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Oracle Net Services Configuration

This appendix describes Oracle Net Services configuration for Windows. For more specific information on Oracle Net Services configuration, see Oracle9i Net Services Administrator's Guide.

This appendix contains these topics:

• Understanding Oracle Net Services Registry Parameter and Subkeys

• Listener Requirements

• Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters

• Advanced Network Configuration

• Named Pipes Protocol for Windows 95

  See Also: Oracle Net Services integration with Active Directory for Windows 2000 in Chapter 4, "Using Oracle9i Directory Server Features with Active Directory"

Understanding Oracle Net Services Registry Parameter and Subkeys

The registry contains the 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.

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:

• OracleHOME_NAMEClientCache

• OracleHOME_NAMECMAdmin

• OracleHOME_NAMECMan

• OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener

Each service subkey contains the parameters shown in TableA-1.

Table A-1 Service Subkey Parameters

Parameter	Description
DisplayName	Specifies the service name.
ImagePath	Specifies the fully qualified path name of the executable invoked by the service and any command line arguments passed to the executable at runtime.
ObjectName	Specifies the logon user account and computer to which the service should log on.

Listener Requirements

In Oracle9i release 9.0.1, the listener is set to start automatically at system reboot. If you intend to use only the listener for all of your databases, ensure that only the Windows NT service for the listener, as listed in the Windows NT services Control Panel, is set to start automatically.

Oracle Corporation normally recommends that you only have a single net listener service running on a Windows NT computer at any one time. This single listener can support multiple databases. If you need to have two different net listener services running on a Windows NT computer at the same time, make sure that they are configured to listen on different TCP/IP port numbers.

If the same IP address and port are used for different listeners, then instead of the second and the consecutive listeners failing to bind as expected, it allows them to go ahead and listen on this IP address and port. This results in unexpected behavior of the listeners. This is a suspected Windows NT operating system problem with TCP/IP and has been reported to Microsoft.

Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters

You can use the following parameters on Windows NT, Windows 98, and Windows 95:

• LOCAL

• TNS_ADMIN

• USE_SHARED_SOCKET

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.

LOCAL

You can use the LOCAL parameter to connect to the database without specifying a connect identifier in the connect string. The value for the LOCAL parameter is the net service name in the tnsnames.ora file located in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\network\admin directory.

For example, if the LOCAL parameter is specified as finance, you connect to a database from SQL*Plus with the following command:

SQL> CONNECT scott/tiger AS finance

Oracle Net Services 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, Oracle Net connects.

TNS_ADMIN

You can add the TNS_ADMIN parameter to change the directory name for configuration files from the default location. For example, if you set TNS_ADMIN to ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\test\admin, the configuration files are used from ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\test\admin.

USE_SHARED_SOCKET

You can set the USE_SHARED_SOCKET parameter to true to enable the 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 need to 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 9.0 listener to spawn Oracle 7.x databases. To spawn a dedicated server for an Oracle database not associated with the same Oracle home as the listener and have shared socket enabled, you must also set the variable USE_SHARED_SOCKET for both Oracle homes.

Advanced Network Configuration

The following sections describe advanced configuration procedures specifically for Oracle Net Services on the Windows operating systems.

Configuring Authentication Method

Oracle Net Services provides authentication methods for Windows operating systems using Windows Native Authentication.

Configuring Security for Named Pipes Protocol

The network listener service may be unable to open the Named Pipe created by Oracle Names unless the OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener service has a valid user ID and password associated with it.

To set up the network listener permissions:

1. From the Control Panel window, double-click Services.

   The Services window appears.

2. Double-click the OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener service.

   The Services dialog box appears.

3. Choose the This Account option button. Then, choose the "..." option button next to it.

   The Add User dialog box appears.

4. Select your logon ID (user ID) from the Names list and choose Add.

   The user ID appears in the Add Name text box.

5. Choose OK.

   The Services dialog box appears with the user ID displayed in the This Account text box.

6. Type your password in the Password text box.

7. Retype the same logon password in the Confirm Password text box.

8. Choose OK.

Named Pipes Protocol for Windows 95

If you use the Named Pipes protocol for Windows 95 to connect to Oracle9i for Windows NT, client applications may run very slowly due to a known problem in Microsoft's implementation of Windows 95 NWLinkDirect-Hosting.

To work around this problem, you may do any of the following:

• Use other protocols (for example, TCP/IP) for connecting from an Oracle client

• Remove the protocol NWLink from Windows 95 if you do not need to access NetWare Servers

• Disable the Direct-Hosting feature on Windows 95

TCP/IP Support for Windows 95

Oracle TCP/IP support for Windows 95/98 uses Windows Sockets 2 interfaces. Therefore, you must install Windows Socket 2 Update for Windows 95 before installing Oracle9i. Download it from the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads

Windows Socket 2 Update for Windows 95 can also be installed by double-clicking on the file WS2SETUP.EXE located in the \WINSOCK2 directory at the root of your distribution media.