A set of disk devices that Automatic Storage Management manages as a single unit. Each disk device can be an individual physical disk, a multiple disk device such as a RAID storage array or logical volume, or even a partition on a physical disk. You can create the ASM disk group when you create the ASM instance, or with Oracle Database Configuration Assistant.
The Oracle instance that manages ASM disk groupsASM disk groups. It is created automatically when you install and configure Automatic Storage Management. See also Oracle system identifier (SID).
Enables creation of a single disk group from a collection of individual disk devices. It balances I/O to the disk group across all of the devices in the disk group. It also implements striping and mirroring to improve I/O performance and data reliability.
automatic undo management mode
A mode of Oracle Database in which undo data is stored in a dedicated undo tablespace. Unlike in manual undo management mode, the only undo management that you must perform is the creation of the undo tablespace. All other undo management is performed automatically.
A specially formatted description of the destination for a network connection. A connect descriptor contains destination service and network route information.
The destination service is indicated by using its service name for the Oracle Database or its Oracle system identifier (SID). The network route provides, at a minimum, the location of the listener through use of a network address.
A name, net service name, or service name that resolves to a connect descriptor. Users initiate a connect request by passing a user name and password along with a connect identifier in a connect string for the service to which they want to connect, for example:
SQL> CONNECT username/password@connect_identifier
Files that record the physical structure of a database and contain the database name, the names and locations of associated databases and online undo tablespace, the time stamp of the database creation, the current log sequence number, and checkpoint information.
The network domain within which most client requests take place. It can be the domain where the client resides, or a domain from which the client often requests network services. The default domain is also the client configuration parameter that determines what domain to append to unqualified network name requests. A name request is unqualified if it does not have a "." character within it.
A naming method that specifies a directory server to resolve a net service name into a connect descriptor. The net service name is stored centrally in a directory server.
A Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-compliant directory server. A directory can provide centralized storage and retrieval of database network components, user and corporate policies preferences, user authentication, and security information, replacing client-side and server-side localized files.
Procedure or function written in the C programming language and stored in a shared library. An Oracle server can call external procedures or functions using PL/SQL routines. For Oracle Database to connect to external procedures, the server must be configured with a net service name and the listener must be configured with protocol address and service information.
The full database name that uniquely distinguishes it from any other database in your network domain.
For example:
sales.us.mycompany.com
where sales
is the name you want to call your database and us.mycompany.com
is the network domain in which the database is located.
An ASCII text file that contains information needed to initialize a database and instance.
Process associated with a running Oracle Database instance. When a database is started on a database server (regardless of the type of computer), Oracle Database allocates a memory area called the System Global Area and starts one or more Oracle Database processes. This combination of the System Global Area and Oracle Database processes is called an instance. The memory and processes of an instance manage the associated database's data efficiently and serve the users of the database.
A predefined component set that automatically selects which components to install. See "Oracle Database Installation Types" for a list of installation types available with each top-level component.
Interprocess Communication (IPC)
A protocol that client applications use that resides on the same node as the listener to communicate with the database. IPC can provide a faster local connection than TCP/IP.
A process that resides on the server and whose responsibility is to listen for incoming client connection requests and manage the traffic to the server.
When a client requests a network session with a database server, a listener receives the actual request. If the client information matches the listener information, then the listener grants a connection to the database server.
A configuration file for the listener that identifies the:
Listener name
Protocol addresses on which it is accepting connection requests
Services for which it is listening
The listener.ora
file resides in the ORACLE_BASE
\
ORACLE_HOME
\network\admin
directory.
An Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.2) does not require identification of the database service because of service registration. However, static service configuration is required for an Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.2) if you plan to use Oracle Enterprise Manager.
A naming method that resolves a net service name into a connect descriptor. This name is configured and stored in the tnsnames.ora file on each individual client.
A mode of the database in which undo blocks are stored in user-managed rollback segments.
A resolution method used by a client application to resolve a connect identifier to a network address when attempting to connect to a database service. Oracle Net Services supports the following naming methods:
Local naming
Directory naming
Host naming
External naming
A simple name for a service that resolves to a connect descriptor. Users initiate a connect request by passing a user name and password along with a net service name in a connect string for the service to which they want to connect:
SQL>
CONNECT
user_name
/
password
@
net
_
service
_
name
Depending on your needs, net service names can be stored in a variety of places, including:
Local configuration file, tnsnames.ora
, on each client
Directory server
External naming service, such as Network Information Service (NIS) or Cell Directory Service (CDS)
operating system authenticated connections
Windows login credentials that can be used to authenticate users connecting to an Oracle Database. The benefits of Windows native authentication include:
Enabling users to connect to multiple Oracle Databases without supplying a user name or password
Centralizing Oracle Database user authorization information in Windows, which frees Oracle database from storing or managing user passwords
Acronym for operating system specific. The initialization file parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX
enables users to specify a prefix that Oracle uses to authenticate users attempting to connect to the database. Oracle concatenates the value of this parameter to the beginning of the user's operating system account name and password. When a connection request is attempted, Oracle compares the prefixed user name with Oracle user names in the database.
The default value of this parameter is ""
(a null string), thereby eliminating the addition of any prefix to operating system account names. In earlier releases, OPS$
was the default setting.
ORACLE_BASE
is the root of the Oracle Database directory tree. If you install an OFA-compliant database using Oracle Universal Installer defaults, then ORACLE_BASE
is X
:\oracle\product\10.2.0
where X
is any hard drive (for example, C:\oracle\product\10.2.0
).
Corresponds to the environment in which Oracle Database products run. This environment includes location of installed product files, PATH
variable pointing to products' binary files, registry entries, net service name, and program groups.
If you install an OFA-compliant database, using Oracle Universal Installer defaults, Oracle home (known as \
ORACLE_HOME
in this guide) is located beneath X
:\
ORACLE_BASE
. The default Oracle home is db_
n
where n
is the Oracle home number. It contains subdirectories for Oracle Database software executables and network files. See also Oracle home.
The root of a directory subtree with a relative distinguished name of cn=OracleContext
, under which all Oracle software information is kept. There may be one (or more than one) Oracle Context in a directory. An Oracle Context can be associated with a directory naming context.
The Oracle Context can contain the following Oracle entries:
Connect identifiers for use with Oracle Net Services directory naming to make database connections
Enterprise user security for use with Oracle Advanced Security
The directory path in which to install Oracle components (for example, C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_
n
). You are prompted to enter an Oracle home in the Path field of the Specify File Locations window. See also ORACLE_HOME, Oracle home name.
The name of the current Oracle home, for example, Db_1
. Each Oracle home has a home name that distinguishes it from all other Oracle homes on your computer. During installation, you are prompted to enter an Oracle home name in the Name field on the Specify File Locations window.
A set of rules that determine what can be stored in an LDAP-compliant directory server. Oracle has its own schema that is applied to many types of Oracle entries, including Oracle Net Services entries. The Oracle schema for Oracle Net Services entries includes the attributes the entries may contain.
The media in your kit that includes the Oracle Database documentation. The Oracle Documentation Library is separate from the installation media.
The Oracle Documentation Library does not include this installation guide or Oracle Database Release Notes for Microsoft Windows (32-Bit). These documents are included on the media labeled Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) and are available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
A networking communication layer that establishes and maintains the connection between the client application and server, as well as exchanging messages between them.
An address that identifies the network address of a network object.
When a connection is made, the client and the receiver of the request, such as the listener, or Oracle Connection Manager, are configured with identical protocol addresses. The client uses this address to send the connection request to a particular network object location, and the recipient "listens" for requests on this address. It is important to install the same protocols for the client and the connection recipient, and to configure the same addresses.
Portions of a physical disk that are accessed at the lowest possible disk (block) level.
Files that contain a record of all changes made to data in the database buffer cache. If an instance failure occurs, then an administrator can use the redo log files to recover the modified data that was in memory.
A set of tables located in any Oracle database accessible to the Oracle Management Server. Oracle Management Server uses a repository to store all system data and application data, information about the state of managed nodes distributed throughout the environment, as well as information about the separately licensable management packs.
A feature by which the PMON process (an instance background process) automatically registers information with a listener. Because this information is registered with the listener, the listener.ora file does not need to be configured with this static information.
Service registration provides the listener with the following information:
Service name(s) for each running instance of the database
Instance name(s) of the database
Service handlers (dispatchers and dedicated servers) available for each instance
This allows the listener to direct a client's request appropriately.
Dispatcher, instance, and node load information
This allows the listener to determine which dispatcher can best handle a client connection's request. If all dispatchers are blocked, the listener can spawn a dedicated server for the connection.
This information allows the listener to determine how best to service a client connection request.
The Oracle system identifier that distinguishes the database from all other databases on your computer. The SID automatically defaults to the database name portion of the global database name (sales
in the example sales.us.mycompany.com
) until you reach eight characters or enter a period. You can accept or change the default value.
The SID can also refer to an ASM instance SID, available when you install Automatic Storage Management.
A configuration file for the client or server that specifies the:
Client domain to append to unqualified service names or net service names
Order of naming methods for the client to use when resolving a name
Logging and tracing features to use
Route of connections
External naming parameters
Oracle Advanced Security parameters
The sqlnet.ora
file resides in ORACLE_BASE
\
ORACLE_HOME
\network\admin
.
A group of shared memory structures that contain data and control information for an Oracle Database instance.
See SID.
A logical storage unit within a database. Tablespaces are divided into logical units of storage called segments, which are further divided into extents.
A configuration file that contains net service names mapped to connect descriptors. This file is used for the local naming method. The tnsnames.ora
file resides in ORACLE_BASE
\
ORACLE_HOME
\network\admin
.
An tablespace that contains one or more undo segments. The creation of any other types of segment (for example, tables, indexes) in undo tablespaces is not allowed.
In the automatic mode, each Oracle instance is assigned one and only one undo tablespace. Each undo tablespace is composed of a set of undo files. Undo blocks are grouped in extents. At any point in time, an extent is either allocated to (and used by) a transaction table, or is free.
Blocks in undo tablespaces are grouped into the following categories:
File control blocks, bitmap blocks, and so forth used for space management
Undo segments containing transaction table blocks, undo blocks, and extent-map blocks used for transaction management
Free blocks that are unallocated to file control or undo segments