Contents

List of Tables

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

• Audience
• Documentation Accessibility
• Related Documentation
• Conventions

What's New in Oracle Net Services?

• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 New Features in Oracle Net Services
• Oracle Database 11g Release 1 New Features in Oracle Net Services

Part I Understanding Oracle Net Services

1 Introducing Oracle Net Services

• 1.1 About Oracle Net Services
  • 1.1.1 Understanding Connectivity
    • 1.1.1.1 Client/Server Application Connections
    • 1.1.1.2 Web Client Application Connections
  • 1.1.2 Understanding Manageability
    • 1.1.2.1 Location Transparency
    • 1.1.2.2 Centralized Configuration and Management
    • 1.1.2.3 Quick Installation and Configuration
  • 1.1.3 Understanding Shared Server Architecture
    • 1.1.3.1 Connection Pooling
    • 1.1.3.2 Session Multiplexing
  • 1.1.4 Understanding Performance
    • 1.1.4.1 Listener Queue Size
    • 1.1.4.2 Session Data Unit Size for Data Transfer Optimization
    • 1.1.4.3 Persistent Buffer Flushing for TCP/IP
    • 1.1.4.4 Sockets Direct Protocol
    • 1.1.4.5 Availability
  • 1.1.5 Understanding Network Security
    • 1.1.5.1 Firewall Access Control
• 1.2 Oracle Net Services Components
  • 1.2.1 About Oracle Net
    • 1.2.1.1 Oracle Net Foundation Layer
    • 1.2.1.2 Oracle Protocol Support
  • 1.2.2 About Oracle Net Listener
  • 1.2.3 About Oracle Connection Manager
  • 1.2.4 About Networking Tools
  • 1.2.5 About Oracle Advanced Security

2 Identifying and Accessing the Database

• 2.1 Understanding Database Instances
• 2.2 Understanding Database Services
• 2.3 Connecting to a Database Service
  • 2.3.1 About Connect Descriptors
    • 2.3.1.1 About IPv6 Addresses in Connect Descriptors
  • 2.3.2 About the Protocol Address
  • 2.3.3 About Service Registration
    • 2.3.3.1 Specifying an Instance Name
    • 2.3.3.2 Specifying a Service Handler
• 2.4 Understanding Service Handlers
  • 2.4.1 About Dispatchers
  • 2.4.2 About Dedicated Server Processes
  • 2.4.3 About Database Resident Connection Pooling
• 2.5 Understanding Naming Methods
  • 2.5.1 Choosing a Naming Method
  • 2.5.2 Establishing a Client Session using a Naming Method
  • 2.5.3 Entering a Connect String
    • 2.5.3.1 Connect Identifier and Connect Descriptor Syntax Characteristics
• 2.6 Enhancing Service Accessibility using Multiple Listeners
  • 2.6.1 About Connect-time Failover
  • 2.6.2 About Transparent Application Failover
  • 2.6.3 About Client Load Balancing
  • 2.6.4 About Connection Load Balancing

3 Managing Network Address Information

• 3.1 Using Localized Management
• 3.2 Using a Directory Server for Centralized Management
  • 3.2.1 Understanding the Directory Information Tree
    • 3.2.1.1 Fully-qualified Names for Domain Component Namespaces
    • 3.2.1.2 Fully-qualified Names for X.500 Namespaces
    • 3.2.1.3 Using an Entry's Relative Name
    • 3.2.1.4 Using an Entry's Fully-qualified Name
  • 3.2.2 Understanding Oracle Context
  • 3.2.3 Understanding Net Service Alias Entries
  • 3.2.4 Who Can Add or Modify Entries in the Directory Server
  • 3.2.5 Client Connections Using Directory Naming
  • 3.2.6 Considerations When Using Directory Servers
    • 3.2.6.1 Performance Considerations
    • 3.2.6.2 Security Considerations
    • 3.2.6.3 Object Classes
  • 3.2.7 Limitations of Directory Naming Support with Microsoft Active Directory

4 Understanding the Communication Layers

• 4.1 Understanding Oracle Net Stack Communication for Client/Server Applications
  • 4.1.1 About the Client Communication Stack
    • 4.1.1.1 Client Application Layer
    • 4.1.1.2 Presentation Layer
    • 4.1.1.3 Oracle Net Foundation Layer
    • 4.1.1.4 Oracle Protocol Support Layer
  • 4.1.2 About the Server Communication Stack
• 4.2 Using Oracle Net Stack Communication for Java Applications
• 4.3 Using Oracle Net Stack Communication for Web Clients
• 4.4 Understanding Oracle Protocol Support Layer
  • 4.4.1 TCP/IP Protocol
    • 4.4.1.1 IPv6 Address Notation
    • 4.4.1.2 IPv6 Interface and Address Configurations
    • 4.4.1.3 IPv6 Network Connectivity
    • 4.4.1.4 IPv6 Support in Oracle Database 11g
  • 4.4.2 TCP/IP with SSL Protocol
  • 4.4.3 Named Pipes Protocol
  • 4.4.4 Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP)

5 Understanding Oracle Net Architecture

• 5.1 About Service Registration
• 5.2 About the Listener and Connection Requests
• 5.3 About Oracle Restart
• 5.4 About Blocked Connection Requests
• 5.5 Understanding Database Server Process Architecture
  • 5.5.1 About Shared Server Processes
  • 5.5.2 About Dedicated Server Processes
• 5.6 Understanding Oracle Connection Manager Architecture
• 5.7 Complete Architecture

Part II Configuration and Administration of Oracle Net Services

6 Quick Start to Oracle Net Services

• 6.1 Prerequisites for Establishing Connectivity
• 6.2 Confirming Network Availability
• 6.3 Starting Oracle Net Listener and the Oracle Database Server
• 6.4 Starting Oracle Connection Manager
• 6.5 Connecting to the Database
• 6.6 Using Easy Connect to Connect to a Database

7 Managing Oracle Net Services

• 7.1 Using the User Interface Tools
  • 7.1.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Configure Oracle Net Services
    • 7.1.1.1 Accessing the Net Services Administration Page
  • 7.1.2 Using Oracle Net Manager to Configure Oracle Net Services
    • 7.1.2.1 Starting Oracle Net Manager
    • 7.1.2.2 Navigating Oracle Net Manager
    • 7.1.2.3 Using Oracle Net Manager Wizards
  • 7.1.3 Deciding When to Use Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Net Manager
  • 7.1.4 Using Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to Configure Network Components
• 7.2 About the OracleNetAdmins Group
  • 7.2.1 Adding Users To the OracleNetAdmins Group
  • 7.2.2 Removing Users From the OracleNetAdmins Group
  • 7.2.3 Changing Ownership of the OracleNetAdmins Group
• 7.3 Using Listener Control Utility to Administer the Listener
• 7.4 Performing Common Network Tasks

8 Configuring Naming Methods

• 8.1 Using the Easy Connect Naming Method
  • 8.1.1 Configuring Easy Connect Naming on the Client
  • 8.1.2 Configuring Easy Connect Naming to Use a DNS Alias
  • 8.1.3 Examples of Easy Connect Naming Method
• 8.2 Configuring the Local Naming Method
  • 8.2.1 Configuring the tnsnames.ora File During Installation
  • 8.2.2 Configuring the tnsnames.ora File After Installation
• 8.3 Configuring the Directory Naming Method
• 8.4 Creating Multiple Default Contexts in a Directory Naming Server
• 8.5 Exporting Local Naming Entries to a Directory Naming Server
• 8.6 Exporting Directory Naming Entries to a tnsnames.ora File
• 8.7 Configuring External Naming Methods

9 Configuring and Administering Oracle Net Listener

• 9.1 Overview of Oracle Net Listener
• 9.2 Configuring Oracle Net Listener During Installation
• 9.3 Customizing Oracle Net Listener Configuration
  • 9.3.1 Configuring Listening Protocol Addresses
    • 9.3.1.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Configure Listening Protocol Addresses
    • 9.3.1.2 Using Oracle Net Manager to Configure Listening Protocol Addresses
  • 9.3.2 Handling Large Volumes of Concurrent Connection Requests
  • 9.3.3 Configuring Static Service Information
  • 9.3.4 Managing Oracle Net Listener Security
    • 9.3.4.1 Configuring and Changing the Oracle Net Listener Password
• 9.4 Configuring Service Registration
  • 9.4.1 Setting Initialization Parameters for Service Registration
  • 9.4.2 Registering Information with a Local Listener
  • 9.4.3 Registering Information with a Remote Listener
  • 9.4.4 Registering Information with All Listeners in a Network
  • 9.4.5 Configuring a Naming Method
• 9.5 Administering the Listener
  • 9.5.1 Starting and Stopping a Listener
    • 9.5.1.1 Using the Listener Control Utility to Start or Stop a Listener
    • 9.5.1.2 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Start or Stop a Listener
  • 9.5.2 Managing a Listener in an Oracle Restart Configuration
    • 9.5.2.1 Adding or Removing a Listener Using SRVCTL
    • 9.5.2.2 Starting or Stopping a Listener Using SRVCTL
  • 9.5.3 Determining the Current Status of a Listener
    • 9.5.3.1 Using Listener Control to Show Status
    • 9.5.3.2 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Show Status
  • 9.5.4 Monitoring Services of a Listener
  • 9.5.5 Monitoring Listener Log Files

10 Configuring Oracle Connection Manager

• 10.1 Configuring Oracle Connection Manager
  • 10.1.1 Configuring the cman.ora file for the Oracle Connection Manager Host
    • 10.1.1.1 Enabling Access Control
  • 10.1.2 Configuring Clients for Oracle Connection Manager
  • 10.1.3 Configuring the Oracle Database Server for Oracle Connection Manager
    • 10.1.3.1 Configuring Service Registration
    • 10.1.3.2 Enabling Session Multiplexing
• 10.2 Configuring Oracle Connection Manager as a Bridge for IPv4 and IPv6
• 10.3 Using the Oracle Connection Manager Control Utility to Administer Oracle Connection Manager

11 Configuring Dispatchers

• 11.1 Configuring Dispatchers
• 11.2 Grouping Services by Dispatcher
• 11.3 Enabling Connection Pooling
• 11.4 Enabling Session Multiplexing
• 11.5 Configuring Clients for Environments Using Both Shared Server and Dedicated Server

12 Configuring Profiles

• 12.1 Overview of Profile Configuration
• 12.2 Configuring the Profile During Installation
• 12.3 Configuring Client Attributes for Names Resolution
  • 12.3.1 Specifying a Default Domain for Clients
  • 12.3.2 Prioritizing Naming Methods
  • 12.3.3 Routing Connection Requests to a Process
• 12.4 Configuring Database Access Control
• 12.5 Configuring Advanced Profile Information
• 12.6 Configuring External Naming Methods
• 12.7 Configuring Oracle Advanced Security

13 Enabling Advanced Features of Oracle Net Services

• 13.1 Configuring Advanced Network Address and Connect Data Information
  • 13.1.1 Creating a List of Listener Protocol Addresses
  • 13.1.2 Configuring Address List Parameters
  • 13.1.3 Configuring Advanced Connect Data Parameters
• 13.2 Configuring Connection Load Balancing
  • 13.2.1 Example of Connection Load Balancing for Shared Server Configuration
  • 13.2.2 Example of Connection Load Balancing for Dedicated Server Configuration
• 13.3 Configuring Transparent Application Failover
  • 13.3.1 About Transparent Application Failover
  • 13.3.2 What Transparent Application Failover Restores
  • 13.3.3 About FAILOVER_MODE Parameters
  • 13.3.4 Implementing Transparent Application Failover
    • 13.3.4.1 TAF with Connect-Time Failover and Client Load Balancing
    • 13.3.4.2 TAF Retrying a Connection
    • 13.3.4.3 TAF Pre-establishing a Connection
  • 13.3.5 Verifying Transparent Application Failover
• 13.4 Specifying the Instance Role for Primary and Secondary Instance Configurations
• 13.5 Configuring Connections to Third-party Database Services
  • 13.5.1 Default Configuration for External Procedures
    • 13.5.1.1 Configuring Oracle Net Services for External Procedures
  • 13.5.2 Configuring Oracle Net Services for Oracle Heterogeneous Services
  • 13.5.3 Configuring Oracle Net Services for an Oracle Rdb Database

14 Optimizing Performance

• 14.1 Configuring Session Data Unit
  • 14.1.1 Setting the SDU Size for the Database
  • 14.1.2 Setting the SDU Size for the Client
• 14.2 Determining Bandwidth-delay Product
• 14.3 Configuring I/O Buffer Space
  • 14.3.1 Configuring I/O Buffer Space on the Client
  • 14.3.2 Configuring I/O Buffer Size on the Server
    • 14.3.2.1 Setting the Buffer Size Parameter for Shared Server Processes
• 14.4 Configuring SDP Support for InfiniBand Connections
  • 14.4.1 Prerequisites for Using SDP
  • 14.4.2 Configuring SDP on the Server
  • 14.4.3 Configuring SDP on the Client
• 14.5 Limiting Resource Consumption by Unauthorized Users

Part III Testing and Troubleshooting Oracle Net Services

15 Testing Connections

• 15.1 Testing the Network
• 15.2 Using the TNSPING Utility to Test Connectivity from the Client
• 15.3 Using the TRCROUTE Utility to Test Connectivity from the Client

16 Troubleshooting Oracle Net Services

• 16.1 Understanding Automatic Diagnostic Repository
  • 16.1.1 ADRCI: ADR Command Interpreter
• 16.2 Diagnosing Oracle Net Services
  • 16.2.1 Diagnosing Server Problems
  • 16.2.2 Diagnosing Client Problems
• 16.3 Resolving the Most Common Error Messages for Oracle Net Services
  • 16.3.1 Troubleshooting Directory Naming Errors
• 16.4 Troubleshooting Tips for Oracle Net Services
  • 16.4.1 Questions to Consider When Troubleshooting Oracle Net Services
• 16.5 Example of Troubleshooting a TNS-12154 Error
• 16.6 Troubleshooting Network Problems Using Log and Trace Files
• 16.7 Logging Error Information for Oracle Net Services
  • 16.7.1 Oracle Net Error Stacks
    • 16.7.1.1 Understanding Error Stack Messages
  • 16.7.2 Oracle Net Services Log File Names
  • 16.7.3 Setting Logging Parameters
    • 16.7.3.1 sqlnet.ora Log Parameters
    • 16.7.3.2 listener.ora Log Parameters
    • 16.7.3.3 cman.ora Log Parameters
    • 16.7.3.4 Setting Logging Parameters in Configuration Files
  • 16.7.4 Setting Logging During Control Utilities Run Time
  • 16.7.5 Using Log Files
  • 16.7.6 Analyzing Listener Log Files
    • 16.7.6.1 Listener Log Audit Trail Information
    • 16.7.6.2 Listener Service Registration Event Information
    • 16.7.6.3 Listener Direct Hand-Off Information
    • 16.7.6.4 Listener Subscription for ONS Node Down Event Information
    • 16.7.6.5 Listener Oracle Clusterware Notification Information
  • 16.7.7 Analyzing Oracle Connection Manager Logs
• 16.8 Tracing Error Information for Oracle Net Services
  • 16.8.1 Oracle Net Services Trace File Names
  • 16.8.2 Setting Tracing Parameters
    • 16.8.2.1 cman.ora Trace Parameters
    • 16.8.2.2 listener.ora Trace Parameters
    • 16.8.2.3 sqlnet.ora Trace Parameters
    • 16.8.2.4 Setting Tracing Parameters in Configuration Files
  • 16.8.3 Setting Tracing During Control Utilities Run Time
  • 16.8.4 Evaluating Oracle Net Services Trace Files
    • 16.8.4.1 Flow of Data Packets Between Network Nodes
    • 16.8.4.2 Oracle Net Data Packet Formats
    • 16.8.4.3 Pertinent Oracle Net Trace Error Output
  • 16.8.5 Using the Trace Assistant to Examine Trace Files
    • 16.8.5.1 Trace Assistant Syntax
    • 16.8.5.2 Packet Examples
    • 16.8.5.3 Two-Task Common Packet Examples
    • 16.8.5.4 Connection Example
    • 16.8.5.5 Statistics Example
• 16.9 Contacting Oracle Support Services

Glossary

Index