enter:

C:\> regedit

- From the Start menu, select Run, enter regedit in the Open field, and click OK.

The Registry Editor window appears.

2. Navigate to the registry key to which you want to add the new value.

3. Choose New from the Edit menu.

4. From the list, select the data type that you want to edit:

- String Value

- Binary value

- DWORD (32-bit) Value

- QWORD (64-bit) Value

- Multi-String Value

- Expandable String Value

5. A New Value #1 string value name is created on the right pane of the Registry Editor window of the chosen data type. Example, REG_EXPAND_SZ and so on.

6. Right-click the parameter, select Rename and press Enter to rename it.

7. Double-click the parameter to change the value data to the new SID.

8. Click OK.
The Edit String dialog appears:

9. Type the value for the parameter.

10. Click OK.
Registry Editor adds the parameter.

11. Choose Exit from the Registry menu.

About Managing Registry Parameters with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Instead of using to add, edit, and delete parameters for an Oracle home, you can use the Oracle Home Configuration snap-in, one of several snap-ins included as part of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows. You must have Microsoft Management Console on your computer to use this product.

See "About HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_HOMENAME" for more information about Oracle home parameters.

Starting Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

To start Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows.
Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows starts.

2. Expand Oracle Homes.

3. Right-click the Oracle home that you want to modify.

4. Click Properties. The Properties dialog appears.

Adding Oracle Home Parameters

To add an Oracle home parameter:

1. Click Add in the Properties dialog.
The Add Value dialog appears.

2. Enter the name in the Parameter Name field.

3. Enter the value in the Parameter Value field.

4. Click OK.

5. Click Apply.

Editing Oracle Home Parameters

To change the default SID, select the SID from the Default SID list in the Properties dialog. To edit one of the other parameters:

1. Select the parameter in the Other Settings list in the Properties dialog.

2. Click Edit.

The Edit Value dialog appears.

3. Modify the value.

4. Click OK.

5. Click Apply.

Deleting Oracle Home Parameters

To delete an Oracle home parameter:

1. Select the parameter in the Other Settings list in the Properties dialog.

2. Click Delete.

17 Developing Applications for Windows

This chapter points to sources of information on developing applications for Windows and outlines a procedure for building and debugging external procedures.

This chapter contains these topics:

- About Finding Information on Application Development for Windows

- About Building External Procedures

- Overview of Multithreaded Agent Architecture

- About Debugging External Procedures

- About Accessing Text Files with UTL_FILE

About Finding Information on Application Development for Windows

This section describes where to find information on developing applications specifically for Windows. These products are included on your Oracle Database Server media.

Note:
Oracle Objects for OLE (OO4O), Oracle COM Automation on Windows, and Oracle Counters for Windows Performance Monitor are not supported on Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) for 64-bit and 32-bit Windows. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a list of desupported features.

About Java Enhancements

Oracle Database includes an integrated Java Virtual Machine and JIT Compiler. Oracle Database also provides Oracle Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Drivers. For more information, refer to Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide and Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide.

About ODP.NET

Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) is an implementation of a Microsoft ADO.NET data provider for Oracle Database. ODP.NET uses Oracle native APIs to offer fast and reliable access to Oracle data and features from any .NET application. ODP.NET also uses and inherits classes and interfaces available in the Microsoft .NET Framework Class Library. For more information, refer to Oracle Data Provider for .NET Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows and My Oracle Support Note 726240.1.

About Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio

The Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio (ODT) is a tightly integrated "Add-in" for Microsoft Visual Studio. ODT integrates with Visual Studio to make it easy to browse and edit Oracle schema objects using integrated visual designers and can automatically generate .NET code through a simple drag and drop. Developers can modify table data, execute Oracle SQL statements, edit and debug PL/SQL code, generate and edit SQL scripts, and develop and deploy .NET stored procedures. There are many more features included with these tools. For more information, visit the ODT web home at

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/visual-studio/overview/index.html

About Oracle Providers for ASP.NET

Starting with .NET Framework 2.0, ASP.NET includes service providers that store state in databases. By storing this state in a database, applications can ensure high availability of data, while making the data equally available to all web servers. For more information, refer to Oracle Providers for ASP.NET Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows.

About XML Support

Oracle XML products include XML Developer's Kit (XDK) and Oracle XML SQL Utility. For more information, refer to:

- Oracle XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide

- Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide

- Oracle Database XML Java API Reference

- Oracle Database XML C API Reference

- Oracle Database XML C++ API Reference

- Oracle Database SQL Language Reference

- Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference

About Support for Internet Applications

Oracle Database support for internet applications includes Oracle WebCenter Portal, which enables you to publish your data to the web, Oracle Web Tier (Oracle HTTP Server), and PL/SQL Embedded Gateway, which offers PL/SQL procedures stored in Oracle Database that can be started through browsers. For more information, refer to:

- Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal

- Oracle Fusion Middleware Tutorial for Oracle WebCenter Portal Developers

- Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration
Oracle Database provides built-in mechanisms that address the requirements of the largest PHP, Ruby, Python Web, and Rich Internet Applications. The features include extreme connectivity, scalability, caching, nonintrusive performance acceleration, advanced security, and high-availability.

About Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

With Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server, Oracle Database can be a resource manager in Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) transactions. Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server act as a proxy for Oracle Database to the DTC. For more information, refer to Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows.

About Oracle Provider for OLE DB

Refer to Oracle Provider for OLE DB Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows for information on OLE DB.

About Oracle ODBC Driver

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) provides a common C programming interface for applications to access data from database management systems. Access to databases is managed by the ODBC Driver Manager. The driver manager provides the linkage between an ODBC application and an ODBC driver for a specific database management system.

Oracle ODBC Driver provides access to Oracle databases for applications written using the ODBC interface.

Oracle Technology Network has both Oracle home based ODBC driver and Instant Client enabled ODBC driver.

Download Instant Client enabled ODBC driver from

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/instant-client/index.html

About Pro*C/C++ and Pro*COBOL Applications

Refer to the following guides for more information on Pro*C/C++ and Pro*COBOL applications:

- Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide

- Pro*COBOL Programmer's Guide

- Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide

About Building External Procedures

This section describes how to create and use external procedures on Windows. The following files are located in ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\extproc:

- extern.c is the code example shown in "Writing an External Procedure"

- make.bat is the batch file that builds the dynamic link library

- extern.sql automates the instructions described in "Registering an External Procedure" and "Executing an External Procedure"

External Procedures Overview

External procedures are functions written in a third-generation language (C, for example) and callable from within PL/SQL or SQL as if they were a PL/SQL routine or function. External procedures let you take advantage of strengths and capabilities of a third-generation programming language in a PL/SQL environment.

Note:
Oracle Database also provides a special purpose interface, the call specification, that lets you call external procedures from other languages, as long as they are callable by C.

The main advantages of external procedures are:

- Performance, because some tasks are performed more efficiently in a third-generation language than in PL/SQL, which is better suited for SQL transaction processing

- Code re-usability, because dynamic link libraries (DLLs) can be called directly from PL/SQL programs on the server or in client tools

You can use external procedures to perform specific processes:

- Solving scientific and engineering problems

- Analyzing data

- Controlling real-time devices and processes

Caution:
Special security precautions are warranted when configuring a listener to handle external procedures. See "Modifying Configuration of External Procedures for Higher Security" and Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information.

To create and use an external procedure, perform the following sequential steps:

- Installing and Configuring Oracle Database and Oracle Net Services

- Writing an External Procedure

- Building a DLL

- Registering an External Procedure

- Restricting Library-Related Privileges to Trusted Users Only

- Executing an External Procedure

Note:

- You must have a C compiler and linker installed on your system to build DLLs.

- You can combine the instructions described in the fourth and fifth tasks into one SQL script that automates the task of registering and executing your external procedure. See ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\extproc\extern.sql for an example of a SQL script that combines these steps.

Installing and Configuring Oracle Database and Oracle Net Services

This section describes installation and configuration of Oracle Database and Oracle Net.

Installing Oracle Database

Follow the steps in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows to install these products on your Windows server:

- Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, Oracle Database Standard Edition, Oracle Database Standard Edition One, Oracle Database Standard Edition 2, or Oracle Database Personal Edition. Each type contains PL/SQL, from which external procedures are called, and the PL/SQL external procedure program (EXTPROC), which runs external procedures.

- Oracle Net Services

- Oracle Protocol Support

Configuring Oracle Net Services

During database server installation, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant configures listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files for external procedure calls.

When an application calls an external procedure, Oracle Net Listener starts an external procedure agent called EXTPROC. By default, the extproc process communicates directly through the server process. Using a network connection established by the listener, the application passes the following information to EXTPROC:

- DLL name

- External procedure name

- Parameters (if necessary)

EXTPROC then loads the DLL, runs the external procedure, and passes back any values returned by the external procedure.

If you overwrite default listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files, then you must manually configure the following files for the external procedure behavior described previously to occur:

- ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\listener.ora

- ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\tnsnames.ora

Caution:
Additional security may be required for the listener in a production environment. See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information.

Writing an External Procedure

Using a third-generation programming language, you can write functions to be built into DLLs and started by EXTPROC. The following is a simple Microsoft Visual C++ example of an external procedure called FIND_MAX:

Note:
Because external procedures are built into DLLs, they must be explicitly exported. In this example, the DLLEXPORT storage class modifier exports the function FIND_MAX from a dynamic link library.

#include <windows.h>
#define NullValue -1
/*
This function tests if x is at least as big as y.
*/
long __declspec(dllexport) find_max(long   x,
short   x_indicator,
long    y,
short y_indicator,
short *ret_indicator)
{
/* It can be tricky to debug DLL's that are being called by a process
that is spawned only when needed, as in this case.
Therefore try using the DebugBreak(); command.
This will start your debugger.  Uncomment the line with DebugBreak();
in it and you can step right into your code.
*/
/* DebugBreak();  */

/* First check to see if you have any nulls. */
/* Just return a null if either x or y is null. */

if ( x_indicator==NullValue || y_indicator==NullValue) {
*ret_indicator = NullValue;
return(0);
} else {
*ret_indicator = 0;       /* Signify that return value is not null. */
if (x >= y) return x;
else return y;
}
}

Building a DLL

After writing your external procedures in a third-generation programming language, use the appropriate compiler and linker to build a DLL, making sure to export the external procedures as noted previously. See your compiler and linker documentation for instructions on building a DLL and exporting its functions.

You can build the external procedure FIND_MAX, created in "Writing an External Procedure", into a DLL called extern.dll by going to ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\extproc and typing make. After building the DLL, you can move it to any directory on your system.

The default behavior of EXTPROC is to load DLLs only from ORACLE_HOME\bin or ORACLE_HOME\lib. To load DLLs from other directories, you must set environment variable EXTPROC_DLLS to a colon (:) separated list (semicolon-separated on Windows systems) of DLL names qualified with their complete paths. The preferred way to set this environment variable is through the ENVS parameter in listener.ora.

See Also:
Oracle Database Development Guide for more information on EXTPROC

Registering an External Procedure

Once you have built a DLL containing your external procedures, you must register your external procedures with Oracle Database. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), you can configure the EXTPROC process to be authenticated through a CREDENTIAL for better security.

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) supports two new extensions to the CREATE LIBRARY command. This includes a CREDENTIAL clause and a DIRECTORY object option. The CREDENTIAL clause defines the user the EXTPROC runs as while the DIRECTORY object option specifies the directory where the DLL can be located.

To create a PL/SQL library to map to the DLL:

1. Set environment variable EXTPROC_DLLS in the ENVS parameter in listener.ora. For example:

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME=PLSExtProc)
(ENVS=EXTPROC_DLLS=C:\app\oracle\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\rdbms\extproc\extern.dll)
(ORACLE_HOME=C:\app\oracle\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1)
(PROGRAM=extproc)
)
)

2. Start SQL*Plus:

C:\> sqlplus

3. Connect to the database with appropriate username and password.

4. Create the PL/SQL library using the CREATE LIBRARY command:

DBMS_CREDENTIAL.CREATE_CREDENTIAL(...);
CREATE DIRECTORY DLL_LOC as ...;
CREATE LIBRARY externProcedures as 'extern.dll' in DLL_LOC credential the_credential;

where the_credential is the name chosen during the DBMS_CREDENTIAL.CREATE_CREDENTIAL invocation

SQL> CREATE LIBRARY externProcedures AS 'C:\app\oracle\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\rdbms\ extproc\extern.dll';

where externProcedures is an alias library (essentially a schema object in the database), and

C:\app\oracle\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\rdbms\extproc\extern.dll

is the path to the Windows operating system dllextern.dll. This example uses C:\app\oracle\product\12.1.0 as your Oracle base and dbhome_1 as your Oracle home.

Note:
The DBA must grant the EXECUTE privilege on the PL/SQL library to users who want to call the library's external procedure from PL/SQL or SQL. Separate EXECUTE privilege on credential and directory object extensions are required for them to function properly.

5. Create a PL/SQL program unit specification.
Do this by writing a PL/SQL subprogram that uses the EXTERNAL clause instead of declarations and a BEGIN...END block. The EXTERNAL clause is the interface between PL/SQL and the external procedure. The EXTERNAL clause identifies the following information about the external procedure:

- Name

- DLL alias

- Programming language in which it was written

- Calling standard (defaults to C if omitted)

In the following example, externProcedures is a DLL alias. You need the EXECUTE privilege for this library. The external procedure to call is find_max. If enclosed in double quotation marks, it becomes case-sensitive. The LANGUAGE term specifies the language in which the external procedure was written.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION PLS_MAX(
x BINARY_INTEGER,
y BINARY_INTEGER)
RETURN BINARY_INTEGER AS EXTERNAL
LIBRARY externProcedures
NAME "find_max"
LANGUAGE C
PARAMETERS (
x long,                  -- stores value of x
x_INDICATOR short,       -- used to determine if x is a NULL value
y long,                  -- stores value of y
y_INDICATOR short,        -- used to determine if y is a NULL value
RETURN INDICATOR short );  -- need to pass pointer to return value's
-- indicator variable to determine if NULL
-- This means that my function will be defined as:
-- long max(long x, short x_indicator,
-- long y, short y_indicator, short * ret_indicator)

Restricting Library-Related Privileges to Trusted Users Only

The CREATE LIBRARY, CREATE ANY LIBRARY, ALTER ANY LIBRARY, and EXECUTE ANY LIBRARY privileges, and grants of EXECUTE ON library_name convey a great deal of power to users. If you plan to create PL/SQL interfaces to libraries, only grant the EXECUTE privilege to the PL/SQL interface. Do not grant EXECUTE on the underlying library. You must have the EXECUTE privilege on a library to create the PL/SQL interface to it. However, users have this privilege implicitly on libraries that they create in their own schemas. Explicit grants of EXECUTE ON library_name are rarely required. Only make an explicit grant of these privileges to trusted users, and never to the PUBLIC role.

Executing an External Procedure

To run an external procedure, you must call the PL/SQL program unit (that is, the alias for the external function) that registered the external procedure. These calls can appear in any of the following:

- Anonymous blocks

- Standalone and packaged subprograms

- Methods of an object type

- Database triggers

- SQL statements (calls to packaged functions only)

In "Registering an External Procedure", PL/SQL function PLS_MAX registered external procedure find_max. Follow these steps to run find_max:

1. Call PL/SQL function PLS_MAX from a PL/SQL routine named UseIt:

SET SERVER OUTPUT ON
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE UseIt AS
a integer;
b integer;
c integer;
BEGIN
a := 1;
b := 2;
c := PLS_MAX(a,b);
dbms_output.put_line('The maximum of '||a||' and '||b||' is  '||c);
END;

2. Run the routine:

SQL> EXECUTE UseIt;

Overview of Multithreaded Agent Architecture

An agent process is started for each session to access a system at the same time leading to several thousand agent processes concurrently. The agent processes operate regardless of whether each individual agent process is actually active at the moment. Agent processes and open connections can consume a disproportionate amount of system resources. This problem is addressed by using multithreaded agent architecture.

The multithreaded agent architecture uses a pool of shared agent threads. The tasks requested by the user sessions are put in a queue and are picked up by the first available multithreaded agent thread. Because only a small percentage of user connections are active at a given moment, using a multithreaded architecture allows for more efficient use of system resources.

See Also:

- Part III of Oracle Database Development Guide

- "Multithreaded Agents" in Oracle Database Heterogeneous Connectivity User's Guide

About Debugging External Procedures

Usually, when an external procedure fails, its C prototype is faulty. That is, the prototype does not match the one generated internally by PL/SQL. This can happen if you specify an incompatible C data type. For example, to pass an OUT parameter of type REAL, you must specify float *. Specifying float, double *, or any other C data type will result in a mismatch.

In such cases, you might get a lost RPC connection to external procedure agent error, which means that agent extproc terminated abnormally because the external procedure caused a core dump. To avoid errors when declaring C prototype parameters, refer to Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's Guide.

Using Package DEBUG_EXTPROC

To help you debug external procedures, PL/SQL provides utility package DEBUG_EXTPROC. To install the package, run script dbgextp.sql, which you can find in the PL/SQL demo directory.

To use the package, follow instructions in dbgextp.sql. Your Oracle Database account must have EXECUTE privileges on the package and CREATE LIBRARY privileges.

To debug external procedures:

1. From Windows Task Manager, in the Processes dialog, select ExtProc.exe.

2. Right click, and select Debug.

3. Click OK in the message window.
If you have built your DLL in a debug fashion with Microsoft Visual C++, then Visual C++ is activated.

4. In the Visual C++ window, select Edit > Breakpoints.
Use the breakpoint identified in dbgextp.sql in the PL/SQL demo directory.

See Also:

- ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\extproc\readme.doc (explains how to run the sample and provides debugging advice)

- Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference

- Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide

- "Calling External Procedures" in Oracle Database Development Guide

- Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's Guide

About Accessing Text Files with UTL_FILE

Package UTL_FILE allows your PL/SQL programs to read and write operating system text files. It provides a restricted version of standard operating system stream file I/O, including open, put, get, and close operations. When you want to read or write a text file, you call the function fopen, which returns a file handle for use in subsequent procedure calls. For example, the procedure put_line writes a text string and line terminator to an open file, and the procedure get_line reads a line of text from an open file into an output buffer.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more information on UTL_FILE

FSEEK, a UTL_FILE subprogram, adjusts the file pointer forward or backward within the file by the number of bytes specified. In order for UTL_FILE.FSEEK to work correctly, the lines in the file must have platform-specific line terminator characters. On Windows platforms the correct line terminator characters are <CR><LF>.

See Also:
"Retrieving HTTP URL Contents from PL/SQL" section in Oracle Database Development Guide for information about UTL_HTTP package

A Storing Tablespaces on Raw Partitions

This appendix describes how to configure your system to store data files for a tablespace on raw partitions.

This appendix contains these topics:

- Raw Partition Overview

- Configuring Disks for Oracle Automatic Storage Management

Note:
Oracle RAC requires additional configuration tools. See Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide for information about creating logical partitions and assigning symbolic links. Do not use this appendix to create partitions for Oracle RAC.

Raw Partition Overview

Data files for tablespaces can be stored on a file system or on raw partitions. A raw partition is a portion of a physical disk that is accessed at the lowest possible level. Input/output (I/O) to a raw partition offers approximately a 5% to 10% performance improvement over I/O to a partition with a file system on it.

About Physical Disk

A physical disk represents the entire disk and points to the following:

\Device\Harddiskx\Partition0

Symbolic link name \\.\PhysicalDrivex is automatically defined by Windows for every hard disk in the computer. For example, a computer with three hard disks will have the following symbolic links:

\\.\PhysicalDrive0
\\.\PhysicalDrive1
\\.\PhysicalDrive2

Internally, these names expand to the following:

\\.\PhysicalDrive0 =\Device\Harddisk0\Partition0
\\.\PhysicalDrive1 =\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0
\\.\PhysicalDrive2 =\Device\Harddisk2\Partition0

Partition0 is special, because it represents the entire physical disk regardless of any partitioning scheme on that disk. Windows writes a signature on the first block of all disks it recognizes. To avoid overwriting that block, Oracle Database skips the first block of a physical raw partition that is used for an Oracle Database data file.

Note:
Although you can use physical disks, Oracle recommends that you use logical partitions.

About Logical Partition

Logical partitions point to drives other than \Device\Harddiskx\Partition0. They are initially assigned names with drive letters (\\.\drive_letter:) and typically re-assigned symbolic link names (\\.\symbolic link name). For example, \\.\D: may be assigned a symbolic link name of \\.\ACCOUNTING_1. Regardless of whether a drive letter or symbolic link name is used, logical partitions are defined to represent a specific partition in a disk rather than the entire disk. Internally, these names can expand to:

\\.\D:= \Device\Harddisk2\Partition1
\\.\ACCOUNTING_1= \Device\Harddisk3\Partition2

Note:
Oracle Database does not skip the first block of a logical raw partition used for an Oracle Database data file.

About Physical Disk and Logical Partition Considerations

Consider the following when deciding which raw partition to use:

- Physical disks are automatically defined by Windows to represent the entire disk, and should never be defined by the user.

- Logical partitions must be defined by the user to represent a specific partition in a disk. These partitions should be logical partitions or drives contained in an extended partition. They should never be defined as Partition0.

- Using an entire disk (Partition0) for an Oracle Database data file and using a partition that occupies the entire disk for an Oracle Database data file are not the same thing. Even when a partition occupies the entire disk, there is still a small space on the disk that is not part of the partition.

- If you are using an entire disk for an Oracle Database data file (Partition0), then use the predefined physical raw names that Windows provides.

- If you are using a specific partition and it occupies the entire disk, then use a logical partition.

- If you are using a specific partition created with Windows disk-management tools, then define and use a symbolic link name rather than a logical partition number (even if it occupies the entire disk).

Note:
For both physical and logical raw conventions, use OCOPY to transfer the contents of a raw partition to a standard file system for backup purposes.

About Compatibility Issues

You can create logical partitions, but define physical disk convention names for them. For example:

\\.\PhysicalDriveACCOUNTING_1 = \Device\Harddisk2\Partition1
\\.\PhysicalDriveACCOUNTING_2 = \Device\Harddisk3\Partition1

Oracle Database then handles data files using the physical disk convention even though it really is a logical partition. This will not cause any data corruption or loss as long as you continue to use physical disk naming conventions. Oracle recommends that you convert to the logical partition at your earliest convenience.

You can also create logical names representing Partition0, but this is definitely not recommended. For example:

\\.\ACCOUNTING_1 = \Device\Harddisk1\Partition0

This poses severe problems, because Disk Management typically writes a signature into the first block of every disk, and consequently may overwrite a portion of the data file header. It can also cause data loss. Never use Partition0 with the logical partition convention.

Physical and logical partition conventions are not compatible with one another because of the extra block that is skipped for physical raw conventions. This also means you cannot simply use OCOPY to copy from a physical disk to a logical partition, because contents of these partitions are incompatible.

To convert from a physical convention to a logical convention, you must:

1. Perform a full database export to a (local) file system.

2. Create logical partitions and define logical names for these partitions.

3. Recreate the database by using the new logical partitions.

4. Perform the full database import to the newly-created database.

If your database installation uses physical disk conventions with logical partitions, Oracle recommends converting to the logical partition conventions at your earliest convenience, using the preceding steps.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for information about creating extended and logical partitions

Configuring Disks for Oracle Automatic Storage Management

To use Oracle Automatic Storage Management with direct attached storage (DAS) or storage area network (SAN) storage, the disks must be stamped with a header by asmtool or asmtoolg (GUI version).

See Also:
"Step 3: Manually Configuring Disks for Oracle Automatic Storage Management" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for instructions on using asmtool or asmtoolg

Each DAS or SAN disk must have a partition table. Oracle recommends creating exactly one partition for each disk containing the entire disk. Use Microsoft Computer Management or the command-line tool diskpart to create the partition. Once the partitions have been created, run asmtoolg or asmtool. These tools associate meaningful, persistent names with disks to facilitate using those disks with Oracle Automatic Storage Management. Oracle Automatic Storage Management uses disk strings to more easily operate on groups of disks at once, so the names created by asmtool make this easier than using Windows drive letters. All disk names created by asmtool begin with the prefix ORCLDISK for identification purposes.

Oracle Automatic Storage Management uses the value of initialization parameter ASM_DISKSTRING as its search path when it discovers disks. The default value of ASM_DISKSTRING is \\.\ORCLDISKn. If you want a different search path, then you must specify a different value for this parameter.

See Also:
"Initialization Parameter Files for an Oracle ASM Instance" in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide

B Oracle Net Services Configuration on Windows

This appendix describes Oracle Net Services configuration for Windows. For more generic information about Oracle Net Services configuration, see Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide.

This appendix contains these topics:

- About Configuring Oracle Database to Communicate with Oracle ASM

- About Modifying Oracle Net Services Registry Parameters and Subkeys

- About Listener Requirements

- Overview of Optional Configuration Parameters

- Overview of Advanced Network Configuration

About Configuring Oracle Database to Communicate with Oracle ASM

Oracle Databases that use Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) and the databases that are managed by Oracle Grid infrastructure must use Windows native authentication, which is enabled by default. To ensure that it is, check that the sqlnet.ora file, by default located in ORACLE_HOME\network\admin, has NTS enabled. For example:

sqlnet.authentication_services=(NTS)

See Also:
"About Windows Authentication Protocols"

About Modifying Oracle Net Services Registry Parameters and Subkeys

The registry contains entries for Oracle Net Services parameters and subkeys. To successfully add or modify Oracle Net Services configuration parameters, you must understand where they are located and the rules that apply to them.

About Oracle Net Service Subkeys

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services contains subkeys that correspond to services. Depending on what is installed, your Oracle Net Services consist of all or a subset of the following:

- OracleHOMENAMEClientCache

- OracleHOMENAMECMAdmin

- OracleHOMENAMECMan

- OracleHOMENAMETNSListener

Each service subkey contains the parameters shown in Table B-1.

Table B-1 Service Subkey Parameters

Parameter

Description

DisplayName

Specifies service name.

ImagePath

Specifies fully qualified path name of the executable started by service and any command line arguments passed to executable at run time.

ObjectName

Specifies logon user account and computer to which service should log on.

About Listener Requirements

In Oracle Database, the listener is set to start automatically at system restart. You can verify the listener status by choosing the Windows Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, and then viewing the status of Services.

Oracle usually recommends that you only have a single net listener service running on a Windows computer at any one time. This single listener can support multiple databases. If you must have two different net listener services running on a Windows computer at the same time, ensure that they are configured to listen on different TCP/IP port numbers.

If the same IP address and port are used for different listeners, you might expect that the second and subsequent listeners would fail to bind. Instead, Windows allows them all to listen on the same IP address and port, resulting in unexpected behavior of the listeners. This is a suspected Windows operating system problem with TCP/IP and has been reported to Microsoft.

Running Oracle Net Services

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Net Services such as Oracle Listener, CMADMIN, and CMAN Proxy Listener run under the specified Oracle Home User account (Windows User Account) specified during the installation. Oracle recommends that you specify the standard Windows User Account (not an Administrator) as the Oracle Home User. Oracle Universal Installer also has an option to create a new Windows User Account with limited privileges. When the Windows built-in account is used as the Oracle Home User, then Oracle Listener service runs under high-privileged Local System Account (LSA) for database installation. For CMAN installation, if Windows built-in account is used as the Oracle Home User, then CMADMIN and CMAN Proxy Listener runs under low privileged LocalService Account.

Note:
Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), lsnrctl start command or CMAN proxy start command may prompt for password when relevant service does not exist. This happens for the first time for a given alias. Once the service is created, all subsequent start commands do not prompt for password. However, there is no prompt for password if you select Use Built-in Account as Oracle Home User.

See Also:

- "User Accounts and Security" in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information

- "START" in Oracle Database Net Services Reference for more information

Overview of Optional Configuration Parameters

You can use the following parameters on Windows:

- About LOCAL Parameter

- About TNS_ADMIN Parameter

- About USE_SHARED_SOCKET Parameter

Oracle Net Service first checks for the parameters as environment variables, and uses the values defined. If environment variables are not defined, it searches for these parameters in the registry.

About LOCAL Parameter

You can use parameter LOCAL to connect to Oracle Database without specifying a connect identifier in the connect string. The value of parameter LOCAL is any connect identifier, such as a net service name. For example, if parameter LOCAL is specified as finance, you can connect to a database from SQL*Plus with:

SQL> CONNECT SMITH
Enter password: password

rather than

SQL> CONNECT SMITH@finance
Enter password: password

Oracle Net checks if LOCAL is defined as an environment variable or as a parameter in the registry, and uses finance as the service name. If it exists, then Oracle Net connects.

About TNS_ADMIN Parameter

You can add parameter TNS_ADMIN to change the directory path of Oracle Net Services configuration files from the default location of ORACLE_HOME\network\admin. For example, if you set TNS_ADMIN to ORACLE_HOME\test\admin, then the configuration files are used from ORACLE_HOME\test\admin.

About USE_SHARED_SOCKET Parameter

You can set parameter USE_SHARED_SOCKET to true to enable use of shared sockets. If this parameter is set to true, the network listener passes the socket descriptor for client connections to the database thread. As a result, the client does not establish a new connection to the database thread and database connection time improves. Also, all database connections share the port number used by the network listener, which can be useful if you are setting up third-party proxy servers.

This parameter only works in dedicated server mode in a TCP/IP environment. If this parameter is set, you cannot use the Oracle database listener to spawn Oracle Database. To spawn a dedicated server for an instance of Oracle Database not associated with the same Oracle home as the listener and have shared socket enabled, you must also set parameter USE_SHARED_SOCKET for both Oracle homes.

Overview of Advanced Network Configuration

The following sections describe advanced configuration procedures specifically for Oracle Net Services on Windows operating systems:

- About Configuring Authentication Method

- About Configuring Security for Named Pipes Protocol

- Modifying Configuration of External Procedures for Higher Security

About Configuring Authentication Method

Oracle Net Services provides authentication methods for Windows operating systems using Windows Native Authentication.

About Configuring Security for Named Pipes Protocol

The network listener service may be unable to open the Named Pipes created by Oracle Names unless service OracleHOMENAMETNSListener has a valid user name and password associated with it.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on setting up network listener permissions

Modifying Configuration of External Procedures for Higher Security

This section supplements generic information provided in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide to configure a listener on Windows operating systems to exclusively handle external procedures. For a higher level of security, you are instructed to start the listener for external procedures from a user account with lower privileges than the oracle user. For Windows operating systems, this requires that you change the user account from LocalSystem to a local, unprivileged user for the OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name service.

Note:
The following instructions assume that you have performed steps 1 through 5 in the section "Modifying Configuration of External Procedures for Higher Security" and the procedure described in "Default Configuration for External Procedures" section in Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide.

To change the listener account:

1. Create a new user account and grant it Log on as a Service privilege.

Note:
Ensure that this user account does not have general access to files owned by oracle. Specifically, this user should not have permission to read or write to database files or to the Oracle Database server address space. In addition, this user should have read access to the listener.ora file, but must not have write access to it.

2. Stop service OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name.

See Also:
Your operating system documentation for instructions on accessing the Services dialog and stopping services

Note:
If the OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name service does not exist, issue the following command from the command prompt:

lsnrctl start extproc_listener_name

This creates the OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name service. When you return to the list of services, stop this service before proceeding to the next step of this procedure.

3. Select OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name service in the Services dialog and then display the properties of the service.

4. Select This Account and enter the user name and password.

5. Start the listener by clicking Start. You must start the listener in this way because you cannot use the Listener Control utility to start the listener running as an unprivileged local user.

Note:
You can also use NET START OracleHOMENAMETNSListenerextproc_listener_name to start the listener from the command prompt. Running the listener with lower privileges prevents you from using Listener Control utility SET commands to alter the configuration of this listener in file listener.ora. You can perform other administrative tasks on this listener with the Listener Control utility, including stopping the listener. Oracle recommends that you complete listener.ora file configuration before running the listener.

C Running Windows Services

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) supports Windows services to run under low-privileged, non-administrative accounts such as the LocalService, or an authenticated Windows User Account instead of the high-privileged Local System Account (LSA) for better security.

About Windows Services for Oracle Database

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), ORADIM creates Oracle Database service, Oracle VSS Writer service, and Oracle Scheduler service to run under the Oracle Home User account. Oracle Home User is the standard Windows User Account (not an Administrator), specified during installation, that runs most of the Windows services required by Oracle for Oracle home.

If this Oracle Home User is a Windows Local User Account or Windows Domain User Account, then ORADIM prompts for password for that account and accepts the same through stdin.

Note:
Refer to section "About Creating and Starting an Oracle Database Service" and "About Ways to Manage Oracle Database Services" for more information.

All Oracle administration tools that create Windows services have been modified to prompt for the password of Oracle Home User when the Oracle Home User is a Windows Local User Account or a Windows Domain User Account, and the password for Oracle Home User is not stored in the Oracle Wallet.

This section discusses the following topics in detail:

- Running Windows Services in Oracle Home

- Additional Privileges Required by Oracle Database Services

- Granting Additional Operating System Privileges Manually

Running Windows Services in Oracle Home

Depending on the type of database installation and user account used as the Oracle Home User, Windows services run under a low-privileged, non-administrative accounts such as LocalService, or an authenticated Windows User Account, or as a high-privileged Local System Account (LSA) in Oracle home.

Table C-1 Running Windows Services

Type of Installation

Oracle Home User

Windows Service User for the Services

Oracle Database Server

Windows User Account

Windows User Account

Oracle Database Server

Built-in Account

Local System Account

Oracle Database Client

Windows User Account

Windows User Account

Oracle Database Client

Built-in Account

LocalService

Oracle Grid Infrastructure (with the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository)

Windows User Account

Grid Listeners using LocalService

Database services using Windows User Account

Foot 1 Clusterware services using Local System Account

Oracle Grid Infrastructure (without the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository)

Built-in Account

Grid Listeners using LocalService

Clusterware services using Local System Account

Footnote 1 Clusterware requires administrative privileges so it always uses Local System Account to run Windows services.

Additional Privileges Required by Oracle Database Services

Certain functions performed by the Oracle Database service require additional privileges. Oracle Universal Installer and other Oracle tools automatically grant the following privileges to the Windows service SIDs of the respective services during the creation of these services:

- SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege: A process requires this privilege to change the priority of its threads. This privilege is granted to Windows service SIDs of Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) or Oracle Database services.

- SeBackupPrivilege: This privilege is required to perform backup operations. It is granted to the Windows service SIDs of Oracle VSS Writer service.

- SeBatchLogonRight: This privilege is required for an account to log on using the batch logon type. It is granted to the Windows service SIDs of Oracle Scheduler service.

To enable Oracle Database to use Large Pages or working set features, the following additional operating system privileges must be manually granted by the operating system administrator to either the Oracle Home User or to the Windows service SIDs of the specified Oracle Database service during the creation of these services.

Oracle recommends granting privileges to the Windows service SID of Oracle Database service instead of the Oracle Home User. The Windows service SID of the database service will be in the following syntax NT AUTHORITY\OracleServiceSID.

- SeLockMemoryPrivilege: This privilege is required to lock pages in memory. Oracle Database requires this privilege to use Large Pages. See "Overview of Large Page Support" for more information.

- SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege: This privilege is required to change the memory quota for a process. This is needed while setting the max and min working set sizes for the database.

Granting Additional Operating System Privileges Manually

To grant an operating system privilege to a specific user, perform the following steps:

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.

2. Double-click Administrative Tools.

3. Double-click Local Security Policy.

4. In the left pane of the Local Security Policy window, expand Local Policies and select User Rights Assignment.

5. In the right pane of the Local Security Policy window, double-click the relevant user privilege. For example, select Adjust memory quotas for a process to change the memory quota for a process or select Lock pages in memory to use Large Pages.

6. Click Add User or Group.

7. Enter the Oracle Home User name in Enter the object names to select field and click Check Names.

8. Click OK to close the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box.

9. Click OK to close the Properties window for the privilege.

D Error Messages on Windows

This appendix lists error messages, causes, and corrective actions that are specific to operation of Oracle Database for Windows. This appendix also includes database connection issues.

This appendix contains these topics:

- ORA-09275: CONNECT INTERNAL No Longer Supported

- ORA-15252 to ORA-15266: User Replacement Failure on Windows

- ORA-15301 to ORA-15302: Failure to Modify Ownership, Group, and Permission of Opened Files

- OSD-04000 to OSD-04599: Windows-Specific Oracle Database Messages

- DIM-00000 to DIM-00228: ORADIM Command Syntax Errors

- Database Connection Issues

Note:
The ora.hlp file, which was shipped in previous releases, is no longer available. See this Appendix and Oracle Database Error Messages for information about error messages.

ORA-09275: CONNECT INTERNAL No Longer Supported

ORA-09275

Connect internal is not a valid DBA connection

Cause: CONNECT INTERNAL is no longer supported for DBA connections.

Action: If NTS is enabled, you can connect to the database as CONNECT / AS SYSDBA or CONNECT / AS SYSOPER. If NTS is not enabled, you can connect as CONNECT SYS AS SYSDBA. You can also connect as an existing user with the appropriate password.

ORA-15252 to ORA-15266: User Replacement Failure on Windows

The following error messages are displayed when the SQL statement or the ASMCMD command for user replacement fails on Windows.

ORA-15252

user name '%s' does not exist in OS user dictionary

Cause: The specified user name was not a valid operating system user.

Action: Specify a valid operating system user.

ORA-15260

permission denied on ASM disk group

Cause: An attempt was made to perform an operation on an ASM disk group without the appropriate privileges.

Action: Ask the ASM administrator to perform the operation or grant the required privileges.

ORA-15261

user '%s' already exists in disk group '%s'

Cause: The specified UID already existed in the disk group.

Action: Specify a different UID.

ORA-15262

user '%s' does not exist in disk group '%s'

Cause: The specified UID did not exist in the disk group.

Action: Specify a user with a valid UID.

ORA-15263

user name '%s' exceeds limit of %s characters

Cause: The length of the specified user name exceeded the maximum limit.

Action: Reduce the length of the user name to a value within the limit.

ORA-15264

Operating system function returned error %s

Cause: An operating system error occurred.

Action: Correct the operating system error and retry the operation.

ORA-15265

user identification number not in range of [%s,%s]

Cause: The operating system user identification number exceeded the maximum value.

Action: Change the user identification number to a value within the accepted range.

ORA-15266

user identification number '%s' is not allowed

Cause: This user identification number is used internally by ASM.

Action: Please choose a different user identification number.

ORA-15301 to ORA-15302: Failure to Modify Ownership, Group, and Permission of Opened Files

The following error messages are displayed when trying to modify the ownership, group membership, or permission of a file fails while changing a file's owner.

ORA-15301

cannot change %s of the open file '%s'

Cause: A SET OWNERSHIP or SET PERMISSION command was attempted on an open file.

Action: Close the file and retry the SQL command.

ORA-15302

active use of files owned by user '%s' precludes its drop

Cause: A DROP USER command specified a user owning files that were in use.

Action: Close all files owned by this user.

OSD-04000 to OSD-04599: Windows-Specific Oracle Database Messages

Error messages in this section are Oracle Database operating system-dependent (OSD) messages displayed in response to an error condition in Windows. Each message in this section triggers an Oracle Database error message.

Error messages appear first in summary tables consisting of error numbers and the corresponding error message. Following the tables is a more detailed discussion of errors, including causes and corrective actions.

- File I/O Errors: OSD-04000 to OSD-04099

- Memory Errors: OSD-04100 to OSD-04199

- Process Errors: OSD-04200 to OSD-04299

- Loader Errors: OSD-04300 to OSD-04399

- Semaphore Errors: OSD-04400 to OSD-04499

- Miscellaneous Errors: OSD-04500 to OSD-04599

File I/O Errors:

OSD-04000 to OSD-04099

4000

Logical block size mismatch

4001

Invalid logical block size

4002

Unable to open file

4003

Unable to read file header block

4004

Invalid file header

4005

SetFilePointer() failure, unable to read from file

4006

ReadFile() failure, unable to read from file

4007

Truncated read

4008

WriteFile() failure, unable to write to file

4009

Truncated write

4010

<create> option specified, file already exists

4011

GetFileInformationByHandle() failure, unable to obtain file info

4012

File size mismatch

4013

Unable to read line from file

4014

Unable to close file

4015

An asynchronous I/O request returned an error

4016

Error queuing an asynchronous I/O request

4017

Unable to open the specified RAW device

4018

Unable to access the specified directory or device

4019

Unable to set file pointer

4020

Unable to set eof file marker

4021

Unable to read file

4022

Unable to write file

4023

SleepEx() failure, unable to Sleep

4024

Unable to delete file

4025

Invalid question asked

4026

Invalid parameter passed

Memory Errors:

OSD-04100 to OSD-04199

4100

malloc() failure, unable to allocate memory

4101

Invalid SGA: SGA not initialized

4102

Unable to open/create file for shared memory object

4103

Unable to attach to SGA: SGA does not exist

4104

Unable to map shared memory (SGA) into the address space

4105

Shared memory (SGA) mapped to wrong address

4106

Unable to allocate memory with VirtualAlloc

4107

Unable to deallocate memory with VirtualFree

4108

Unable to protect memory with VirtualProtect

Process Errors:

OSD-04200 to OSD-04299

4200

Unable to begin another thread

4201

No pid structure supplied to spdcr()

4202

DosSetPriority() failure, unable to set process priority

4203

DosKillProcess() failure, unable to kill process

4204

Invalid pid

4205

CreateProcess() failure, unable to spawn process

4207

Invalid priority specified in CONFIG parameter ORACLE_PRIORITY

4208

OpenProcess() failure, unable to open process handle

4209

Incorrect or unknown background image name given to spdcr()

4210

Timeout waiting for thread semaphore

4211

Thread information not found

4212

Maximum number of ORACLE threads reached

4213

ORACLE thread unable to DuplicateHandle()

4214

ORACLE thread unable to CreateEvent()

4215

Bad function code supplied to ssthreadop

4216

Unable to find file handle for that thread

4217

Unable to retrieve system username for current user

4218

Cannot post thread

4219

Bad thread list semaphore

4221

Target thread is currently busy

4222

Unable to get the threads context

4223

Unable to set the threads context

4224

Unable to suspend the target thread

4225

Unable to resume the target thread

Loader Errors:

OSD-04300 to OSD-04399

4300

Unable to read complete record from data file

4301

Record size too large

4302

Invalid record type, load options, or both

Semaphore Errors:

OSD-04400 to OSD-04499

4400

Unable to acquire internal semaphore for process

4401

WaitForSingleObject() failure, unable to obtain semaphore

Miscellaneous Errors:

OSD-04500 to OSD-04599

4500

Illegal option specified

4501

Internal buffer overflow

4502

Translations nested too deep

4503

Text contains no translatable elements

4505

stdin not responding

4506

Unable to spawn process through system()

4510

Operating system roles are not supported

4511

Unable to get date and time from the operating system

4512

Unable to translate the 'USERNAME' config.ora variable on server

4513

'remote_os_authent' init.ora variable not set to true

4514

The Windows Group name is too long for internal buffer

4515

This command is not implemented at this time

File I/O Errors: OSD-04000 to OSD-04099

OSD-04000

Logical block size mismatch

Cause: Database block size specified in initialization parameter file does not match block size of actual database files.

Action: Use matching logical block sizes.

OSD-04001

Invalid logical block size

Cause: Logical block size is not a multiple of 512 bytes, or it is too large.

Action: Change the value of DB_BLOCK_SIZE in the initialization parameter file.

OSD-04002

Unable to open file

Cause: Specified path or file name is invalid, or destination device is full. This error can also be caused by insufficient Windows file handles.

Action: Make sure path and file exist, and device has free space. If this fails, then increase number of Windows file handles.

OSD-04003

Unable to read file header block

Cause: Media has been damaged.

Action: Recover file, if necessary, and verify that Windows is functioning correctly.

OSD-04004

Invalid file header

Cause: File is damaged.

Action: Recover file.

OSD-04005

SetFilePointer() failure, unable to read from file

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service SetFilePointer().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04006

ReadFile() failure, unable to read from file

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service ReadFile().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04007

Truncated read

Cause: System encountered an unexpected end-of-file, which is due to damaged media.

Action: Verify that file is not damaged.

OSD-04008

WriteFile() failure, unable to write to file

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service WriteFile().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04009

Truncated write

Cause: Destination device is full, or media is damaged.

Action: Verify that device has free space and that file is not damaged.

OSD-04010

<create> option specified, file already exists

Cause: File you attempted to create already exists.

Action: Delete existing file or use REUSE option in SQL statement.

OSD-04011

GetFileInformationByHandle() failure, unable to obtain file info

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service GetFileInformationByHandle().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04012

File size mismatch

Cause: File to be re-used is either too large or too small.

Action: Specify correct file size or delete existing file.

OSD-04013

Unable to read line from file

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04014

Unable to close file

Cause: Media has been damaged.

Action: Recover file, if necessary, and verify that Windows is functioning correctly.

OSD-04015

Asynchronous I/O request returned an error

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service.

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04016

Error queuing an asynchronous I/O request

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service.

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04017

Unable to open the specified RAW device

Cause: An invalid path or file name was specified, or device is full.

Action: Make sure file exists and device is not full; verify that operating system is functioning correctly.

OSD-04018

Unable to access the specified directory or device

Cause: An invalid path name was specified.

Action: Make sure directory or device exists and is accessible.

OSD-04019

Unable to set file pointer

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04020

Unable to set eof file marker

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04021

Unable to read file

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04022

Unable to write file

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04023

SleepEx() failure, unable to Sleep

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service.

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04024

Unable to delete file

Cause: This error is caused by an operating system error or by damaged media.

Action: Check operating system error code (if available) and operating system documentation. If no operating system error code is presented, then verify that media is not damaged.

OSD-04025

Invalid question asked

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04026

Invalid parameter passed

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

Memory Errors: OSD-04100 to OSD-04199

OSD-04100

Malloc() failure, unable to allocate memory

Cause: Program is out of memory.

Action: Shut down all unnecessary processes or install more memory in the computer.

OSD-04101

Invalid SGA: SGA not initialized

Cause: System Global Area (SGA) has been allocated but not initialized.

Action: Wait until STARTUP has completed before attempting to connect.

OSD-04102

Unable to open/create file for shared memory object

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service CreateFile().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04103

Unable to attach to SGA: SGA does not exist

Cause: SGA does not exist.

Action: Start up an Oracle Database instance.

OSD-04104

Unable to map shared memory (SGA) into the address space

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service MapViewOfFileEx().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04105

Shared memory (SGA) mapped to wrong address

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service MapViewOfFileEx().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04106

Unable to allocate memory with VirtualAlloc

Cause: Program is out of memory.

Action: Shut down all unnecessary processes or install more memory in the computer.

OSD-04107

Unable to deallocate memory with VirtualFree

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service VirtualFree().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04108

Unable to protect memory with VirtualProtect

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service VirtualProtect().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

Process Errors: OSD-04200 to OSD-04299

OSD-04200

Unable to begin another thread

Cause: Program has run out of system resources.

Action: Shut down all unnecessary processes; install more memory in the computer.

OSD-04201

No pid structure supplied to spdcr()

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04202

DosSetPriority() failure, unable to set process priority

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service DosSetPriority().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04203

DosKillProcess() failure, unable to kill process

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service DosKillProcess().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04204

Invalid pid

Cause: Process ID not recognized by system; process previously terminated.

Action: Verify that process ID is correct and that process is active.

OSD-04205

CreateProcess() failure, unable to spawn process

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service CreateProcess().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04207

Invalid priority specified in CONFIG parameter ORACLE_PRIORITY

Cause: Priority specified is invalid or out of range.

Action: Specify a valid setting for ORACLE_PRIORITY.

OSD-04208

OpenProcess() failure, unable to open process handle

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service OpenProcess().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

OSD-04209

Incorrect or unknown background image name given to spdcr()

Cause: Unexpected background name given to spdcr().

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04210

Timeout waiting for thread semaphore

Cause: An Oracle Database thread died holding the semaphore.

Action: Restart Oracle Database instance.

OSD-04211

Thread information not found

Cause: An Oracle Database thread died without deleting its information.

Action: Restart Oracle Database instance.

OSD-04212

Maximum number of Oracle threads reached

Cause: Maximum number of Oracle Database threads for the instance is reached.

Action: Wait until some connections exit before trying again.

OSD-04213

Oracle thread unable to DuplicateHandle()

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04214

Oracle thread unable to CreateEvent()

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04215

Bad function code supplied to ssthreadop

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04216

Unable to find file handle for that thread

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04217

Unable to retrieve system username for current user

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04218

Cannot post thread

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04219

Bad thread list semaphore

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04221

Target thread is currently busy

Cause: Target thread is processing an Oracle Database utility command.

Action: Wait and resend command.

OSD-04222

Unable to get the threads context

Cause: Check operating system error code.

Action: Remedy operating system error.

OSD-04223

Unable to set the threads context

Cause: Check operating system error code.

Action: Remedy operating system error.

OSD-04224

Unable to suspend the target thread

Cause: Check operating system error code.

Action: Remedy operating system error.

OSD-04225

Unable to resume the target thread

Cause: Check operating system error code.

Action: Remedy operating system error.

Loader Errors: OSD-04300 to OSD-04399

OSD-04300

Unable to read complete record from datafile

Cause: Datafile ended in the middle of a record. This error occurs when loading files with a fixed record length.

Action: Verify that datafile is of correct length and contains complete records.

OSD-04301

Record size too large

Cause: Specified record size is too large to load.

Action: Reduce record size and reload data.

OSD-04302

Invalid record type, load options, or both

Cause: Control file's Windows file processing options string contains an invalid option or keyword.

Action: Set Windows file processing options string to an acceptable value.

Semaphore Errors: OSD-04400 to OSD-04499

OSD-04400

Unable to acquire internal semaphore for process

Cause: Oracle Database has exceeded the maximum number of connections.

Action: Delete any unused connections and try again.

OSD-04401

WaitForSingleObject() failure, unable to obtain semaphore

Cause: Unexpected return from Windows system service WaitForSingleObject().

Action: Check operating system error code and operating system documentation.

Miscellaneous Errors: OSD-04500 to OSD-04599

OSD-04500

Illegal option specified

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04501

Internal buffer overflow

Cause: This is an internal error, not normally expected to occur.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

OSD-04502

Translations nested too deep

Cause: Program encountered too many intermediate translations while attempting to translate a configuration variable.

Action: Simplify values of configuration parameters to include fewer intermediate translations.

OSD-04503

Text contains no translatable elements

Cause: Program cannot recognize variables in text to be translated.

Action: Check and, if necessary, correct text to be translated.

OSD-04505

stdin not responding

Cause: System cannot receive input from standard input stream.

Action: Verify that process has access to an input device.

OSD-04506

Unable to spawn process through system()

Cause: System is out of memory or executable is invalid.

Action: Shut down unnecessary processes; install more memory in the computer. Verify name of executable.

OSD-04510

Operating system roles are not supported

Cause: An attempt was made to use an operating system role.

Action: Only use roles that were created 'IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD' as opposed to 'IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY'.

OSD-04511

Unable to get date and time from the operating system

Cause: Unexpected return from GetLocalTime() call.

Action: Verify that system time is correct on the computer.

OSD-04512

Unable to translate the 'USERNAME' config.ora variable on server

Cause: 'USERNAME' configuration parameter variable on host is not properly set.

Action: Verify 'USERNAME' variable is set.

OSD-04513

'remote_os_authent' init.ora variable not set to TRUE

Cause: For remote operating system logon to function, 'REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT' parameter must be set to TRUE.

Action: Shut down and start up instance with 'REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT = TRUE' in initialization parameter file.

OSD-04514

The Windows Group name is too long for internal buffer

Cause: Windows Group name is too long.

Action: Use a shorter Windows group name.

DIM-00000 to DIM-00228: ORADIM Command Syntax Errors

ORADIM is a command-line tool for starting and stopping database instances that is only available on Oracle Database for Windows. It is not available on any other platform.

Oradim Errors

DIM-0000 to DIM-00228

00000

ORADIM completed with no errors

00001

ORADIM: <command> [options]. Refer to manual.

00002

The specified command was invalid.

00003

An argument is missing for the parameter

00004

SID or service name was not specified.

00005

SID with more than 64 characters specified.

00006

Missing SID

00007

Missing or invalid -STARTMODE parameter. Valid -STARTMODE parameter is AUTO or MANUAL.

00008

A valid service name is OracleService appended with a SID

00009

SID name is mandatory.

00010

SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\OracleService key does not exist.

00011

The specified service does not exist.

00012

A PFILE is necessary for AUTOSTART option.

00013

Service start mode could not be set in the registry.

00014

Cannot open the Windows Service Control Manager.

00015

Cannot start already-running ORACLE - shut it down first.

00016

Missing or invalid -SHUTTYPE parameter. A valid -SHUTTYPE parameter is SRVC or INST.

00017

Instance shutdown mode must be one of the following: a for abort, i for immediate or n for normal.

00018

Failed to stop Oracle Service.

00019

Create Service Error.

00020

A service for this name exists.

00021

Registry open failed.

00040

Invalid option for the -NEW command.

00041

Invalid option for the -EDIT command.

00042

Invalid option for the -DELETE command.

00043

Invalid option for the -STARTUP command.

00044

Invalid option for the -SHUTDOWN command.

00045

Internal error in ORADIM.

00046

Invalid Pfile.

00050

Instance deleted.

00051

Instance created.

00075

Failed to control service.

00076

Failed to delete service.

00077

Failed to change service configuration.

00078

Failed to start service.

0090

SID name is invalid.

0092

Unable to determine Oracle service user.

0093

Invalid option for the -ACL command.

0094

Failed to change ACLs on the object.

00200

Enter one of the following commands:

00201

Create an instance by specifying the following options:

00202

-NEW -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid | -APXSID sid|

00203

-SRVC srvc | -ASMSRVC srvc | -MGMTDBSRVC srvc | -IOSSRVC srvc |

00204

-APXSRVC srvc [-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTMODE auto|manual]

00205

[-SRVCSTART system|demand] [-PFILE file | -SPFILE]

00206

[-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort] [-TIMEOUT secs] [-RUNAS osusr/ospass]

00207

Edit an instance by specifying the following options:

00208

-EDIT -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid | -APXSID sid

00209

[-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTMODE auto|manual] [-SRVCSTART system|demand]

00210

[-PFILE file | -SPFILE] [-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort]

00211

[-SHUTTYPE srvc|inst] [-RUNAS osusr/ospass]

00212

Delete instances by specifying the following options:

00213

-DELETE -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid |

00214

-APXSID sid| -SRVC srvc | -ASMSRVC srvc | -MGMTDBSRVC srvc |

00215

-IOSSRVC srvc | -APXSRVC srvc

00216

Startup services and instance by specifying the following options:

00217

-STARTUP -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid

00218

| -APXSID sid [-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTTYPE srvc|inst|srvc,inst]

00219

[-PFILE filename | -SPFILE]

00220

Shutdown service and instance by specifying the following options:

00221

-SHUTDOWN -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid |

00222

-APXSID sid [-SYSPWD pass] [-SHUTTYPE srvc|inst|srvc,inst]

00223

[-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort]

00224

Manipulate ACLs by specifying the following options:

00225

-ACL -setperm|-addperm|-removeperm dbfiles|diag|registry

00226

-USER username -OBJTYPE file|dir|registry -OBJPATH object-path

00227

-RECURSE true|false [-HOST hostname]

00228

Query for help by specifying the following parameters: -? | -h | -help

DIM-00000

ORADIM completed with no errors.

Cause: The specified operation completed successfully.

Action: None.

DIM-00001

ORADIM: <command> [options]. Refer to manual.

Cause: The specified options were invalid or no arguments were supplied.

Action: Usage: ORADIM <command> [options]

DIM-00002

The specified command was invalid.

Cause: Valid commands are: -DELETE, -EDIT, -NEW, -STARTUP, and -SHUTDOWN.

Action: Use valid command.

DIM-00003

An argument is missing for the parameter.

Cause: Missing or invalid argument.

Action: Use a valid argument and run the program again.

DIM-00004

SID or service name was not specified.

Cause: Either a SID or service name is mandatory.

Action: Enter a valid SID of 64 characters and retry.

DIM-00005

SID with more than 64 characters specified.

Cause: SID with more than 64 characters specified.

Action: Change SID to 64 unique characters and ensure that there is no other service with this name.

DIM-00006

Missing SID.

Cause: SID was not specified in the arguments.

Action: Specify a SID.

DIM-00007

Missing or invalid -STARTMODE parameter. Valid -STARTMODE parameter is AUTO or MANUAL.

Cause: An argument for STARTMODE is missing.

Action: Enter a valid start mode and retry.

DIM-00008

A valid service name is OracleService appended with a SID

Cause: The Oracle service name specified is invalid.

Action: Correct the name of service and retry.

DIM-00009

SID name is mandatory.

Cause: SID was not specified.

Action: Enter the SID and retry.

DIM-00010

SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\OracleService key does not exist.

Cause: Specified registry key was not found.

Action: Try reinstalling. If the problem persists, contact Oracle Support Services.

DIM-00011

The specified service does not exist.

Cause: An attempt to edit a service failed.

Action: Make sure the service exists or user has enough privileges.

DIM-00012

A PFILE is necessary for AUTOSTART option.

Cause: A parameter file {PFILE} was not specified.

Action: Specify a parameter file.

DIM-00013

Service start mode could not be set in the registry.

Cause: The start mode entry in the registry for the service could not be set.

Action: Check if the user has privileges to modify registry.

DIM-00014

Cannot open the Windows Service Control Manager.

Cause: The Service Control Manager could not be opened.

Action: Check for user privileges.

DIM-00015

Cannot start already-running ORACLE - shut it down first.

Cause: The instance is already started.

Action: Stop the database before restarting.

DIM-00016

Missing or invalid -SHUTTYPE parameter. A valid -SHUTTYPE parameter is SRVC or INST.

Cause: An option for SHUTTYPE was missing or invalid.

Action: Enter parameter to shut down the instance or the service and retry.

DIM-00017

Instance shutdown mode must be one of the following: a for abort, i for immediate or n for normal.

Cause: Invalid option to shut down the instance was specified.

Action: Enter the correct mode and retry.

DIM-00018

Failed to stop Oracle Service.

Cause: An attempt to stop the service failed.

Action: Retry, check for user privileges.

DIM-00019

Create service error.

Cause: Service could not be created.

Action: Check for user privileges and retry.

DIM-00020

A service for this name exists.

Cause: An attempt was made to create a service name when it already existed.

Action: Retry with a different service name or SID.

DIM-00021

Registry open failed

Cause: An attempt to open the registry failed.

Action: Check for user privileges and retry the operation.

DIM-00040

Invalid option for the -NEW command.

Cause: One or more arguments for creating new service is invalid.

Action: Specify required option and retry.

DIM-00041

Invalid option for the -EDIT command.

Cause: One or more arguments for editing existing service is invalid.

Action: Specify required option and retry.

DIM-00042

Invalid option for the -DELETE command.

Cause: One or more arguments for deleting service is invalid.

Action: Specify required option and retry.

DIM-00043

Invalid option for the -STARTUP command.

Cause: One or more arguments for starting the instance is invalid.

Action: Specify required option and retry.

DIM-00044

Invalid option for the -SHUTDOWN command.

Cause: One or more arguments for shutting down the instance is invalid.

Action: Specify required option and retry.

DIM-00045

Internal error in ORADIM

Cause: Unknown.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

DIM-00046

Invalid Pfile.

Cause: The parameter file name is invalid.

Action: Check that the path name is correct.

DIM-00050

Instance deleted

Cause: The request for deleting instance was successful.

Action: None.

DIM-00051

Instance created.

Cause: The request for creating new instance was successful.

Action: None.

DIM-00075

Failed to control service.

Cause: An attempt to control the service failed.

Action: Check additional error, ensure that user has enough privileges.

DIM-00076

Failed to delete service.

Cause: The request for service deletion failed.

Action: Check additional error, ensure that user has enough privileges.

DIM-00077

Failed to change service configuration.

Cause: An attempt to change configuration failed.

Action: Check additional error, ensure that user has enough privileges.

DIM-00078

Failed to start service.

Cause: The request to start service failed.

Action: Check additional error, ensure that user has enough privileges.

DIM-00090

SID name is invalid.

Cause: An invalid SID name was provided.

Action: Enter a valid SID name with no more that 64 characters (alphanumeric) and retry.

DIM-00092

Unable to determine Oracle service user.

Cause: This is an internal Error. The Oracle service user could not be determined for this Oracle home.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services.

DIM-00093

Invalid option for the -ACL command.

Cause: One or more options for setting ACLs was invalid.

Action: Specify the required option and retry.

DIM-00094

Failed to change ACLs on the object.

Cause: An attempt to change the ACLs on the object failed.

Action: Check additional errors. Make sure that the user has enough privileges.

DIM-00200

Enter one of the following commands:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00201

Create an instance by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00202

-NEW -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid | -APXSID sid|

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00203

-SRVC srvc | -ASMSRVC srvc | -MGMTDBSRVC srvc | -IOSSRVC srvc |

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00204

-APXSRVC srvc [-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTMODE auto|manual]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00205

[-SRVCSTART system|demand] [-PFILE file | -SPFILE]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00206

[-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort] [-TIMEOUT secs] [-RUNAS osusr/ospass]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00207

Edit an instance by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00208

-EDIT -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid | -APXSID sid

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00209

[-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTMODE auto|manual] [-SRVCSTART system|demand]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00210

[-PFILE file | -SPFILE] [-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00211

[-SHUTTYPE srvc|inst] [-RUNAS osusr/ospass]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00212

Delete instances by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00213

-DELETE -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid |

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00214

-APXSID sid| -SRVC srvc | -ASMSRVC srvc | -MGMTDBSRVC srvc |

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00215

-IOSSRVC srvc | -APXSRVC srvc

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00216

Startup services and instance by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00217

-STARTUP -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00218

| -APXSID sid [-SYSPWD pass] [-STARTTYPE srvc|inst|srvc,inst]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00219

[-PFILE filename | -SPFILE]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00220

Shutdown service and instance by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00221

-SHUTDOWN -SID sid | -ASMSID sid | -MGMTDBSID sid | -IOSSID sid |

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00222

-APXSID sid [-SYSPWD pass] [-SHUTTYPE srvc|inst|srvc,inst]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00223

[-SHUTMODE normal|immediate|abort]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00224

Manipulate ACLs by specifying the following options:

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00225

-ACL -setperm|-addperm|-removeperm dbfiles|diag|registry

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00226

-USER username -OBJTYPE file|dir|registry -OBJPATH object-path

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00227

-RECURSE true|false [-HOST hostname]

Cause: Unknown.

Action: None.

DIM-00228

Query for help by specifying the following parameters: -? | -h | -help

Cause: None.

Action: None.

Database Connection Issues

The following are common Oracle Database connection error codes, their causes, and suggested remedies.

TNS-12203

TNS: unable to connect to destination

Cause: OracleServiceSID service, OracleHOMENAMETNSListener service, or both are not running.

Action: Ensure that both services are started.

ORA-12560

TNS: lost contact

Cause: OracleServiceSID service, OracleHOMENAMETNSListener service, or both are not running. You receive this error if you attempt to use any Oracle Database utilities, such as SQL*Plus. This error is analogous to the following Oracle7 error: ORA-09352: Windows 32-bit Two-Task driver unable to spawn new ORACLE task.

Action: Ensure that both services are started.

ORA-28575

unable to open RPC connection to external procedure agent

Cause: tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files have not been correctly configured to use external procedures.

Action: Reconfigure services.

ORA-06512

at "APPLICATIONS.OSEXEC", line 0

Cause: tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files have not been correctly configured to use external procedures.

Action: Reconfigure services.

ORA-06512

at "APPLICATIONS.TEST", line 4

Cause: tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files have not been correctly configured to use external procedures.

Action: Reconfigure services.

ORA-06512

at line 2

Cause: tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files have not been correctly configured to use external procedures.

Action: Reconfigure services.

ORA-01031 and LCC-00161

Both codes appear at startup

Cause: Parameter file (init.ora) or Windows services are damaged. These errors usually appear when the parameter file cannot be read by Oracle Database at database startup.

Action: Delete and re-create the SID and services. Make sure you are logged on as the user Administrator, or a user within the Windows Administrator's Group with full administrative rights. At the command prompt, enter: oradim -delete -sid sid where sid is the name of your database (for example, orcl). Re-create the SID and services by entering: oradim -new -sid sid -startmode auto -pfile full_path_to_init.ora

E Oracle Database Differences on Windows and UNIX

This chapter lists major differences between Oracle Database on Windows and UNIX. For Oracle Database developers and database administrators moving from a UNIX platform to Windows, this information can be helpful in understanding Windows features that are relevant to Oracle Database.

This chapter contains these topics:

- Automatic Startup and Shutdown

- Background Processing and Batch Jobs

- Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

- Direct Writes to Disk

- Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs)

- Hot Backups

- Initialization Parameters: Multiple Database Writers

- Installation Accounts and Groups

- Installation

- Memory Resources

- Microsoft Transaction Server

- Multiple Oracle Homes and OFA

- Oracle Home User and Oracle User

- Processes and Threads

- Raw Partitions

- Services

Automatic Startup and Shutdown

On UNIX, several files and scripts in different directories are used to start an instance automatically. Other scripts are run on computer shutdown, allowing applications such as Oracle Database to shut down cleanly.

For automatic startup on Windows, set registry parameter ORA_SID_AUTOSTART to true using an Oracle Database tool such as ORADIM. Enter the following with parameters at the command prompt:

C:\> oradim options

To start the listener automatically, set services startup type to automatic.

For automatic shutdown on Windows, set registry parameters ORA_SHUTDOWN and ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN to stop the relevant OracleServiceSID and shut down. Set registry parameter ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE to control shutdown mode (default is i, or immediate).

See Also:

- Chapter 6, "Administering a Database on Windows"

- Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

Background Processing and Batch Jobs

UNIX provides sophisticated control mechanisms for background processing and batch jobs.

For similar functionality on Windows, use the AT command or a GUI version in the Microsoft Resource Kit.

Diagnostic and Tuning Utilities

On UNIX, utilities such as sar and vmstat are used to monitor Oracle Database background and shadow processes. These utilities are not integrated with Oracle Database.

Performance utilities available on Windows include Task Manager, Control Panel, Event Viewer, and Microsoft Management Console.

Oracle Database is integrated with several of these tools. For example:

- Event Viewer displays system alert messages, including Oracle Database startup/shutdown messages and audit trail.

- Task Manager on Windows displays currently running processes and their resource usage, similar to the UNIX ps -ef command or HP OpenVMS SHOW SYSTEM. But Task Manager is easier to interpret and the columns can be customized.

See Also:

- Chapter 2, "Database Tools on Windows"

- Chapter 7, "Monitoring a Database on Windows"

Direct Writes to Disk

On both UNIX and Windows platforms, bypassing the file system buffer cache ensures data is written to disk.

On UNIX, Oracle Database uses the O_SYNC flag to bypass the file system buffer cache. The flag name depends on the UNIX port.

On Windows, Oracle Database bypasses the file system buffer cache completely.

Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs)

Shared libraries on UNIX are similar to shared DLLs on Windows. Object files and archive libraries are linked to generate Oracle Database executables. Relinking is necessary after certain operations, such as installation of a patch.

On Windows, Oracle Database DLLs form part of the executable at run time and are therefore smaller. DLLs can be shared between multiple executables. Relinking by the user is not supported, but executable images can be modified using ORASTACK.

Modifying executable images on Windows reduces the chances of running out of virtual memory when using a large SGA or when supporting thousands of connections. However, Oracle recommends doing this only under the guidance of Oracle Support Services.

Hot Backups

A (manual) hot backup is equivalent to backing up a tablespace that is in offline backup mode.

Backup strategy on UNIX is as follows: put the tablespace into backup mode, copy the files to the backup location, and bring the tablespace out of backup mode.

Windows supports the same backup strategy, but you cannot copy files in use with usual Windows utilities. Use OCOPY to copy open database files to another disk location. Then use a utility to copy the files to tape.

Initialization Parameters: Multiple Database Writers

On UNIX, you can specify many database writer process with initialization parameter DB_WRITERS. Multiple database writers can help, for example, when a UNIX port does not support asynchronous I/O.

DB_WRITERS is supported but typically unnecessary on Windows, which has its own asynchronous I/O capabilities.

See Also:
Chapter 15, "Oracle Database Specifications for Windows"

Installation Accounts and Groups

UNIX uses the concept of a DBA group. The root account cannot be used to install Oracle Database. A separate Oracle Database account must be created manually.

See Also:
"Operating System Groups Created During Oracle Database Installation" in Oracle Database Installation Guide

On Windows, Oracle Database must be installed by a Windows username in the Administrators group. The user name is automatically added to the Windows local group ORA_DBA, which receives the SYSDBA privilege. This allows the user to log in to the database using CONNECT / AS SYSDBA and not be prompted for a password.

You can also create an ORA_OPER group to grant SYSOPER privileges to the other Windows users.

Password files are located in the ORACLE_HOME\database directory and are named pwdSID.ora, where SID identifies the Oracle Database instance.

See Also:
Chapter 6, "Administering a Database on Windows"

Installation

The following manual setup tasks, all required on UNIX, are not required on Windows:

- Set environment variables

- Create a DBA group for database administrators

- Create a group for users running Oracle Universal Installer

- Create an account dedicated to installing and upgrading Oracle Database components

See Also:
Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

Memory Resources

The resources provided by the UNIX default kernels are often inadequate for a medium or large instance of Oracle Database. The maximum size of a shared memory segment (SHMMAX) and maximum number of semaphores available (SEMMNS) may be too low for Oracle Database recommendations.

On Windows, fewer resources are needed for interprocess communication (IPC), because the Oracle Database relational database management system is thread-based and not process-based. These resources, including shared memory and semaphores, are not adjustable by the user.

Microsoft Transaction Server

Windows coordinates distributed transactions through the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC), one of the components of Microsoft Transaction Server. With Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server, you can develop and deploy distributed transaction applications using .NET, COM, or COM+ and Oracle Database can be a resource manager in DTC transactions.

Microsoft Transaction Server is a Windows component that does not run on UNIX. However, Oracle Databases on UNIX can participate in Microsoft DTC transactions on Windows.

See Also:
Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows

Multiple Oracle Homes and OFA

The goal of OFA is to place all Oracle Database software under one ORACLE_HOME directory and to spread database files across different physical drives as databases increase in size. OFA is implemented on Windows and UNIX in the same way, and main subdirectory and file names are the same on both operating systems. Windows and UNIX differ, however, in their OFA directory tree top-level names and in the way variables are set.

On UNIX, ORACLE_BASE is associated with a user's environment. ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID must be set in system or user login scripts. Symbolic links are supported. Although everything seems to be in one directory on the same hard drive, files may be on different hard drives if they are symbolically linked or have that directory as a mount point.

On Windows, ORACLE_BASE is defined in the registry (for example, in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOME0). ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID are variables defined in the registry. Symbolic links like those on UNIX are not supported.

See Also:
Appendix B, "Optimal Flexible Architecture" in Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows

Oracle Home User and Oracle User

On Linux and UNIX systems, you must create and use a software owner user account (oracle), and this user must belong to the Oracle Inventory group (oinstall) and also must be a member of the appropriate OSDBA, OSOPER, OSBACKUPDBA, OSDGDBA, and OSKMDBA groups.

On Windows, you use an existing Windows User Account or create a new standard Windows User Account (not an administrator account) as the Oracle Home User. The various Oracle services on Windows run with the privileges of the Oracle Home User. This user is automatically added to various groups as required.

See Chapter 3, "Supporting Oracle Home User on Windows" for more information.

Processes and Threads

On UNIX, starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database can use an operating system process or an operating system thread to implement each background task such as database writer (DBW0), log writer (LGWR), shared server process dispatchers, and shared servers. The use of operating system threads instead of processes will allow resource sharing and reduce resource consumption.

On Windows, each background process is implemented as a thread inside a single, large process. For each Oracle Database instance or system identifier, there is one corresponding process for Oracle Database. For example, 100 Oracle Database processes for a database instance on UNIX are handled by 100 threads inside one process on Windows.

All Oracle Database background, dedicated server, and client processes are threads of the master Oracle Database Windows process, and all threads of the Oracle Database process share resources. This multithreaded architecture is highly efficient, allowing fast context switches with low overhead.

To view processes or end individual threads, use Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows. From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle - HOMENAME, then select Configuration and Migration Tools, and then select Administration Assistant for Windows. Right-click the SID and choose Process Information.

Note:
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is started when Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows is started. Oracle Database has integrated several database administration snap-ins into Microsoft Management Console.

See Also:

- Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows online help

- Chapter 1, "Oracle Database Architecture on Windows"

- "Multiprocess and Multithreaded Oracle Database Systems" in Oracle Database Concepts

Raw Partitions

Data files for tablespaces may be stored on a file system or on raw partitions. A raw partition is a portion of a physical disk that is accessed at the lowest possible level.

UNIX supports raw partitions (logical drives). There is no limitation on the number of disk drives.

Windows is limited to using drive letters A-Z, but creating raw partitions lets you bypass the disk drive limitation and divide disks into smaller sections.

Use Windows disk management tools to create an extended partition on a physical drive. An extended partition points to raw space on the disk that can be assigned multiple logical partitions for database files.

An extended partition avoids the four-partition limit on Windows by allowing you to define large numbers of logical partitions to accommodate applications using Oracle Database. Logical partitions can then be given symbolic link names to free up drive letters.

On supported Windows operating systems, create primary partitions and logical drives in extended partitions by selecting the New Simple Volume option. To create a raw device, select Do not assign a drive letter or drive path. To mount the raw device, assign and remove a drive letter. Do not use spanned volumes or striped volumes. These options will convert the volume to a dynamic disk. Oracle Automatic Storage Management does not support dynamic disks.

Note:
Oracle RAC is only supported on 64-bit Windows server operating systems.

Services

Windows services are similar to UNIX daemons.

Oracle Database registers a database instance as a service (OracleServiceSID). Services start background processes.

To connect to and use an Oracle Database instance, an Oracle Database service is created during database creation and associated with Oracle Database. Once a service is created with Oracle Database, the service can run even while no user is logged on.

From the Start menu, select Control Panel, then select Administrative Tools, and then select Services to access the Services dialog.

See Also:
Chapter 6, "Administering a Database on Windows"

Glossary

alert log

A file that contains important information and error messages that are generated during database operations.

authenticate

To verify the identity of a user, device, or other entity in a computer system, often as a prerequisite for allowing access to resources in a system.

authorization

Permission given to a user, program, or process to access an object or set of objects. In Oracle Database, authorization is done through the role mechanism. A single person or a group of people can be granted a role or a group of roles. A role, in turn, can be granted other roles.

backup

A representative copy of data. This copy includes important parts of your database such as control files, redo log files, and data files.

A backup is a safeguard against unexpected data loss; if you lose your original data, then you can use the backup to make the data available again. A backup is also a safeguard against an application error; if an application makes incorrect changes, then you can restore the backup.

certificate authority

A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted third party that certifies the identity of other entities such as users, databases, administrators, clients, and servers. The certificate authority verifies the user's identity and grants a certificate, signing it with one of the certificate authority's private keys.

COM

Microsoft's Component Object Model is an object-oriented programming architecture and a set of operating system services. These services notify running application components of significant events and ensure that they are authorized to run. COM is intended to make it relatively easy to create business applications that work well with Microsoft Transaction Server.

component-based shadow copies

VSS snapshots of Oracle database components. Examples of components include tablespaces or archived redo logs.

connect descriptor

A specially formatted description of the destination for a network connection. A connect descriptor contains destination services and network route information. The destination service is indicated by using its service name for Oracle9i or Oracle8i databases or its Oracle system identifier for Oracle8 Release 8.0 databases. The network route provides, at a minimum, the location of the listener through use of a network address.

connect identifier

A net service name or service name, that maps to a connect descriptor. Users initiate a connect request by passing a username and password along with a connect identifier in a connect string for the services to which they want to connect, for example:

CONNECT username/password@connect_identifier

connect string

See net service name.

control files

Files that record the physical structure of a database and contain the database name, the names and locations of associated databases and online redo log files, the time stamp of the database creation, the current log sequence number, and checkpoint information.

credentials

A username, password, or certificate used to gain access to the database.

data dictionary

A set of read-only tables that provide information about a database.

database alias

See net service name.

decryption

Process of converting contents of a message that has gone through encryption (ciphertext) back into its original readable format (plaintext).

digital certificates

ITU X.509 v3 standard data structures that securely bind an identity to a public key. A certificate is created when an entity's public key is signed by a trusted identity, a certificate authority. The certificate ensures that the entity's information is correct and that the public key actually belongs to that entity.

digital signature

Digital signatures are created when a public key algorithm is used to sign messages with senders' private keys. A digital signature assures that a document is authentic, has not been forged by another entity, has not been altered, and cannot be repudiated by the sender.

DLL

See dynamic link library.

downgrade

To convert the data in Oracle Database to an earlier Oracle release. See upgrade and migrate.

dynamic link library

An executable file that a Windows application can load when needed.

encryption

Process of disguising a message, rendering it unreadable to any but the intended recipient.

enterprise domains

Directory constructs consisting of Oracle Database and enterprise users and roles.

enterprise role

A directory structure which contains global roles on multiple databases, and which can be granted to an enterprise user.

enterprise user

A user that has a unique identity across an enterprise. An enterprise user connects to individual databases through a schema and is assigned an enterprise role that determines the user's access privileges on databases.

external procedures

Functions written in a third-generation language (C, for example) and callable from within PL/SQL or SQL as if they were PL/SQL functions or procedures.

external role

Roles created and managed by Windows operating systems. Once an external role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. You must set init.ora parameter OS_ROLES to true and restart Oracle Database before you can create an external role. You cannot use both Windows operating systems and Oracle Database to grant roles concurrently.

external routine

A function written in a third-generation language (3GL), such as C, and callable from within PL/SQL or SQL as if it were a PL/SQL function or procedure.

external user

A user authenticated by the Windows operating system who can access Oracle Database without being prompted for a password. External users are typically regular database users (non-database administrators) to which you assign standard database roles (such as DBA), but do not want to assign SYSDBA (database administrator) or SYSOPER (database operator) privilege.

external user

The Windows operating system can authenticate a user, who can then access Oracle Database without being prompted for a password. External users are typically regular database users (non-database administrators) to whom you assign standard database roles (such as DBA), but do not want to assign the SYSDBA (database administrator) or SYSOPER (database operator) privilege.

global groups

See Windows global groups.

global role

A role whose privileges are contained within a single database, but which is managed in a directory.

Globalization Support

The Oracle Database architecture that ensures that database utilities, error messages, sort order, date, time, monetary, numeric, and calendar conventions automatically adapt to the native language and locale.

HOMENAME

Represents the name of an Oracle home. In Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), all Oracle homes have a unique HOMENAME.

init.ora

See initialization parameter file.

initialization parameter file

An ASCII text file that contains information needed to initialize a database and instance.

instance

Every running Oracle Database is associated with an Oracle Database or Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance. When a database is started on a database server (regardless of the type of computer), Oracle Database allocates a memory area called the System Global Area and starts one or more Oracle Database processes. This combination of the System Global Area and Oracle Database processes is called an instance. The memory and processes of an instance manage the associated database's data efficiently and serve the users of the database.

latch

A simple, low-level serialization mechanism to protect shared data structures in the System Global Area.

LDAP

See Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

A standard, extensible directory access protocol. It is a common language that LDAP clients and servers use to communicate. LDAP is a framework of design conventions supporting industry-standard directory products, such as Oracle Internet Directory.

listener

The Oracle Database server process that listens for and accepts incoming connection requests from client applications. The listener process starts Oracle Database processes to handle subsequent communications with the client; then it goes back to listening for new connection requests.

listener.ora

A configuration file that describes one or more Transparent Network Substrate (TNS) listeners on a server.

local groups

See Windows local groups.

local roles

Roles created and managed by the database. Once a local role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. You cannot use Windows (for external role management) and Oracle Database (for local role management) concurrently.

Microsoft Management Console

An application that serves as a host for administrative tools called snap-ins. By itself, Microsoft Management Console does not provide any functionality.

Microsoft Transaction Server

A transaction processing system based on COM that runs on an Internet or network server.

migrate

To upgrade or downgrade an Oracle Database or convert the data in a non-Oracle database into an Oracle Database.

mount

To associate a database with an instance that has been started.

MTS

See Microsoft Transaction Server

multiple Oracle homes

The capability of having multiple Oracle home on a computer.

net service name

The name used by clients to identify an Oracle Net server and the specific system identifier or database for the Oracle Net connection. A net service name is mapped to a port number and protocol. Also known as a connect string, database alias, host string, or service name.

This also identifies the specific system identifier or database to which the connection is attaching, not just the Oracle Net server.

network listener

A listener on a server that listens for connection requests for one or more databases on one or more protocols. See listener.

network service

In an Oracle application network, a service performs tasks for its service consumers. For example, a Names Server provides name resolution services for clients.

obfuscated

Protected by a process often used by companies for intellectual property written in the form of Java programs. The obfuscation process mixes up Java symbols found in the code. It leaves the original program structure intact, allowing the program to run correctly, while changing the names of the classes, methods, and variables to hide the intended behavior. Although it is possible to decompile and read non-obfuscated Java code, obfuscated Java code is sufficiently difficult to decompile to satisfy U.S. government export controls.

OCI

See Oracle Call Interface.

OFA

See Optimal Flexible Architecture.

Optimal Flexible Architecture

A set of file naming and placement guidelines for Oracle Database software and databases.

ORACLE_BASE

ORACLE_BASE is the root of the Oracle Database directory tree. If you install an OFA-compliant database using Oracle Universal Installer defaults, then ORACLE_BASE is X:\app\username\product\12.1.0 where X is any hard drive.

Oracle Call Interface

An application programming interface that enables you to manipulate data and schema in an Oracle Database. You compile and link an Oracle Call Interface application in the same way that you compile and link a non-database application. There is no need for a separate preprocessing or precompilation step.

ORACLE_HOME

Corresponds to the environment in which Oracle Database products run. This environment includes the location of installed product files, the PATH variable pointing to the binary files of installed products, registry entries, net service names, and program groups.

If you install an OFA-compliant database, using Oracle Universal Installer defaults, then Oracle home (known as ORACLE_HOME in this guide) is located beneath ORACLE_BASE. It contains subdirectories for Oracle Database software executables and network files.

Oracle Home User Control

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), a new Windows utility called the Oracle Home User Control has been introduced. This is a command-line tool that displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle Home or helps to update the password of an Oracle Home User. This tool accepts the new password at the tool's prompt for password entry and validates it against the password of the operating system. The tool terminates if password validation fails. Moreover, the user starting the orahomeuserctl command, must have administrator privileges.

Oracle Internet Directory

An Oracle Database-based LDAP V3 directory server, used for centralizing database user, Oracle Net network connector, and database listener parameters.

Oracle Net

A component of Oracle Net Services that enables a network session from a client application to an Oracle Database server. Once a network session is established, Oracle Net acts as a data courier for the client application and the database server. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining the connection between the client application and database server, and exchanging messages between them. Oracle Net can perform these jobs because it is located on each computer in the network.

Oracle Net Services

A suite of networking components that provide enterprise-wide connectivity solutions in distributed, heterogeneous computing environments. Oracle Net Services are comprised of Oracle Net, listener, Oracle Connection Manager, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, and Oracle Net Manager.

Oracle PKI

Oracle Advanced Security includes Oracle PKI (public key infrastructure) integration for authentication and single sign-on. Oracle-based applications are integrated with the PKI authentication and encryption framework, using Oracle Wallet Manager.

Oracle Protocol Support

A product that maps the functions of a given network protocol into Oracle Transparent Network Substrate (TNS) architecture. This process translates TNS function calls into requests to the underlying network protocol. This allows TNS to act as an interface among all protocols. Oracle Net requires Oracle Protocol Support.

Oracle Services

Windows services that are associated with particular Oracle Database components.

Oracle VSS writer

A service on Windows systems that acts as coordinator between an Oracle database instance and other VSS components, enabling data providers to create a shadow copy of files managed by the Oracle instance. For example, the Oracle VSS writer can place data files in hot backup mode to provide a recoverable copy of these data files in a shadow copy set.

PL/SQL

Procedural language extension to SQL that is part of Oracle Database.

PL/SQL enables you to mix SQL statements with procedural constructs. You can define and run PL/SQL program units such as procedures, functions, and packages.

precompiler

A programming tool that enables you to embed SQL statements in a high-level source program.

private keys

In public key cryptography, these are the secret keys. They are used primarily for decryption but also for encryption with a digital signature.

privilege

A right to run a particular type of SQL statement or to access another user's object.

process

A mechanism in an operating system that can run an executable. (Some operating systems use the terms job or task.) A process usually has its own private memory area in which it runs. On Windows a process is created when an application runs (such as Oracle Database or Microsoft Word). In addition to an executable program, all processes consist of at least one thread. The Oracle Database master process contains hundreds of threads.

provider

Software or hardware that creates shadow copies on demand. Typically, a provider is a disk storage system. In response to a request from a requester, a provider responds to VSS COM messages to create and maintain shadow copies.

public key

In public key cryptography, this key is made public to all. It is primarily used for encryption but can also be used for verifying signatures.

public key cryptography

Public key cryptography involves information encryption and decryption using a shared public key paired with private keys. Provides for secure, private communications within a public network.

quota

A limit on a resource, such as a limit on the amount of database storage used by a database user. A database administrator can set tablespace quotas for each Oracle Database username.

raw partitions

Portions of a physical disk that are accessed at the lowest possible disk (block) level.

recovery

To restore a physical backup is to reconstruct it and make it available to the Oracle Database server. To recover a restored backup is to update it using redo records (that is, records of changes made to the database after the backup was taken). Recovering a backup involves two distinct operations: rolling forward the backup to a more current time by applying redo data, and rolling back all changes made in uncommitted transactions to their original state.

redo log buffer

A circular buffer in the System Global Area that contains information about changes made to the database.

redo log files

Files that contain a record of all changes made to data in the database buffer cache. If an instance failure occurs, then the redo log files are used to recover the modified data that was in memory.

registry

A Windows repository that stores configuration information for a computer.

remote computer

A computer on a network other than the local computer.

remote database

A database on a computer other than the local database.

requester

An application that uses the VSS API to create shadow copies. Requester applications communicate with VSS writers to gather information about the system and to signal writers to prepare data for backup. The requester maintain control over VSS backup and restore operations by generating COM events through calls in the VSS API.

replication

The process of copying and maintaining database objects in multiple databases that comprise a distributed database system.

role

A named groups of related privileges. You can grant a role to users or to another role.

schema

A named collection of objects, such as tables, views, clusters, procedures, and packages, associated with one or more particular users.

services

Executable processes installed in the Windows registry and administered by Windows. Once services are created and started, they can run even when no user is logged on to the computer.

service name

See net service name.

SGA

See System Global Area.

shadow copy

A consistent snapshot of a component or volume.

shadow copy set

A collection of shadow copies that are all taken at the same time.

Shared Server Process

A server configuration which allows many user processes to share very few server processes. The user processes connect to a dispatcher background process, which routes client requests to the next available shared server process.

SID

See system identifier.

snap-ins

Administrative tools that run within Microsoft Management Console.

snapshot

(1) Information stored in rollback segments provide transaction recovery and read consistency. Use Rollback segment information to re-create a snapshot of a row before an update.

(2) A point-in-time copy of a master table located on a remote site. Read-only snapshots can be queried, but not updated. Updateable snapshots can be queried and updated. They are periodically refreshed to reflect changes made to the master table, and at the snapshot site.

starter database

A preconfigured, ready-to-use database that requires minimal user input to create.

SYSDBA

A special database administration role that contains all system privileges with the ADMIN OPTN, and the SYSOPER system privilege. SYSDBA also permits CREATE DATABASE actions and time-based recovery.

SYSOPER

A special database administration role that permits a database administrator to perform STARTUP, SHUTDOWN, ALTER DATABASE OPEN/MOUNT, ALTER DATABASE BACKUP, ARCHIVE LOG, and RECOVER, and includes the RESTRICTED SESSN privilege.

System Global Area

A group of shared memory structures that contain data and control information for an Oracle Database instance.

system identifier

A unique name for an Oracle Database instance. To switch between instances of Oracle Database, users must specify the desired system identifier. The system identifier is included in the CONNECT DATA parts of the connect descriptors in a tnsnames.ora file, and in the definition of the network listener in a tnsnames.ora file.

SYSTEM

One of two standard database administrator user names automatically created with each database. (The other user name is SYS.). The SYSTEM user name is the preferred user name for database administrators to use for database maintenance.

tablespace

A database is divided into one or more logical storage units called tablespaces. Tablespaces are divided into logical units of storage called segments, which are further divided into extents.

thread

An individual path of execution within a process. Threads are objects within a process that run program instructions. Threads allow concurrent operations within a process so that a process can run different parts of its program simultaneously on different processors. A thread is the most fundamental component that can be scheduled on Windows.

tnsnames.ora

A file that contains connect descriptors mapped to net service names. The file can be maintained centrally or locally, for use by all or individual clients.

trace file

Each server and background process can write to an associated trace file. When a process detects an internal error, it dumps information about the error to its trace file. Some information written to a trace file is intended for the database administrator, while other information is intended for Oracle Support Services. Trace file information is also used to tune applications and instances.

trust points

Trust points or trusted certificates are third party identities that are qualified with a level of trust. A trusted certificate is used when an identity is being validated as the entity it claims to be. Certificate authorities you trust are called trusted certificates. If there are several levels of trusted certificates, a trusted certificate at a lower level in the certificate chain does not have all its higher level certificates reverified.

universal groups

Universal groups are available in Windows. They can contain other groups, including other universal groups, local groups, and global groups.

upgrade

To convert the data in an Oracle Database into a later release. See downgrade and migrate.

username

A name that can connect to and access objects in a database.

view

A selective presentation of the structure and data of one or more tables. Views can also be based on other views.

volume-based shadow copies

VSS snapshots of complete drives or volumes.

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

An infrastructure on Windows server platforms that enables requesters, writers and providers to participate in creation of consistent snapshots called Shadow Copies. The VSS service uses well-defined COM interfaces.

Windows global groups

Groups that can be granted permissions and rights in their own domain, member servers and workstations of their domain, and in trusted domains. They can also become members of Windows local groups in all these places. But global groups can contain user accounts only from their own domains.

Windows local groups

Groups that can be granted permissions and rights only for its own computer or, if part of a domain, to the domain controllers of that domain. Local groups can, however, contain user accounts and Windows global groups from both their own domain and from trusted domains

writer

An application or service that stores persistent information about disk and cooperates with providers and requesters within the VSS infrastructure.

Index
A  B  C  D  E  F  H  I  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X

A

Access Control Lists (ACL)

adding and deleting security group members, 14.6.3

available security groups, 14.6

setting NTFS ACLs manually, 5.4.1.5

setting on Net Service directory objects, 14.6.2

accessing Active Directory, 14.1.2 ACLs

adding and deleting security group members, 14.6.3

available security groups, 14.6

setting NTFS ACLs manually, 5.4.1.5

setting on Net Service directory objects, 14.6.2

Active Directory

adding and deleting security group members, 14.6.3

automatic discovery of directory servers, 14.2.2

connecting to a database, 14.5

how Oracle directory objects appear, 14.2.7

integration with directory servers, 14.5

integration with Oracle objects, 14.2.3

managing Access Control Lists, 14.6

managing security groups, 14.6

requirements for using Oracle, 14.5

testing connectivity from client computers, 14.5

testing connectivity with SQL*Plus, 14.2.4

testing database connectivity, 14.2.4

user interface extensions, 14.2.4

adding and deleting users

Net Service Objects, 14.6.3

OracleDBCreators, 14.6.3

OracleNetAdmins, 14.6.3

adding executables, 5.1.1.2

firewall exceptions for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM, 5.1.1.2.4

firewall exceptions for Oracle Database, 5.1.1.2.1

firewall exceptions for Oracle Database Examples, 5.1.1.2.2

firewall exceptions for Oracle Gateways, 5.1.1.2.3

firewall exceptions for other Oracle Products, 5.1.1.2.5

administering external roles, 11.2 administration tools prompting for password

Domain User Account, 2.2

Local User Account, 2.2

password not stored in Oracle Wallet, 2.2

administrator

starting ASMCA tool

member of ORA_ASMADMIN, 2.2

starting DBCA tool

member of ORA_DBA, 2.2

starting DBUA tool

member of ORA_ASMADMIN, 2.2

Administrators group

running configuration tools, 2.2.2

advanced replication

about, 5.9

configuring

adding and modifying initialization parameters, 5.9.2, 5.9.2

checking tablespace, 5.9.1

monitoring data dictionary tables, 5.9.3, 5.9.3

alert logs

monitoring a database, 7.1

using, 7.3

archiving mode

controlling, 6.7

custom database, 6.7

starter database, 6.7

archiving procedures

for redo log files, 6.7

archiving redo log files, 6.7 audit trail

managing, 7.2.3

operating system, 2.5.1

AUDIT_FILE_DEST, 7.2.3, 15.4 Authenticated Users, 5.3

permissions for Oracle Database Client Oracle home, 5.4.1.1

permissions for Oracle Database Oracle home, 5.4.1.1

permissions for Oracle Grid Infrastructure Oracle home, 5.4.1.1

Authenticated Users group, 5.4.1.1 authentication

automatically enabling during installation, 10.4

enhancements, 10.3

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN parameter, 11.2.1.1

overview, 10.1, 14.4

using a password file, 6.5

using Windows native authentication methods, 14.4

using Windows native methods, 10.1

viewing parameter settings, 11.1.6

auto-starting Oracle Database services, 6.1.4

using Control Panel, 6.1.4

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.4

B

backing up database

32-bit Oracle Database, 4.5.1

about, 9.3

in archivelog mode

component-based, 9.3, 9.3.2

volume-based, 9.3, 9.3.2

in noarchivelog mode

component-based, 9.3.3

volume-based, 9.3.3

new database, 4.3.11 blocks for each file, maximum, 15.7

C

command-line tool

ORADIM, 4.4

commands

CREATE DATABASE, 4.3.6

CREATE LIBRARY, 17.2.5

NET START, 4.3.7

REGEDT32, 4.3.9

SET INSTANCE, 11.2.2.2

SET ROLE, 11.2.4.1

configuration parameters

defined, 16.1

LOCAL, B.4.1

registry, defined, 16.1

TNS_ADMIN, B.4.2

USE_SHARED_SOCKET, B.4.3

configuring

advanced replication, 5.9.1

adding and modifying initialization parameters, 5.9.2

monitoring data dictionary tables, 5.9.3

Named Pipes Protocol Adapter, B.5.2 Oracle Multimedia, 5.6.1 Oracle Spatial and Graph, 5.8

automatically, 5.8.1

Oracle Text, 5.7 Windows firewall exceptions, 5.1.1.1 Windows firewall postinstallation, 5.1.2 configuring Oracle Net Services for external procedures, 17.2.2.2 configuring Oracle Text

using Database Configuration Assistant, 5.7

using DBCA, 5.7

CONNECT /AS SYSDBA

connecting without a password, 10.4

using, 6.2

connecting

LOCAL parameter, B.4.1

to a database, 6.2

to active directory using Windows login credentials, 14.2.6

CREATE LIBRARY command, 17.2.5 creating

an Oracle Context, 14.3.2

external operating system users, 11.2.1

external roles manually, 11.2.4

Oracle Schema objects, 14.3.1

ORACLE_SID parameter, 4.3.10

creating a local database role, 11.1.8 custom database

archiving mode, 6.7

noarchiving mode, 6.7

D

data dictionary tables, 5.9.3

Data Pump Export, starting, 2.2.4

Data Pump Import, starting, 2.2.4

database administrator (DBA) privileges

for a single database on a computer, 11.1.10

for all databases on a computer, 11.1.3

for ASM, 11.2.2

for databases, 11.2.2

database connection error messages, D.6 database monitoring

with alert logs, 7.3

with Event Viewer, 7.2

with trace files, 7.3

database operator privileges

for a single database on a computer, 11.1.11

for all databases on a computer, 11.1.4

for databases, 11.2.2

database tools

operating system compatibility, 2.1.1

running with administrator privileges, 2.2.2

running with Windows User Account Control, 2.2.2

starting ASMCA, 2.2.3

starting DBCA, 2.2.3, 4.2

starting from the command line, 2.2.4

starting from the Start Menu, 2.2.3

starting in multiple Oracle Homes, 2.2.1

starting Microsoft ODBC Administration, 2.2.3

starting NetCA, 2.2.3, 14.3.2.1

starting Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, 2.2.3

starting Oracle Directory Manager, 2.2.3

starting Oracle Net Manager, 2.2.3

starting Oracle Wallet Manager, 2.2.3

databases

backing up, 4.3.11

connecting to, 6.2

creating manually, 4.3

deleting, 4.3.2

exporting, 4.3.1

importing, 4.3.8

monitoring, 7.1

naming conventions, 4.1

password encryption, 6.6.2

shutting down, 6.2, 6.3

starting, 6.2

DBCA prompts for password

Domain User Account, 4.2

Local User Account, 4.2

password not stored in Oracle Wallet, 4.2

debugging external procedures, 17.4 deleting database files, 4.3.2 developing applications for Windows, 17.1 diagnostic and tuning utilities for Windows, 2.6 directory naming software requirements, 14.3.3 directory servers

automatic discovery of directory servers, 14.2.2

features integrated with Oracle Database 11g, 14.2.1

how Oracle directory objects display in Active Directory, 14.2.7

integration with Active Directory, 14.5

managing Access Control Lists, 14.6

requirements for using Oracle with Active Directory, 14.5

user interface extensions, 14.2.4

DisplayName parameter, B.2.1 DLLs

compared to UNIX shared libraries, E.5

displaying with Task List, 2.6

external procedures, 17.2.4

Oracle Real Application Clusters

dnfs_batch_size parameter

default value is 4096, 1.1.4

recommended setting, 1.1.4

to control the number of queued asynchronous I/Os, 1.1.4

DNS-style naming convention, 14.5 duplicating a database

about, 9.6

creating a nonstandby database from shadow copies, 9.6.1

creating a standby database from shadow copies, 9.6.2

E

encrypting, database passwords, 6.6.2

enhanced security, 5.4.1, 5.4.5

enhancing Oracle directory object type descriptions, 14.2.5

error messages

DIM-00000 to DIM-00228, D.5

ORA-01102, 4.1

ORA-09275, D.1

ORA-12560, D.6

ORA-15252 to ORA-15266, D.2

ORA-15301 to ORA-15302, D.3

OSD-04000 to OSD-04099, D.4.1

OSD-04100 to OSD-04199, D.4.2

OSD-04200 to OSD-04299, D.4.3

OSD-04300 to OSD-04399, D.4.4

OSD-04400 to OSD-04499, D.4.5

OSD-04500 to OSD-04599, D.4.6

Event Viewer

blue (informational) icon, 7.2

defined, 2.5.1

for monitoring a database, 7.1

integration with Oracle Database, 2.5.1

logging operating system audit trail, 2.5.1

managing, 7.2.3

reading, 7.2.2

red (stop sign) icon, 7.2

starting, 2.2.5

using, 7.2

yellow (exclamation point) icon, 7.2

EXECUTE privileges, on a PL/SQL library, 17.2.5 Export parameter mode, 4.3.1 Export Wizard, 2.1.2 exporting

databases, 4.3.1

interactive mode, 4.3.1

parameter mode, 4.3.1

preferred tools, 2.2.4

extended partition, A.1 EXTERNAL clause, 17.2.5 external operating system users

administering, 11.1, 11.2

authentication, 11.2.1.1

authentication on client computer, 11.2.1.2

creating, 11.1.7, 11.2.1

migrating manually, 11.2.5

external procedures

advantages, 17.2.1

building a DLL, 17.2.4

creating, 17.2

creating a PL/SQL library, 17.2.5

debugging, 17.4

executing, 17.2.7

EXTERNAL clause, 17.2.5

granting EXECUTE privileges, 17.2.5

registering with Oracle Database, 17.2.5

using, 17.2

using EXTPROC, 17.2.2.2

writing, 17.2.3

external roles

administering, 11.1, 11.2

authorization on client computer, 11.2.4.2

authorization on Oracle database server, 11.2.4.1

creating, 11.1.9

creating manually, 11.2.4

external users

administering, 11.1

creating, 11.1.7

EXTPROC agent

authentication using CREATE LIBRARY extension

CREDENTIAL clause, 17.2.5

DIRECTORY object, 17.2.5

example, 17.2.3 explained, 17.2.2.1 responsibilities, 17.2.2.2

F

failure to modify ownership, group, and permission of open files, D.3

features supporting large user population

Oracle Database Shared Server Process, 1.2.1

Oracle Net multiplexing and connection pooling, 1.2.1

Oracle RAC, 1.2.1

file I/O enhancements, 1.1.4 file permissions, 5.4.1, 5.4.5 files

maximum number for each database, 15.7

maximum size possible, 15.7

sample init.ora, 15.2

trace, 7.3

finding information on application development for Windows, 17.1 FSEEK line terminators, 17.5

H

hiding password file

using command prompt, 6.5.1

using Windows Explorer, 6.5.1

I

ImagePath parameter, B.2.1

Import Wizard, 2.1.2

importing

databases, 4.3.8

parameter mode, 4.3.8

preferred tools, 2.1.2

initialization parameter file

defined, 15.1

displaying values, 15.5

editing, 15.1.2

location, 15.1.1

operating system specific, 15.4

unmodifiable, 15.6

using Advanced Replication Support, 5.9.2

initialization parameters

OS_ROLES, 10.3

path in registry, 16.3.1.5

instances

modifying, 4.4.4

Oracle Database, 1.1.3

running multiple instances, 6.4

integration with Windows

Oracle Fail Safe, 1.3.3

Oracle PKI, 1.3.1

Oracle Services for MTS, 1.3.2

L

large page support

enabling, 8.2.2

overview, 8.2

running as user, 8.2

listener requirements, B.3 LOCAL networking parameter, B.4.1

M

manually migrating external operating system users, 11.2.5

MAXDATAFILES, 4.3.3

maximum file size of control files, 15.7

memory usage, 8.4

Microsoft Active Directory, 14.1.1

Microsoft Certificate Services, 13.2.2

Microsoft Certificate Stores, 13.2.1

Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

defined, 2.5.2

integration with Oracle Database, 2.5.2

starting, 2.2.5

migrating

Oracle Database 11g or earlier, 4.5.3

Oracle Database 12c from Oracle Database 11g, 4.5.2

Migration Utility tool, 2.1.2 MMC. See Microsoft Management Console modifying executable images, 1.1.3 monitoring

alert logs, 7.1

Event Viewer, 7.1

Management Pack, 7.1

trace files, 7.1

monitoring data dictionary tables, 5.9.3 multiple instances, running, 6.4 multithreaded agent architecture, 17.3

N

Named Pipes Protocol Adapter, B.5.2

Named Pipes Protocol Adapter with an Oracle Names Server, B.5.2

naming conventions for multiple Oracle homes, 6.1.1

Net Service Objects security group, 14.6.1.3

networking parameters

LOCAL, B.4.1

TNS_ADMIN, B.4.2

USE_SHARED_SOCKET, B.4.3

noarchiving mode

custom database, 6.7

NTFS file system permission setting, 5.4 NTLM (NT Lan Manager)

authenticating Windows domain users, Preface, 10.2

authenticating Windows local users, Preface, 10.2

deprecation, Preface, 10.2

O

ObjectName parameter, B.2.1

OPER privileges, 11.2.2

operating system authentication

automatically enabling during installation, 10.4

connecting as SYSDBA without a password, 10.4

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN parameter, 11.2.1.1

operating systems

audit trail, 2.5.1

authentication overview, 10.1, 14.4

ORA_DBA local group, 10.4 Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

adding a computer to the navigation tree, 11.1.2

adding Oracle home parameter, 16.6.2

connecting to a database, 11.1.5

creating a local database role, 11.1.8

creating an external operating system user, 11.1.7

creating an external role, 11.1.9

database connection issues, 11.1.5.1

deleting Oracle home parameter, 16.6.4

editing Oracle home parameter, 16.6.3

granting administrator privileges, 11.1.10

granting operator privileges, 11.1.11

managing remote computers, 11.1.1

saving a navigation tree configuration, 11.1.2

setting OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, 11.1.6

starting, 2.2.3, 16.6.1

using, 11.1, 16.6

using the Oracle Home Configuration snap-in, 16.6

viewing authentication settings, 11.1.6

Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant (ASMCA), 2.2.2 Oracle ASM File Access Control

about, 1.1.2

managing, 1.1.2.1, 1.1.2.2, 1.1.2.3

Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (ASMCA), 2.2.3 Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM)

about, 1.1.1

configuring disks, A.2

Oracle Database

connecting remotely, 6.6

connecting remotely using SYSDBA privileges, 6.6.1

connecting to, 6.2

password encryption, 6.6.2

shutting down, 6.2, 6.3

specifications, 15.7

starting, 6.2

verifying remotely, 6.6.2

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA), 2.2.2

preferred tools, 2.1.2

registering a database object in a directory server, 14.2.6

starting, 2.2.3

Oracle Database services

auto-starting, 6.1.4

using Control Panel, 6.1.4

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.4

naming conventions for multiple Oracle homes, 6.1.1 Oracle VSS Writer

command-line syntaxes, 9.2

installing and uninstalling, 9.2

integrating with third-party requester applications, 9.5, 9.5.1, 9.5.2

options, 9.2

privileges

SeBackupPrivilege, C.1.2

SeBatchLogonRight, C.1.2

SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege, C.1.2

SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege, C.1.2

SeLockMemoryPrivilege, 8.2.1, C.1.2

run under

LocalService Account, 3

NetworkService Account, 3

Windows User Account, 3

shutting down a database, 6.3 starting, 6.1.2

using command prompt, 6.1.2

using Control Panel, 6.1.2

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.2

stopping, 6.1.3

using command prompt, 6.1.3

using Control Panel, 6.1.3

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.3

Oracle Database Upgrade Assistant (DBUA), 2.2.2 Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

preferred tools, 2.1.2

Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Management Pack, 7.1 Oracle Home Configuration snap-in, 16.6, 16.6 Oracle Home User

comparison with Linux/UNIX Oracle User, E.13

permissions, 5.4.1.1

Oracle Home User Control tool

command-line tool, 2.3

updates password of Oracle Home User, 2.3

Oracle Installation User

permissions, 5.4.1.1

Oracle Locale Builder, 2.2.3 Oracle Managed Files, 4.3.6 Oracle Multimedia

about, 5.6

configuring, 5.6.1

enabling Oracle Database to store, manage, and retrieve images, 5.6

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant

configuring Oracle software with a directory server, 14.2.2, 14.2.6

creating Oracle Context, 14.3

creating Oracle schema object, 14.3

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant (NetCA), 2.2.2, 2.2.3 Oracle Net directory naming, 14.5 Oracle Net mutiplexing and connection pooling, 1.2.1 Oracle Net Services

advanced configuration, B.5

running CMADMIN, B.3.1

running CMAN, B.3.1

running Oracle Listener, B.3.1

Oracle Public Key Infrastructure, 13.1 Oracle RAC, 1.2.1 Oracle Real Application Clusters

allows multiple server computers to access the same database files, 1.2.1

increases the number of user connections, 1.2.1

registry values, 16.4

Oracle Scheduler, 5.5 Oracle Spatial and Graph configuring, 5.8 Oracle Text

about, 5.7

configuring, 5.7, 5.7

enables text queries through SQL and PL/SQL, 5.7

Oracle VSS writer

command-line syntaxes, 9.2

component-based backup, 9.3, 9.3.1

installing and uninstalling, 9.2

integrating with third-party requester applications, 9.5

options, 9.2

volume-based backup, 9.3

Oracle VSS Writer

shadow copies

component-based, 9.1.3.1

volume-based, 9.1.3.2

Oracle Wallet Manager

about, 12.3.1

starting, 2.2.3

Oracle Wallets, 12.3

creating, 4.3.4.2

for Oracle Database Services, 4.3.4.2

storing in the registry, 12.3

storing private keys and trust points, 12.1

ORACLE_SID, 4.3.9, 6.4 OracleDBCreator security group, 14.6.1.1 OracleHOMENAMEClientCache, B.2.1 OracleHOMENAMECMAdmin, B.2.1 OracleHOMENAMECMan, B.2.1 OracleHOMENAMETNSListener, B.2.1 OracleHOMENAMETNSListener service, B.5.2 OracleNetAdmins security group, 14.6.1.2 ORADIM

accepts operating system user name and password if no /ospass option after osusr, 4.4, C.1

command syntax errors, D.5

creates Oracle Database service, 4.4, C.1

creates Oracle Scheduler service, 4.4, C.1

creates Oracle VSS Writer service, 4.4, C.1

moving or copying password files, 6.5

preferred tools, 2.1.2

starting, 2.2.4

using operating system user name and password, 2.1.2

ORAPWD

creating password files, 6.5

starting, 2.2.4

OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX parameter

case-insensitive, 11.2.1.1

defined, 11.1.6

using, 11.2.1.1

OS_ROLES parameter

defined, 11.1.6

using with external roles, 10.3

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN, 11.1.1, 11.2.1.1 OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN parameter, 11.2.1.1

P

parameter mode

Export, 4.3.1, 4.3.1

Import, 4.3.8

parameters

AUDIT_FILE_DEST, 7.2.3

DisplayName, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

ImagePath, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

INST_LOC, 16.3.2.1

LOCAL, B.4.1, B.4.1

MSHELP_TOOLS, 16.3.1.1

NLS_LANG and Other Globalization Parameters, 16.3.1.2

ObjectName, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

ORA_AFFINITY, 16.3.1.10

ORA_CWD, 16.3.1.3

ORA_HOMENAME, 16.3.1.16

ORA_SID_AUTOSTART, 16.3.1.4

ORA_SID_PFILE, 16.3.1.5

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN, 16.3.1.6

ORA_TZFILE, 16.3.1.9

ORACLE_BASE, 16.3.1.11

ORACLE_GROUP_NAME, 16.3.1.12

ORACLE_HOME, 16.3.1.13

ORACLE_HOME_KEY, 16.3.1.14

ORACLE_HOME_USER, 16.3.1.15

ORACLE_PRIORITY, 16.3.1.17

ORACLE_SID, 4.3.9, 6.4, 16.3.1.18

OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, 11.1.6

OS_ROLES, 11.1.6

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN, 11.1.1, 11.2.1.1, 16.3.1.19

RDBMS_ARCHIVE, 16.3.1.20

RDBMS_CONTROL, 16.3.1.21

REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE, 6.5

SGA_MAX_SIZE, 15.3

SQLPATH, 16.3.1.22

TNS_ADMIN, B.4.2

USE_SHARED_SOCKET, B.4.3

partitions

extended, A.1

logical partition, A.1.2

physical disk, A.1.1

raw, A.1

password

encryption, 6.6.2

not needed with SYSDBA, 10.4

utility, 6.5

password file

authenticating database administrators, 6.5

creating, 6.5

hiding, 6.5

using command prompt, 6.5.1

using Windows Explorer, 6.5.1

viewing

using command prompt, 6.5.1

using Windows Explorer, 6.5.1

permissions

Administrators, 5.4.1.1

Oracle Home User, 5.4.1.1

Oracle Installation User, 5.4.1.1

SYSTEM, 5.4.1.1

PhysicalDrive, A.1.1 PL/SQL Embedded Gateway, 17.1.6 postinstallation

setting NTFS file system permissions, 5.4

setting NTFS File System security, 5.4.4

setting permissions for Windows Registry Entries, 5.4.2

setting permissions for Windows Service Entries, 5.4.3

setting Windows registry security, 5.4.5

preferred tools

Backup Wizard, 2.1.2

Load Wizard, 2.1.2

OCOPY, 2.1.2

Recovery Manager, 2.1.2

Recovery Wizard, 2.1.2

SQL*Loader, 2.1.2

privileges, 2.2.2 Process Explode, 2.6 Process Viewer, 2.6 PWDSID.ORA file, 6.5

Q

querying background processes, 1.1.3

R

raw partition

considerations, A.1.3

defined, A.1

logical partition, A.1.2

overview, A.1

physical disk, A.1.1

Recovery Manager

preferred tools, 2.1.2

starting, 2.2.4

registering an external procedure, 17.2.5 registry

adding parameters, 16.5.2

and Oracle Real Application Clusters

configuration parameters, defined, 16.1

DisplayName, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

editor, 16.2

editor, starting, 2.2.5

ImagePath, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

INST_LOC, 16.3.2.1

keys, defined, 16.2

managing parameters, 16.6

modifying values, 16.5

MSHELP_TOOLS, 16.3.1.1

NLS_LANG and Other Globalization Parameters, 16.3.1.2

ObjectName, 16.3.3.1, B.2.1

ORA_AFFINITY, 16.3.1.10

ORA_CWD, 16.3.1.3

ORA_HOMENAME, 16.3.1.16

ORA_SID_AUTOSTART, 16.3.1.4

ORA_SID_PFILE, 16.3.1.5

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN, 16.3.1.6

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT, 16.3.1.7

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE, 16.3.1.8

ORA_TZFILE, 16.3.1.9

ORACLE_BASE, 16.3.1.11

ORACLE_GROUP_NAME, 16.3.1.12

ORACLE_HOME, 16.3.1.13

ORACLE_HOME_KEY, 16.3.1.14

ORACLE_HOME_USER, 16.3.1.15

ORACLE_PRIORITY, 16.3.1.17

ORACLE_SID, 16.3.1.18

OracleHOMENAMEClientCache, B.2.1

OracleHOMENAMECMAdmin, B.2.1

OracleHOMENAMECMan, B.2.1

OracleHOMENAMETNSListener, B.2.1

OSAUTH_PREFIX_DOMAIN, 11.2.1.1, 16.3.1.19

RDBMS_ARCHIVE, 16.3.1.20

RDBMS_CONTROL, 16.3.1.21

REG_BINARY, 16.2, 16.5.2

REG_DWORD, 16.2, 16.5.2

REG_EXPAND_SZ, 16.2, 16.5.2

REG_MULTI_SZ, 16.2, 16.5.2

REG_QWORD, 16.2, 16.5.2

REG_SZ, 16.2, 16.5.2

REGEDT32, 16.5.1, 16.5.2

setting security, 5.4.5

SQLPATH, 16.3.1.22

update ORACLE_SID, 4.3.9

registry keys, 16.2 registry parameters for storing an Oracle Wallet, 12.3 remote computers

managing with Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, 11.1.1

REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE, 6.5 resetting passwords for default accounts, 5.2 resolving database connection issue

OEM failure, 4.4

OID failure, 4.4

startup mode set to automatic, 4.4

restoring and recovering a database

about, 9.4

archivelog mode, 9.4

noarchivelog mode, 9.4

Restoring and Recovering a Database

archivelog mode

performing disaster recovery, 9.4.1.5

recovering all tablespaces, 9.4.1.4

recovering from the loss of all multiplexed control files, 9.4.1.2

recovering tablespaces or datafiles, 9.4.1.3

restoring server parameter file, 9.4.1.1

noarchivelog mode

restoring component-based backups, 9.4.2

restoring volume-based backups, 9.4.2

role authorization

description, 10.3

method enhancements, 10.3

roles

creating, 11.1.9

creating a local database role, 11.1.8

running SYSASM

authentication on Oracle database server, 11.2.2.1

running SYSDBA

authentication on Oracle database server, 11.2.2.1

running SYSOPER

authentication on Oracle database server, 11.2.2.1

running tools with Windows User Account Control, 2.2.2 running windows services, C.1.1

S

security groups

Net Service Objects, 14.6.1

OracleDBCreators, 14.6.1

OracleNetAdmins, 14.6.1

services, 6.1.1

auto-starting, 6.1.4, 6.1.4, 6.1.4

creating, 4.3.4

shutting down a database, 6.3

starting, 4.3.4, 6.1.2, 6.1.2, 6.1.2, 6.1.2

stopping, 6.1.3, 6.1.3, 6.1.3, 6.1.3

SET ORACLE_SID=SID, 6.4 SET ROLE command, 11.2.4.1 setting file permissions

Database Upgrade Assistant, 5.4.1

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, 5.4.1

Oracle Universal Installer, 5.4.1

setting registry parameters

for starting Oracle Database, 6.3

for stopping Oracle Database, 6.3

optional

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT, 6.3, 16.3.1.7

ORA_SID_SHUTDOWNTYPE, 6.3, 16.3.1.8

ORA_SHUTDOWN, 6.3 ORA_SID_AUTOSTART, 6.3 ORA_SID_PFILE, 6.3 ORA_SID_SHUTDOWN, 6.3 Shared Server Process, 1.2.1 shutting down databases, 6.2, 6.3 SQL*Loader

control file conventions, 2.4.2

preferred tools, 2.1.2

starting, 2.2.4

SQL*Plus

connecting to a database through Active Directory, 14.2.4

preferred tools, 2.1.2

shutting down the database, 6.2

starting, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 6.2

starting the database, 6.2

SQL*Plus Worksheet

preferred tools, 2.1.2

sqlnet.ora file

and Windows native authentication, 11.2.2.2, 11.2.4.1

location of, 11.2.2.2, 11.2.4.1

starting

Oracle Database, 6.3

Oracle Database services, 6.1.2

using command prompt, 6.1.2

using Control Panel, 6.1.2, 6.3

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.2

SQL*Plus, 6.2 TKPROF, 2.2.4 starting an Oracle Database instance, 4.3.5 starting Oracle Database, 6.3 stopping

Oracle Database, 6.3

Oracle Database services, 6.1.3

using command prompt, 6.1.3

using Control Panel, 6.1.3, 6.3

using Oracle Administration Assistant, 6.1.3

stopping Oracle Database, 6.3 storing an Oracle Wallet, 12.3 SYSDBA privileges

connecting without a password, 10.4

for a single database on a computer, 11.1.10

for all databases on a computer, 11.1.3

member of

ORA_DBA, 10.4

ORA_HOMENAME_DBA, 10.4

SYSOPER privileges

for a single database on a computer, 11.1.11

for all databases on a computer, 11.1.4

SYSTEM user

permissions, 5.4.1.1

T

Task List, 2.6

Task Manager

starting, 2.2.5

using, 2.5.4

testing connectivity

from client computers, 14.5.1

from Microsoft tools, 14.5.2

thread-based architecture, 1.1.3 threads

and Microsoft Management Console, 2.5.2

and multiple Oracle Database instances, 1.1.3

and ORASTACK, 1.1.3

and shared server process, 1.2.1

and UNIX processes, E.14

defined, 1.1.3

optional and required, 1.1.3

process errors, D.4

processor affinity, 16.3.1.10

scheduling priority, 16.3.1.17

TNS_ADMIN networking parameter, B.4.2 tools, starting

asmtool, 2.2.4

asmtoolg, 2.2.4

Data Pump Export, 2.2.4

Data Pump Import, 2.2.4

Database Configuration Assistant, 2.2.3

DBVERIFY, 2.2.4

Event Viewer, 2.2.5

Export, 2.2.4

Microsoft Management Console, 2.2.5

Microsoft ODBC Administration, 2.2.3

Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, 2.2.3

Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (ASMCA), 2.2.3

Oracle Directory Manager, 2.2.3

Oracle Locale Builder, 2.2.3

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, 2.2.3

Oracle Net Manager, 2.2.3

Oracle Wallet Manager, 2.2.3

ORADIM, 2.2.4

ORAPWD, 2.2.4

Recovery Manager, 2.2.4

Registry Editor, 2.2.5

SQL*Loader, 2.2.4

SQL*Plus, 2.2.3, 2.2.4

Task Manager, 2.2.5

TKPROF, 2.2.4

trace files

for monitoring a database, 7.1

using, 7.3

troubleshooting

ORA-12560 error, D.6

ORA-28575 error, D.6

TNS-12203 error, D.6

Windows firewall exceptions, 5.1.3

tuning Windows Server operating system, 8.1

U

UNIX and Windows, Oracle Database differences, E

USE_SHARED_SOCKET networking parameter, B.4.3

user authentication

description, 10.3

enhancement methods, 10.3

user group privileges

ORA_ASMADMIN, 11.2.2

ORA_ASMDBA, 11.2.2

ORA_ASMOPER, 11.2.2

ORA_DBA, 11.2.2

ORA_HOMENAME_DBA, 11.2.2

ORA_HOMENAME_OPER, 11.2.2

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSBACKUP, 11.2.2

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSDG, 11.2.2

ORA_HOMENAME_SYSKM, 11.2.2

ORA_OPER, 11.2.2

user replacement failure on Windows, D.2 using Oracle Administration Assistant

start Oracle Database, 6.3

stop Oracle Database, 6.3

using ORADIM

creating an Oracle Database instance, 4.4.1

modifying an instance, 4.4.4

starting an Oracle Database instance, 4.4.2

starting services, 4.4.2

using UTL_FILE, 17.5 using VSS

database backup and recovery

concepts, 9.1.3

overview, 9.1

purpose, 9.1.1

scope, 9.1.2

steps, 9.1.4

V

viewing password file

using command prompt, 6.5.1

using Windows Explorer, 6.5.1

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), 9.1, 9.1, 9.1.1 VSS

Oracle VSS Writer, 9.1.3

backup, 9.1.3.3

VSS provider, 9.1.3 VSS requester, 9.1.3 VSS. See Volume Shadow Copy Service

W

Wallet Resource Locator, 13.2.3

Windows

and UNIX, Oracle Database differences, E

diagnostic and tuning utilities, 2.6

Windows 32-bit operating system features

large user populations, 1.2.1

Oracle PKI, 1.3.1

Windows domains

administering external users and roles, 11.1, 11.2

basic features, 10.3

Windows firewall exceptions

configuring, 5.1.1.1

troubleshooting, 5.1.3

Windows firewall postinstallation, 5.1.2 Windows local groups, 10.4 Windows local groups with DBA privileges, 11.2.4.1 Windows native authentication

benefits, 10.1, 14.4

enhancements, 10.3

installation of, 10.1, 14.4

methods and use of, 10.1, 14.4

overview, 10.1, 14.4

role authorization enhancements, 10.3

setting the sqlnet.ora file, 11.2.2.2, 11.2.4.1

user and role requirements, 10.3

user authentication enhancements, 10.3

Windows tuning

applying latest service packs, 8.9

closing unnecessary foreground applications, 8.12

configuring server to be an application server, 8.4

disabling unnecessary services, 8.5

foreground applications, 8.3

multiple striped volumes for sequential and random access, 8.10.1

multiplex windows server virtual memory paging file, 8.11

overview, 8.1

removing unused network protocols, 8.6

resetting the network protocol bind order, 8.7

setting the order of multiple network interface cards, 8.8

using hardware and operating system striping, 8.10

Windows utility tool

ORADIM, 4.4

Windows-specific

audit trail, 7.2.2

initialization parameter file, 15.1

parameter file location, 15.1.1

parameter filename and location, 15.1

password filename and location, 6.5

role syntax, 11.2.4.1

trace file names, 7.3

X

X.500 naming convention, 14.5

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This software or hardware is developed for general use in a variety of information management applications. It is not developed or intended for use in any inherently dangerous applications, including applications that may create a risk of personal injury. If you use this software or hardware in dangerous applications, then you shall be responsible to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy, and other measures to ensure its safe use. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates disclaim any liability for any damages caused by use of this software or hardware in dangerous applications.

Third-Party Content, Products, and Services Disclaimer

This software or hardware and documentation may provide access to or information on content, products, and services from third parties. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates are not responsible for and expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind with respect to third-party content, products, and services. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates will not be responsible for any loss, costs, or damages incurred due to your access to or use of third-party content, products, or services.

Alpha and Beta Draft Documentation Notice

If this document is in preproduction status:

This documentation is in preproduction status and is intended for demonstration and preliminary use only. It may not be specific to the hardware on which you are using the software. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates are not responsible for and expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind with respect to this documentation and will not be responsible for any loss, costs, or damages incurred due to the use of this documentation.