What's New in Oracle Database for Windows?

This chapter describes new and deprecated features of Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2) for Windows and provides pointers to additional information. It also retains new and deprecated features information from previous releases to help those users migrating to the current release.

The following sections describe the new features in Oracle Database:

• Oracle Database Support on Windows Vista

• Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) New Features for Windows

• Oracle Data Provider for .NET New Features for Release 10.1.0.3

• Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) Deprecated Components

• Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features for Windows

• Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) Deprecated Components

Oracle Database Support on Windows Vista

Oracle Database is supported on Windows Vista with the 10.2.0.3 release. Use the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.3) for Microsoft Windows Vista media available in the 10.2.0.3 media pack and the Oracle Technology Network site. Do not install Oracle Database on Windows Vista using the media for Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Microsoft Windows.

.NET Requirements on Windows Vista

To run Oracle Data Provider for .NET on Windows Vista, you must install .NET Framework version 1.1.

Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) New Features for Windows

This section contains this topic:

• Oracle Data Provider for .NET

• Oracle Database Extensions for .NET

• Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

• Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) Name and Functionality Change

Oracle Data Provider for .NET

Oracle Data Provider for .NET 10g Release 2 (10.2) has the following enhancements:

• Support for Application Context Client Identifier

  This feature exposes the OracleConnection.ClientId property, which provides support for Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) and application context. Client identifier simplifies the Virtual Private Database configuration tasks.

• Support for ActiveX Data Objects .NET (ADO.NET)

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET now can take advantage of the .NET Framework 1.1 ActiveX Data Objects .NET (ADO.NET) functionality.

• Enhanced Connection Pool Administration

  This feature provides a way for applications to clear connections in one pool or all pools in an application domain. It can refresh the connections and clear the pool of any invalid connections. It also allows applications to destroy the pool all together.

• Database Change Notification

  Database Change Notification allows applications to receive notifications whenever there has been a change in a query result set, schema objects, or the state of the database. This allows your applications to maintain the validity of the database cache (for example, Oracle Data Provider for .NET middle-tier cache, the ADO.NET DataSet).

• Optimization of Connection Pooling in Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Grid Environments

  The following new connection-related features are available with Oracle Data Provider for .NET:

  • The Oracle Data Provider for .NET connection pool subscribes to notifications that indicate whether nodes and services are available or unavailable. Based on these notifications, the Oracle Data Provider for .NET connection pool now can free idle connections that were connected to bad nodes and create new connections to healthy ones.

  • The Oracle Data Provider for .NET connection pool subscribes to notifications that describe how connections are to be divided for a service between different instances based on percentages. Connections now can be dispensed or removed from the connection pool based on this percentage service level.

• Support for IN and IN/OUT REF Cursors

  This feature enables Oracle Data Provider for .NET applications to retrieve REF CURSOR objects from a PL/SQL stored procedure or function and pass them to another stored procedure or function.

• LOB Performance Enhancements

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET now has the following enhancements for LOB performance:

  • Oracle Data Provider for .NET accommodates your needs more easily when you need to decide whether to fetch LOB column data immediately or later. The performance for the worst-case scenario have been increased tremendously.

  • OracleDataReader methods GetOracleBlob and GetOracleClob are now supported irrespective of the value in InitialLOBFetchSize. Therefore, an application no longer has to choose between performance and OracleBlob and OracleClob functionality.

  • You now can set InitialLOBFetchSize up to 2 GB.

Oracle Database Extensions for .NET

Oracle Database Extensions for .NET provides the following new functionality:

• A Common Language Runtime (CLR) host for Oracle Database

• Data access through server-side Oracle Data Provider for .NET classes

• A deployment wizard integrated with Visual Studio .NET

• Server-side Oracle Data Provider for .NET

  Server-side Oracle Data Provider for .NET provides data access from .NET stored procedures and functions. Such procedures and functions are enabled by Oracle Database Extensions for .NET, a new feature included with Oracle Database on Windows.

Oracle Database hosts the Microsoft Common Language Runtime (CLR) in an external process, outside of the Oracle database process, but on the same computer. With the integration of Oracle Database with the Microsoft Common Language Runtime (CLR), applications can run .NET stored procedures on Oracle Database running under Windows 2000, Windows 2003, and Windows XP.

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

Distributed Transactions in an Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) environment detect failures and start the failover and failback processes automatically.

Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) Name and Functionality Change

Starting with this release, Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) has the following changes:

• Its new name is Oracle Clusterware.

• You can install and use Oracle Clusterware without having to install Oracle Real Application Clusters. At least one server in the cluster must be licensed for Oracle Database 10g.

Oracle Data Provider for .NET New Features for Release 10.1.0.3

New Oracle Data Provider for .NET release 10.1.0.3 features are as follows:

Command Cancellation

The following two new features enhance command cancellation:

• The CommandTimeout command cancels the execution of a command when a specified amount of time elapses after the command executes.

• The Cancel method can be called explicitly by the application to terminate the execution of a command.

Statement Caching

This feature provides and manages a cache of PL/SQL statements for each session. On the server, it means that cursors are ready to be used without the need to parse the statement again during that session. You can use statement caching with connection pooling to improve performance and scalability.

DerivedParameters Method

This method populates the parameter collection for the OracleCommand code that represents a stored procedure or function by querying the database for the parameter information.

Support for .NET 1.1 Enhancements

These enhancements expose new ADO.NET functionality that was introduced in Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1.

Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) Deprecated Components

The following Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2) components that were part of Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.1) are not available for installation with Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2):

• Legato Single Server Version (LSSV)

  Instead, use Oracle Database Recovery Manager (RMAN)

• Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) component of Oracle Advanced Security

• Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 compiler

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features for Windows

This section contains these topics:

• Automatic Storage Management

• Database Password Encryption

• Data Pump Import and Data Pump Export

• Instant Client

• Large Page Support

• Oracle Data Provider for .NET

• Oracle Database Extensions for .NET

• Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Database Control

• Oracle Home Selector

• Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

• Oracle Objects for OLE

• Oracle Provider for OLE DB

• Oracle Scheduler

• Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

• Renamed Components

Automatic Storage Management

Automatic Storage Management enables creation of a single disk group from a collection of individual disk devices.

Database Password Encryption

When a user attempts a remote login to an Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) database, the password is automatically encrypted before it is sent to the remote database.

Data Pump Import and Data Pump Export

Two new utilities, Data Pump Import and Data Pump Export, offer faster transfer of files to and from Oracle databases. The previous file transfer utilities, Import and Export, are retained for use with Oracle databases created with earlier versions of Oracle software.

Instant Client

The Instant Client feature of Oracle Call Interface (OCI) simplifies OCI installation. The activation of Instant Client mode is only dependent on the ability to load the Instant Client data shared library. It requires only two dynamic link libraries to be loaded by the dynamic loader of the operating system.

Large Page Support

Large page support provides a performance boost for memory-intensive database instances running on Windows Server 2003. By taking advantage of newly introduced operating system support, Oracle Database now can make more efficient use of processor memory addressing resources.

Oracle Data Provider for .NET

Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) 10g Release 2 (10.2) includes the following new features:

• Support for Oracle grids

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET is grid-enabled, allowing developers to take advantage of Oracle database grid support without having to make changes to their application code.

• Support for new data types in the database

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET supports the new database native types BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE.

• Support for multiple Oracle homes

  You can install Oracle Data Provider for .NET in multiple Oracle homes. To make multiple homes available, some of the Oracle Data Provider for .NET files include a version number, and the use of a HOMEID is required.

• Support for schema-based XMLType data type in the database

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET supports the native schema-based XMLType.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Database Control

Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Database Control is installed in the same Oracle home as the database and supports standalone Oracle Containers for Java (OC4J) instances.

Oracle Home Selector

Oracle Home Selector is no longer available from the Start menu. Instead, use Oracle Universal Installer, which has functionality similar to Oracle Home Selector.

Oracle Objects for OLE

Oracle Objects for OLE (OO4O) 10g Release 2 (10.2) has the following new and updated features:

• Support for Oracle grids

  Oracle Objects for OLE is grid-enabled, allowing developers to take advantage of Oracle database grid support without having to make changes to their application code.

• Support for new data types

  Oracle Objects for OLE 10g release 2 (10.2) now provides support for the BINARY_DOUBLE and BINARY_FLOAT data types. You can fetch instances of these types from the database or pass them as input or output variables to SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks, including stored procedures and functions.

• Support for multiple Oracle homes

  You can install Oracle Objects for OLE in multiple Oracle homes, starting with Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2). However, being a COM component, only one instance can be active on the computer. This means that the current (latest) installation renders the previous one inactive.

  To make multiple homes available, you must use a HOMEID. Also, some of the Oracle Objects for OLE files include a version number.

Oracle Provider for OLE DB

Oracle Provider for OLE DB 10g Release 2 (10.2) includes the following new features:

• Support for Oracle grids

  Oracle Provider for OLE DB is grid-enabled, allowing developers to take advantage of Oracle database grid support without having to make changes to their application code.

• Support for the following data types introduced with Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2):

  • BINARY_DOUBLE

  • BINARY_FLOAT

• Support for multiple Oracle homes

  You can install Oracle Provider for OLE DB in multiple Oracle homes, starting with Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2). However, being a COM component, only one instance can be active on the computer. This means that the current (latest) installation renders the previous one inactive.

  To make multiple homes available, some of the Oracle Provider for OLE DB files now include a version number, and the use of a HOMEID is required.

Oracle Scheduler

This release includes a new database scheduler, Oracle Scheduler, to provide enterprise scheduling functionality. You can use the OracleJobScheduler service to start external jobs. 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 then enable the service.

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server supports .NET transactional applications with Oracle Data Provider for .NET through the Oracle Provider for OLE DB, and ODBC.NET through the Oracle ODBC driver.

Renamed Components

The following components were renamed in this release:

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) Deprecated Components

The following Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) components that were part of Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2.0) were not available for installation with Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.1):

• INTYPE File Assistant (IFA)

• Migration Utility

• Oracle Names

• Oracle Trace (use SQL Trace and TKPROF in place of Oracle Traces)

• Pro*C GUI

• Pro*COBOL 1.8.77