B Oracle Environment Variables

This appendix describes variables that can be specified in the ORAENV file, the structured system variable SYSPOSIX, or the POSIX shell. Oracle parameters, such as ORACLE_SID and NLS_LANG, may be specified in the ORAENV file, system variable SYSPOSIX, or POSIX shell. If you use a ORAENV file, then you must follow the ORAENV rules for specifying environment variables as described in the following sections. If you use the system variable SYSPOSIX, then you must follow the rules to set a SDF-P variable. For example, if the variable name contains an underscore '_' , then you must use a hyphen '-' instead of the underscore. In the POSIX shell, you must follow the UNIX rules to set and export the environment variables.

This appendix contains the following topics:

• ORAENV Rules

• Built-in Variables

• General Variables

• DBA Startup Variables

• Oracle Net Services Variables

The following table describes the variables that are categorized into three classes:

Class	Description
DBA	These variables are for database administration purposes. Most DBA variables are evaluated only during the database startup.
USER	These variables can be specified by ordinary users as well as by the DBA. When these variables are specified in a particular user's ORAENV file, they modify that user's environment only.
NET	These variables apply to Oracle Net Services components.

The class (or classes) to which a variable belongs is noted in the variable descriptions in this appendix.

Any DBA or NET variables specified in an ordinary user's ORAENV file are ignored.

See Also:

"Oracle Envrionment Variables" for more details

B.1 ORAENV Rules

Consider the following general rules when you create or modify ORAENV files:

• All lines which begin with a slash or asterisk (/ or *) are ignored.

• All variable names must be written in uppercase.

• Spaces must not be included immediately before and after the equals sign (=).

• Do not enclose values in quotation marks unless you want the quotation marks to be part of the value.

• Errors in variable names are not recognized. This means that the value of any variable whose name is typed incorrectly is not modified.

• There is only limited checking of variable assignments. An incorrect value may generate an error message, but may also be interpreted as a null value.

• When variable assignments refer to other variables, BS2000 command file substitution syntax applies. Substitution takes place when the variable is stored in the local environment.

  For example:

  ORAUID=$ORACINST
  SQLPATH=&ORAUID..RDBMS.ADMIN
  

  assigns the value $ORACINST.RDBMS.ADMIN to the variable SQLPATH. If ORAUID is changed, then SQLPATH automatically reflects the new value.

• The sequence of items in the ORAENV file is not generally significant. If an item occurs more than once, then the first occurrence is used.

• If a value is not specified for a variable, then the default value is used, if it exists.

B.2 Built-in Variables

The following variables are always defined, and may be referenced in other variable assignments:

• LOGNAME

• ORAUID

• PGM

• TERM

• TSN

B.2.1 LOGNAME

The LOGNAME variable always contains the current BS2000 user ID. Do not alter the value of this variable by assigning a different value to it in the ORAENV file.

B.2.2 ORAUID

This variable specifies the BS2000 user ID where the Oracle Database programs, installation, and demonstration files are installed. The initial value is derived from the ORALOAD link name (the user ID part of the ORALOAD library name). This value is usually correct, but if necessary, you can override it by assigning a different value to it in the ORAENV file.

Format: ORAUID=$userid or ORAUID=/BS2/$userid

B.2.3 PGM

The PGM variable contains the program name specified in the BS2000 command START-EXECUTABLE. You cannot alter the value of this variable by assigning a different value to it in the ORAENV file.

B.2.4 TERM

The TERM variable contains the terminal type. The default value is SNI9750. This default value is usually correct, but if necessary, you can override it by assigning a different value to it in the ORAENV file.

B.2.5 TSN

The TSN variable contains the task sequence number of the current task. You cannot alter the value of this variable by assigning a different value to it in the ORAENV file.

B.3 General Variables

The following variables are for general use by Oracle DBAs and users:

• CLN_BASE

• CLN_MPID

• CLN_SCOPE

• EXP_CLIB_FILE_IO

• IMP_CLIB_FILE_IO

• NLS_LANG

• OPS_JID

• ORASID

• PRINTPAR

• SQLPATH

• SSSIDPWF

B.3.1 CLN_BASE

This variable specifies the address of the shared memory pool for the client-side shared code of Oracle Database, which is used by customer written database applications.

Format:

CLN_BASE=address

Classification:

USER, NET

Default:

200M

B.3.2 CLN_MPID

This variable specifies the identification of the shared memory pool for the client-side shared code of Oracle Database, which is used by customer written database applications.

Format:

CLN_MPID=sid

Classification:

USER, NET

Default:

CLN_MPID=&ORASID

B.3.3 CLN_SCOPE

This variable specifies the scope of the shared memory pool for the client-side shared code of Oracle Database, which is used by customer written database applications. The valid values are:

Value	Description
T	The use of the memory pool is limited to the calling task.
U	All Oracle Database client tasks within the same BS2000 user ID as the calling task are participants of the shared memory pool.
G	All Oracle Database client tasks in the system are participants.

Format:

CLN_SCOPE={T|U|G}

Classification:

USER, NET

Default:

CLN_SCOPE=G

B.3.4 EXP_CLIB_FILE_IO

This variable should be set to FALSE when you use the Export utility to overcome a problem with the C library functions, when an export file is written to tape.

Format: EXP_CLIB_FILE_IO=FALSE

Classification: USER

Default: EXP_CLIB_FILE_IO=TRUE

B.3.5 IMP_CLIB_FILE_IO

This variable should be set to FALSE when you use the Import utility to overcome a problem with the C library functions, when an import file is read from tape.

Format: IMP_CLIB_FILE_IO=FALSE

Classification: USER

Default: IMP_CLIB_FILE_IO=TRUE

B.3.6 NLS_LANG

This variable specifies the language, territory, and character set. For example:

NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.D8BS2000

Format: NLS_LANG=language_territory.character-set

Classification: USER, DBA

Default: NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8BS2000

B.3.7 OPS_JID

This variable is used for concatenation with the OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX, refer to the initialization parameter. The default value concatenates the value of the parameter OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX with the BS2000 user ID. Using OPS_JID, you can specify that the BS2000 jobname is used instead. This is useful when many users are sharing a single BS2000 user ID.

Format: OPS_JID=userid/jobname

Classification: DBA

Default: userid

B.3.8 ORASID

This variable defines the database that is used if no database identification is given at connect time.This variable is a synonym of the ORACLE_SID variable.

Format: ORASID=sid (sid is a characterstring where 1 <= length <= 4)

Classification: USER, DBA

Note:

Oracle recommends that you use the ORACLE_SID variable.

B.3.9 PRINTPAR

This variable specifies optional variables for the /PRINT command internally issued by the SPOOL OUT statement in SQL*Plus. Using this variable, the user can modify the spooled job, and, for example, route the job to a remote printer, add print options for laser printers, and so on. The BS2000 /PRINT command for spool files is issued as follows:

/PRINT temporary_spoolfile,&PRINTPAR

Format: PRINTPAR=print-options

Classification: USER

B.3.10 SQLPATH

This variable specifies a path where SQL*Plus looks for SQL scripts. Elements of the path are separated by semicolons (;). For example:

SQLPATH=PRIVATE;$ORACINST

This assignment causes SQL*Plus to look for filename.SQL, then for PRIVATE.filename.SQL, and finally for $ORACINST.filename.SQL.

Format: SQLPATH=search-path

Classification: USER, DBA

Default: SQLPATH=&ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin;&ORAUID..RDBMS.DEMO

B.3.11 SSSIDPWF

This variable specifies the password file.

Format: SSSIDPWF=password-file

Classification: DBA

See Also:

"Administering Oracle Database" for more information

B.4 DBA Startup Variables

The following variables are used during database and network startup. They supplement (and in some cases provide defaults for) variables contained in the initialization file.

To ensure that the variables are consistent, Oracle recommends that database startup and shutdown, background tasks, and server tasks refer to the same ORAENV file.

Note:

The default values listed in the following sections are built-in defaults, some of them are overridden by settings in the shipped DEMO.P.ORAENV.

The following DBA startup variables include:

• Address and Size Specification

• BGJPAR

• BGJ_PROCEDURE

• BGJPRC_UID / BGJPRC_SID

• BGJ_LOG_JOBSTART

• sid_BGJPAR

• sid_USER

• user_ACCOUNT/ user_PASSWORD

• COM_MPID

• COM_BASE

• COM_SCOPE

• JOBID

• KNL_BASE

• ORACLE_HOME

• PGA_BASE

• PGA_SIZE

• SF_PBLKSIZE

• SGA_BASE

B.4.1 Address and Size Specification

Several variables described in this section define memory addresses and sizes. The notations used to specify these items are as follows:

• A number with no modifiers is interpreted as a decimal number

• A number followed by K or M is interpreted as a decimal number multiplied by 1024 or 1048576 (1024*1024) respectively

• A number enclosed in single quotation marks and preceded by the letter X is interpreted as a hexadecimal number

For example, the following example sets the KNL_BASE variable to 8 MB:

KNL_BASE=8M
KNL_BASE=8388608
KNL_BASE=X'800000'

B.4.2 BGJPAR

This variable specifies the parameters for the BS2000 command ENTER-PROCEDURE, which is used for starting BS2000 jobs for the Oracle Database background and server processes. You can specify most of the parameters that are allowed for the BS2000 command ENTER-PROCEDURE in this variable. The ENTER-PROCEDURE command is used to submit jobs as follows:

.jobname ENTER-PROCEDURE jobfile,&BGJPAR

Format: BGJPAR=parameters

Classification: DBA

Note:

The BGJPAR variable is set up by the installation procedure.

B.4.3 BGJ_PROCEDURE

This variable specifies the fully qualified name of the ENTER-PROCEDURE command for starting background jobs.

Format: BGJ_PROCEDURE=filename

Classification: DBA, NET

Default: BGJ_PROCEDURE=(&ORAUID..ORALOAD.LIB,ENTER.PRC)

B.4.4 BGJPRC_UID / BGJPRC_SID

These variables specify the user ID and sid of the file for the background enter jobs. If you want to use a special enter job file, then the parameters must be set to the desired userid and sid.

Format:

BGJPRC_UID=$userid
BGJPRC_SID=sid

Classification: DBA, NET

B.4.5 BGJ_LOG_JOBSTART

This variable specifies whether the operating system message that a new job was accepted should be logged on SYSOUT or not.

Format: BGJ_LOG_JOBSTART=Y/N

Classification: DBA,USER, NET

Default: BGJ_LOG_JOBSTART=N

B.4.6 sid_BGJPAR

This variable specifies the parameters, which are used by the ENTER-PROCEDURE command to start a server process for the instance specified by SID.

Format: sid_BGJPAR=parameters

Syntax: sid is a string of a maximum of 4 alphanumeric characters

parameters are the parameters for the ENTER-PROCEDURE command as described in volume 3 of the BS2000 commands manual.

Classification: DBA,USER, NET

B.4.7 sid_USER

This variable specifies the BS2000 user ID where the instance identified by sid resides.

Format: sid_USER=userid

Syntax: sid is a string of a maximum of 4 alphanumeric characters

userid is a string of a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters, which follows the naming rules of a BS2000 user ID.

Classification: DBA,USER, NET

B.4.8 user_ACCOUNT/ user_PASSWORD

user_ACCOUNT or user_PASSWORD define credentials of a BS2000 user ID, which is used by the ENTER-PROCEDURE command to start a process.

Format: user_ACCOUNT=account

user_PASSWORD=password

Syntax: user is a string of a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters, which follows the rules of a BS2000 user ID and must match a BS2000 user ID defined by the parameter sid_USER.

account is a string of a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters, which follows the naming rules for a BS2000 account number.

password is a string of a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters, which follows the naming rules for a BS2000 password.

Classification: DBA, NET

B.4.9 COM_MPID

This parameter specifies the identification of the shared code pool of the Oracle database instance for some common Oracle Database software components.

Format: COM_MPID=sid

Classification: DBA

Default: COM_MPID=&ORASID

B.4.10 COM_BASE

This parameter specifies the address of the shared code pool of the Oracle database instance for some common Oracle Database software components.

Format: COM_BASE=address

Classification: DBA

Default: Release Dependent

B.4.11 COM_SCOPE

This variable specifies the scope of the shared memory pool for the server-side shared code of Oracle Database

The valid values are:

T - The use of the memory pool is limited to the calling task.

U - All Oracle Database tasks within the same BS2000 user ID as the calling task are participants of the shared memory pool.

G - All Oracle Database tasks in the system are participants.

Format: COM_SCOPE={T|U|G}

Classification: DBA, NET

Default: COM_SCOPE=G

B.4.12 JOBID

This variable is used internally in identifying the background tasks and generating task-specific names. You must never specify values for this variable.

Classification: DBA

B.4.13 KNL_BASE

This variable specifies the base address of the shared memory pool for the Oracle Database kernel module. This must be an integral number of megabytes.

Format: KNL_BASE=address

Classification: DBA

Default: Release Dependent

B.4.14 ORACLE_HOME

The Oracle home directory is the directory in the POSIX file system, which contains the installation of the software for a particular Oracle product.

Format: ORACLE_HOME=/path-name

Classification: DBA, USER

B.4.15 PGA_BASE

This variable specifies the base address of the fixed part of the PGA. The PGA is task-specific, but must be located at a fixed memory address so that the kernel can access it. The base address must lie on a 64 KB boundary.

Format: PGA_BASE=address

Classification: DBA

Default: Release Dependent

B.4.16 PGA_SIZE

This variable specifies the size of the fixed part of the PGA. This variable must not be changed from its default value.

Format: PGA_SIZE=size

Classification: DBA

Default: Release Dependent

B.4.17 SF_PBLKSIZE

This variable specifies the physical blocksize of redo log files.

Format: SF_PBLKSIZE=2K|4K

Classification: DBA

Default: 2 KB

Note:

This variable cannot be changed after database creation.

B.4.18 SGA_BASE

This variable specifies the base address of the shared memory pool for the SGA of an Oracle Database instance. The base address must lie on a megabyte boundary.

Format: SGA_BASE=address

Classification: DBA

Default: Release Dependent

Note:

There is no corresponding SGA_SIZE variable; the size of the SGA memory pool is calculated when the database is started.

B.5 Oracle Net Services Variables

The following are the Oracle Net Services variables:

• DEFAULT_CONNECTION

• BREAK_HANDLING

• TNS_ADMIN

• TNS_BEQ_TIMEOUT

• TNS_UPDATE_IPNODE

• TNS_DH_TIMEOUT

• NT_IPC_PROTOCOL_UNIX

B.5.1 DEFAULT_CONNECTION

This variable provides a default host string for connect requests where no host string is specified. If you connect to the same database always, then it may be convenient to specify this variable. This value must contain everything you would otherwise specify after the "@" character. This variable is a synonym of the TWO_TASK variable.

Format: DEFAULT_CONNECTION=host-string

Classification: USER, NET

Example:

DEFAULT_CONNECTION=TNS:
(DESCRIPTION=
(ADDRESS=
(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=MADRID)
(PORT=1521))
(CONNECT_DATA=
(SERVICE_NAME=PROD)))

B.5.2 BREAK_HANDLING

This variable deactivates the signal routine for user interrupts, which sends a break over the network. An interrupt can be released by pressing the [K2] key.

Format:

BREAK_HANDLING=ON|OFF

Classification:

DBA, USER, NET

Default:

BREAK_HANDLING=ON

B.5.3 TNS_ADMIN

This variable specifies the path to the Oracle Net Services configuration files, for example, LISTENER.ORA, TNSNAMES.ORA, and SQLNET.ORA. The configuration files can be stored in the BS2000 DMS or POSIX file system. Depending on the target file system, the path can be a BS2000 user ID or a POSIX directory.

If TNS_ADMIN is not defined, then the default search path is NETWORK.ADMIN, when the program runs in the BS2000 environment.

When the program runs in the POSIX program environment, the default search path for TNS_ADMIN is $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin.

Format: TNS_ADMIN=$userid|/posix_path

Classification: DBA, USER, NET

B.5.4 TNS_BEQ_TIMEOUT

This variable specifies the time a parent process waits until it establishes a connection to a child process.

Format: TNS_BEQ_TIMEOUT=lifetime (in seconds)

Classification: NET

Default: TNS_BEQ_TIMEOUT=180

B.5.5 TNS_UPDATE_IPNODE

This variable forces the Oracle Net software to change the server's IP-Node name to an IP-Node address.

Format: TNS_UPDATE_IPNODE=TRUE/FALSE

Classification: NET

Default: TNS_UPDATE_IPNODE=FALSE

B.5.6 TNS_DH_TIMEOUT

If a listener has accepted a connection request which must be handed off to a server, then this variable specifies the time the listener waits for a response from the server.

Format: TNS_DH_TIMEOUT=sec

Classification: NET

Default: TNS_DH_TIMEOUT=10

B.5.7 NT_IPC_PROTOCOL_UNIX

Specifies whether to use the POSIX sockets protocol PF_UNIX for local IPC communication or the BS2000 sockets protocol PF_ISO.

Format: NT_IPC_PROTOCOL_UNIX={TRUE|FALSE}

Classification: NET

Default: NT_IPC_PROTOCOL_UNIX=FALSE

Note:

There are some differences in the BEQ adapter when using POSIX sockets. A client using BS2000 sockets with PF_ISO for IPC cannot connect through IPC or BEQ adapter to a server that uses the PF_UNIX protocol.