Preface

This manual prepares you to successfully implement parallel processing by presenting Oracle Parallel Server concepts. Information in this manual applies to Oracle Parallel Server as it runs on all operating systems.

You should read this manual before reading the Oracle8i Parallel Server Setup and Configuration Guide and Oracle8i Parallel Server Administration, Deployment, and Performance. For general information about Oracle and administering the Oracle Server, refer to Oracle8i Concepts. and the Oracle8i Administrator's Guide.

See Also:
You can also use the Oracle8i Parallel Server Documentation Online Roadmap to help you use the online Oracle Parallel Server Documentation set.

What's New in Oracle8i?

This book has been re-written for Oracle8i. Oracle8i introduces Cache Fusion, a feature that reduces the overhead of resolving read/write conflicts caused by inter-instance contention. This greatly enhances performance as well as Oracle Parallel Server scalability.

See Also:
Appendix A, "Differences Between Releases" for information on feature changes from one release of Oracle Parallel Server to another.

Release 8.1.5

Release 8.1.5 introduced the first phase of Cache Fusion.

Release 8.1.6

Release 8.1.6 introduces further enhancements to Cache Fusion as well as the Primary/Secondary Instance feature. There are also several new performance statistics.

Intended Audience

This manual is written for database administrators and application developers who work with Oracle Parallel Server.

How this Book is Organized

This book presents Oracle Parallel Server concepts in four parts. It begins by describing parallel processing fundamentals for Oracle Parallel Server. The book then covers synchronization processing among instances and explains the fundamentals of how Oracle Parallel Server is implemented. It ends with reference material that includes an appendix describing the differences between versions, and an appendix describing the implementation restrictions of Oracle Parallel Server.

Structure

This book has been reorganized for 8.1.6 into the following four parts:

Part I, "Parallel Processing Fundamentals"

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle Parallel Server"

This chapter introduces parallel processing and parallel database technologies that offer advantages for online transaction processing and decision support applications.

Chapter 2, "Parallel Hardware Architecture"

This chapter describes the hardware components and high-level architectural models that typify cluster environments.

Chapter 3, "Oracle Parallel Server Architecture"

This chapter describes the architectural components that Oracle provides for Parallel Server processing that are in addition to the single-instance components.

Part II, "Oracle Parallel Server Lock Processing"

Chapter 4, "Inter-Instance Coordination"

This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the inter-instance coordination activities involved in a cluster.

Chapter 5, "Parallel Cache Management"

This chapter provides detail on Parallel Cache Management locking.

Part III, "Implementing Oracle Parallel Server"

Chapter 6, "Oracle Parallel Server Components"

This chapter describes the implementation components for Oracle Parallel Server applications.

Chapter 7, "Oracle Parallel Server Storage Considerations"

This chapter describes the storage considerations for Oracle Parallel Server applications.

Chapter 8, "Scalability and Oracle Parallel Server"

This chapter describes the scalability features of Oracle Parallel Server.

Chapter 9, "High Availability and Oracle Parallel Server"

This chapter describes the concepts and some of the "best practices" methodologies for using Oracle Parallel Server to implement high availability.

Part IV, "Reference"

Appendix A, "Differences Between Releases"

This appendix describes the differences between this release and previous releases of Oracle that pertain to Oracle Parallel Server.

Appendix B, "Restrictions"

This appendix lists restrictions for Oracle Parallel Server.

Conventions

This section explains the conventions used in this manual including the following:

Text
Syntax diagrams and notation
Code examples

Text

This section explains the conventions used within the text:

UPPERCASE Characters

Uppercase text is used to call attention to command keywords, object names, parameters, filenames, and so on.

For example, "If you create a private rollback segment, the name must be included in the ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS parameter of the parameter file."

Italicized Characters

Italicized words within text are book titles or emphasized words.

Syntax Diagrams and Notation

The syntax diagrams and notation in this manual show the syntax for SQL commands, functions, hints, and other elements. This section tells you how to read syntax diagrams and examples and write SQL statements based on them.

Keywords

Keywords are words that have special meanings in the SQL language. In the syntax diagrams in this manual, keywords appear in uppercase. You must use keywords in your SQL statements exactly as they appear in the syntax diagram, except that they can be either uppercase or lowercase. For example, you must use the CREATE keyword to begin your CREATE TABLE statements just as it appears in the CREATE TABLE syntax diagram.

Parameters

Parameters act as place holders in syntax diagrams. They appear in lowercase. Parameters are usually names of database objects, Oracle datatype names, or expressions. When you see a parameter in a syntax diagram, substitute an object or expression of the appropriate type in your SQL statement. For example, to write a CREATE TABLE statement, use the name of the table you want to create, such as EMP, in place of the table parameter in the syntax diagram. (Note that parameter names appear in italics in the text.)

This list shows parameters that appear in the syntax diagrams in this manual and examples of the values you might substitute for them in your statements:

Parameter Description Examples

table

The substitution value must be the name of an object of the type specified by the parameter.

emp

'text'

The substitution value must be a character literal in single quotes.

'Employee Records'

condition

The substitution value must be a condition that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE.

ename > 'A'

date
d

The substitution value must be a date constant or an expression of DATE datatype.

TO_DATE (
'01-Jan-1996',
DD-MON-YYYY')

expr

The substitution value can be an expression of any datatype.

sal + 1000

integer

The substitution value must be an integer.

72

subquery

The substitution value must be a SELECT statement contained in another SQL statement.

SELECT ename
FROM emp

statement_name
block_name

The substitution value must be an identifier for a SQL statement or PL/SQL block.

s1
b1

Parameter	Description	Examples
statement_name block_name	The substitution value must be an identifier for a SQL statement or PL/SQL block.	s1 b1

Code Examples

SQL and SQL*Plus commands and statements appear separated from the text of paragraphs in a monospaced font. For example:

   INSERT INTO emp (empno, ename) VALUES (1000, 'SMITH'); 
   ALTER TABLESPACE users ADD DATAFILE 'users2.ora' SIZE 50K;

Example statements may include punctuation, such as commas or quotation marks. All punctuation in example statements is required. All example statements terminate with a semicolon (;). Depending on the application, a semicolon or other terminator may or may not be required to end a statement.

Uppercase words in example statements indicate the keywords within Oracle SQL. When you issue statements, however, keywords are not case sensitive.

Lowercase words in example statements indicate words supplied only for the context of the example. For example, lowercase words may indicate the name of a table, column, or file.