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Concepts

To install, configure, and administer Oracle Internet File System (Oracle 9iFS), administrators must understand key administration concepts, including:

• The Oracle 9iFS Domain

• Oracle 9iFS Management Tools

The Oracle 9iFS Domain

The administrative unit of Oracle Internet File System (Oracle 9iFS) is the domain. A domain is a single Oracle 9iFS instance. Oracle 9iFS domains consist of several elements, such as nodes, running either on a single computer or spread across a set of interconnected computers.

The principal elements of an Oracle 9iFS domain are:

• The Oracle 9iFS repository. All data managed by Oracle 9iFS resides in an Oracle9i database schema, called the Oracle9i repository. You specify the database instance and schema name of the repository during installation of Oracle 9iFS.

• One or more nodes. The Oracle 9iFS software runs as a set of processes, called nodes. Each node process executes on a particular computer, or host. Although a domain's nodes are often split across a set of hosts, a single host can have more than one Oracle 9iFS node. A node may also execute on the same machine as the Oracle 9iFS repository. Each node has a name, which is unique across the Oracle 9iFS domain.

• A single domain controller. The domain controller manages the nodes comprising the domain. For example, the domain controller controls which nodes are running, tracks nodes' statuses, and allows nodes to be monitored and administered.

The repository, nodes, and domain controller comprise the logical elements of an Oracle 9iFS domain. However, a domain's physical configuration may be quite different than its logical configuration. There is no requirement that any element of the domain be on the same host as any other, or that any of element be on a different host than another. For small installations, the repository, nodes, and domain controller may all reside on a single host (Figure 1-1, "A Simple Oracle 9iFS Domain"). Larger installations may use separate hosts for each element (Figure 1-2, "A More Complex Oracle 9iFS Domain"). (In Figures 1-1 and 1-2, dotted lines represent host boundaries.)

Figure 1-1 A Simple Oracle 9iFS Domain

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Determining the logical and physical configurations of the Oracle 9iFS domain based on proposed use and expected load is a pre-installation step. You can change the domain's logical and physical configuration over time in response to changing requirements.

Figure 1-2 A More Complex Oracle 9iFS Domain

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Services and Servers

Each Oracle 9iFS node can have one or more services and one or more servers (Figure 1-3, "Services and Servers").

• Services. A service manages user sessions on a node and allows those sessions to access the repository's data. Typically, a single service runs on each node. However, it is possible to run more than one service on a node to provide, for example, services with different configurations (for example, cache sizing or default language). However, every service on the node (and more generally, every service in the domain) must bind to the same repository. Services have names which are unique across the node (but not necessarily unique across the domain).

• Servers. A server is an application running on a node. Servers run inside the node's process, and against the node's services. Servers are either protocol servers or agents. A protocol server opens a TCP/IP server socket, awaits connections from clients, and performs operations dictated by a protocol specification in response to client requests. The Oracle 9iFS FTP server is an example of a protocol server. An agent runs unattended, performing predefined operations either periodically or in response to repository operations performed asynchronously by other servers. The Oracle 9iFS Garbage Collection Agent is an example of an agent. Like services, servers have names that are unique across the node (but not necessarily unique across the domain).

Figure 1-3 Services and Servers

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Locators

Domain controllers and nodes are identified by locators. A locator is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that specifies the host on which the domain controller or node is running and its port number.

For example, the locator of the domain controller in Figure 1-2, "A More Complex Oracle 9iFS Domain" might be:

ifs_socket://grape.acme.com:53140

Guarded and Unguarded Nodes

Each node has a node guardian that monitors the node, detects error conditions, and attempts to recover from them. For unguarded nodes, the guardian runs in the node's process, whereas for guarded nodes, the node guardian runs in a separate process. Guarded nodes offer better fault recovery because the guardian can terminate and restart the node's process if necessary.

Nodes are guarded by default.

HTTP Nodes

Oracle 9iFS provides HTTP and WebDAV support using a Java servlet running in the Oracle HTTP Server. By default, this servlet is loaded when Oracle HTTP Server is started. Once loaded, the servlet creates a node (the "HTTP node") in the Java VM of the servlet. The HTTP node has an Oracle 9iFS service which manages user sessions and provides access to the domain's repository, and an Oracle 9iFS server which provides HTTP and WebDAV protocol support.

Because its process is owned by the Oracle HTTP Server, an HTTP node is always unguarded.

Oracle 9iFS Management Tools

A full range of administration tools are provided with Oracle 9iFS to manage the repository, start and stop Oracle 9iFS domains and nodes, configure nodes in the Oracle 9iFS domain, manage users and document security, work from the command line, and import/export data and users from one Oracle 9iFS schema to another.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

• Oracle 9iFS Manager

• Oracle 9iFS Configuration Assistant

Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

Oracle 9iFS is tightly integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager to facilitate enterprise system management.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager is used to monitor and administer the Oracle 9iFS domain (process management). Notice in Figure 1-4, "Oracle 9iFS Is Integrated with the Oracle Enterprise Manager" that Internet File Systems is one of the main folders accessed through the Console.

Figure 1-4 Oracle 9iFS Is Integrated with the Oracle Enterprise Manager

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• Oracle Intelligent Agents (IAs) are used to discover the Oracle 9iFS services. The IAs also control the jobs that Oracle 9iFS creates to start the nodes and domain. Starting the Intelligent Agents and the Oracle Management Server are described in "Restart Computer and Oracle Services" in Chapter 4, "Post-installation".

• Oracle Enterprise Manager events detect failed domain controller and node processes and trigger Oracle Enterprise Manager "fixit" jobs which send email or automatically restart these processes. (For nodes, this is in addition to the fault detection provided by the node guardian.) For information on managing events and "fixit" jobs, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide.

Oracle 9iFS Manager

Oracle 9iFS Manager is the administrative interface for objects in the Oracle 9iFS repository (schema administration). Oracle 9iFS Manager is integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) and can be launched from OEM or in a standalone mode.

Oracle 9iFS Manager provides a powerful and easy-to-use graphical interface, and is divided between administrative tasks and developmental tasks (see Figure 1-5, "Oracle 9iFS Manager").

Figure 1-5 Oracle 9iFS Manager

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Oracle 9iFS Configuration Assistant

The Oracle 9iFS Configuration Assistant is a wizard that is started automatically by the Oracle Universal Installer during installation to specify Oracle 9iFS configuration parameters. For installation information, see "Run the Configuration Assistant" in Chapter 3, "Installing the Oracle 9iFS Software". For information on changing parameters, see Chapter 4, "Service and Server Configuration" in the Oracle Internet File System Setup and Administration Guide.

Figure 1-6 Oracle 9iFS Configuration Assistant

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See Oracle 9iFS Setup and Administration Guide for information about managing Oracle 9iFS.