Before You Begin

This guide is your primary source of introductory, post installation, configuration and administration information for Net8.

Specific topics discussed are:

Intended Audience

This user guide is for both end-users and network administrators who install, configure, and use Oracle Networking Products.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you are familiar with:

Windows NT or Windows 95/98 and have installed and tested it for your personal computer (PC) and network hardware
Relational database management concepts

How This Manual Is Organized

This manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introducing Net8"

Describes the connectivity architecture of Net8.

Chapter 2, "Introducing Net8 Products"

Describes Net8 products and features.

Chapter 3, "Understanding Post Installation Tasks"

Describes the results of installation.

Chapter 4, "Understanding Coexistence and Migration Issues"

Describes implications of migrating from SQL*Net to a Net8, and installing Net8 into the same Oracle home as SQL*Net.

Chapter 5, "Using Net8 with Multiple Oracle Homes"

Describes Net8 implications when using multiple Oracle homes.

Chapter 6, "Configuring the Network"

Describes how to configure and test your network using various Net8 methods.

Chapter 7, "Connecting To a Database"

Describes how to make database connections.

Chapter 8, "Performing Advanced Configuration"

Describes how to use optional configuration tools for specialized configurations.

Chapter 9, "Using the Oracle SNMP Agent"

Describes how to use and configure the Oracle SNMP Agent Kit.

Chapter 10, "Performing Administration Tasks"

Describes basic administrative tasks for the server, Oracle Names Server, Connection Manager, and client. Also, describes enabling tracing.

Appendix A, "Directory Structure"

Shows the installed directory structure as it relates to Net8.

Appendix B, "Modifying and Adding Configuration Parameters"

Describes how to add and modify Net8 configuration parameters.

Appendix C, "Configuration Files"

Describes the contents and parameters of the configuration files.

Appendix D, "Troubleshooting"

Describes diagnosing Net8 problems and resolving common error messages.

Appendix E, "Net8 Services and Port Numbers"

Lists the Window NT services and their port numbers.

Glossary

Provides brief descriptions of terms used throughout this guide.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide:

Convention Example Meaning

All uppercase plain

ORANT\DATABASE\INITORCL.ORA

Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names

Italic

Italic used to indicate a variable:
filename.ORA
Italic used for emphasis:
The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.

Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file.
Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.

C:\>

C:\ORANT\DATABASE>

Represents the Windows NT command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.

Backslash (\) before a directory name

\DATABASE

Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.

ORACLE_HOME

Go to the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE directory.

SVRMGR> @%ORACLE_HOME%\RDBMS80\ADMIN\CATALOG.SQL

Oracle home is represented as the hard drive letter and the top level directory where your Oracle software is installed. In this guide, the convention ORACLE_HOME is used to indicate your Oracle home directory, which may be:

C:\ ORANT for Windows NT

C:\ ORAWIN95 for Windows 95

or whatever you may have called your Oracle home.
In Server Manager commands, you may see %ORACLE_HOME%. Server Manager is able to locate your Oracle Home directory using the %ORACLE_HOME% variable. This convention can be used in Server Manager, SQL*Plus, Export, and Import.

HOME_NAME

OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener80

Represents the Oracle home name if you use multiple Oracle homes. This convention is not applicable for the first Oracle home.
The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.

HOMEID

HOME0, HOME1, HOME2

Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one computer. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.

Symbols

period .
comma ,
hyphen -
semicolon ;
colon :
equal sign =
backslash \
single quote `
double quote "
parentheses ()

Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Convention	Example	Meaning
All uppercase plain	ORANT\DATABASE\INITORCL.ORA	Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names
Italic	Italic used to indicate a variable: filename.ORA Italic used for emphasis: The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.	Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file. Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.
C:\>	C:\ORANT\DATABASE>	Represents the Windows NT command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.
Backslash (\) before a directory name	\DATABASE	Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.
ORACLE_HOME	Go to the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE directory. SVRMGR> @%ORACLE_HOME%\RDBMS80\ADMIN\CATALOG.SQL	Oracle home is represented as the hard drive letter and the top level directory where your Oracle software is installed. In this guide, the convention ORACLE_HOME is used to indicate your Oracle home directory, which may be: C:\ ORANT for Windows NT C:\ ORAWIN95 for Windows 95 or whatever you may have called your Oracle home. In Server Manager commands, you may see %ORACLE_HOME%. Server Manager is able to locate your Oracle Home directory using the %ORACLE_HOME% variable. This convention can be used in Server Manager, SQL*Plus, Export, and Import.
HOME_NAME	OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener80	Represents the Oracle home name if you use multiple Oracle homes. This convention is not applicable for the first Oracle home. The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.
HOMEID	HOME0, HOME1, HOME2	Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one computer. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.
Symbols	period . comma , hyphen - semicolon ; colon : equal sign = backslash \ single quote ` double quote " parentheses ()	Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Types of Documentation

Your documentation set consists of two types of documentation:

Documentation Type Describes...

Operating System-specific

Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle Parallel Server in a Windows NT environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.

Generic

Products that are uniform across all operating system platforms. The vast majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform-specific or operating system-specific documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT and Windows 95/98 operating systems.
To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in this document, see the index of this guide for the following entry:
generic documentation references
All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.