The following features are new in this release.

• Parallel NFS Support in Oracle Direct NFS Client

  Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c release 2 (12.2), Oracle Direct NFS Client supports parallel NFS. Parallel NFS is an NFS v4.1 option that allows direct client access to file servers, enabling scalable distributed storage.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit).

• Direct NFS Dispatcher Support

  Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c release 2 (12.2), Oracle Direct NFS Client supports adding a dispatcher or I/O slave infrastructure. For very large database deployments running Oracle Direct NFS Client, this feature facilitates scaling of sockets and TCP connections to multi-path and clustered NFS storage.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit).

• Windows Direct NFS Client Supports All Widely Accepted NFS Path Format

  Previously, Oracle's Windows DNFS Client could only use Windows-specific NFS paths. This new feature enhances the DNFS client so that it can support all widely accepted NFS path formats, including both Windows-style and UNIX-style NFS paths. Administrators now have the flexibility to use the NFS path format they prefer.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit).

• Kerberos Authentication for Direct NFS

  Oracle Database now supports Kerberos implementation with Direct NFS communication. This feature solves the problem of authentication, message integrity, and optional encryption over unsecured networks for data exchange between Oracle Database and NFS servers using Direct NFS protocols.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit).

• Separation of Duty for Administering Oracle Real Application Clusters

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c release 2 (12.2), Oracle Database provides support for separation of duty best practices when administering Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) by introducing the SYSRAC administrative privilege for the clusterware agent. This feature removes the need to use the powerful SYSDBA administrative privilege for Oracle RAC.

  SYSRAC, like SYSDG, SYSBACKUP and SYSKM, helps enforce separation of duties and reduce reliance on the use of SYSDBA on production systems. This administrative privilege is the default mode for connecting to the database by the clusterware agent on behalf of the Oracle RAC utilities such as srvctl.

• AL32UTF8 As the Default Database Character Set

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c release 2 (12.2), the default database character set of a database created from the General Purpose/Transaction Processing or the Data Warehousing template is Unicode AL32UTF8. Oracle recommends that you use Unicode AL32UTF8 as the database character set.

  For more information, see About Character Set Selection During Installation.

• Support for UDP on Windows Operating System

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is supported on Windows. The UDP protocol allows for larger clusters.

  For more information, see Port Numbers and Protocols of Oracle Components.

• Support for Windows Group Managed Service Accounts (MSAs)

  Group MSAs are a type of account introduced by Microsoft in Windows Server 2008 R2 to overcome the password management problems encountered when authenticating services for domain user accounts. You can use Group MSAs for the Oracle Home user when installing Oracle RAC on Windows.

  See Server Hardware and Software Review Checklist for Oracle RAC Installation.

• Postinstallation Configuration of Oracle Software using the -executeConfigTools option

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c release 2 (12.2), you can perform postinstallation configuration of Oracle products by running the Oracle Database or Oracle Grid Infrastructure installer with the -executeConfigTools option. You can use the same response file created during installation to complete postinstallation configuration.

  See Postinstallation Configuration Using Response File Created During Installation.

• SCAN Listener Supports HTTP Protocol

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c release 2 (12.2), SCAN listener enables connections for the recovery server coming over HTTP to be redirected to different machines based on the load on the recovery server machines.

  See About SCAN Listeners.

The following features are deprecated in this release, and may be desupported in another release. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a complete list of deprecated features in this release.

• Deprecation of configToolAllCommands script

  The configToolAllCommands script runs in the response file mode to configure Oracle products after installation and uses a separate password response file. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), the configToolAllCommands script is deprecated and is subject to desupport in a future release.

  To perform postinstallation configuration of Oracle products, you can now run the Oracle Database or Oracle Grid Infrastructure installer with the -executeConfigTools option. You can use the same response file created during installation to complete postinstallation configuration.

• Deprecation of Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

  Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows is a tool for creating database administrators, operators, users, and roles in Windows. It also allows database service, startup/shutdown configuration, and Windows Registry parameter management. Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows is deprecated in Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2). Instead of using Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows, use native Windows administration tools.

The following feature is desupported in this release. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a complete list of desupported features in this release.

• Desupport of Direct File System Placement for Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and Voting Files

  Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2), the placement of Oracle Clusterware files (the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR), and the Voting Files) directly on a shared file system is desupported. The Oracle Clusterware files are now managed by Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM). You cannot place Oracle Clusterware files directly on a shared file system. If you need to use a supported shared file system, either a Network File System, or a shared cluster file system instead of native disks devices, then you must create Oracle ASM disks on the shared file systems that you plan to use for hosting Oracle Clusterware files before installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure. You can then use the Oracle ASM disks in an Oracle ASM disk group to manage Oracle Clusterware files.

The following features are new in this release.

• Standard Edition Replacement

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1(12.1.0.2), Standard Edition 2 (SE2) replaces Standard Edition. Standard Edition 2 can run on systems with up to two sockets and can support a two-node Oracle RAC cluster.

  See Also:

  My Oracle Support Note 2027072.1 for more information:

  https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=2027072.1

• Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC Support for the Diagnosability Framework

  The Diagnosability Framework enables Oracle products to use a standardized and simplified way of storing and analyzing diagnosability data.

  Note:

  The Oracle Trace File Analyzer (TFA) Collector is not supported on Windows operating systems.

  See Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide for information about locating Oracle RAC trace files.

• Automatic Installation of Grid Infrastructure Management Repository

  The Grid Infrastructure Management Repository is automatically installed with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2).

• IPv6 Support for Public Networks

  Oracle RAC 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2) on Windows supports IPv6-based public IP and VIP addresses.

  IPv6-based IP addresses have become the latest standard for the information technology infrastructure in today's data centers. With this release, Oracle RAC and Oracle Grid Infrastructure support this standard. You can configure cluster nodes during installation with either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses on the same network. Database clients can connect to either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. The Single Client Access Name (SCAN) listener automatically redirects client connects to the appropriate database listener for the IP protocol of the client request.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Microsoft Windows x64 (64-Bit).

The following features are new in this release.

• Database Upgrade Automation Using DBUA

  There are three areas that are being enhanced for upgrade ease-of-use. First, in the pre-upgrade phase, the existing manual steps are eliminated and give more explicit advice or even generate a fixup script to find issues identified in the pre-upgrade phase. Second, in the post-upgrade phase, there is a post-upgrade health check that indicates that the upgrade was successful. Finally, partner documents (such as SAP) and major customer upgrade documents are used to further identify manual steps that may be automated and generalized to a wider customer base.

  Automating the upgrade process provides major improvements in usability and ease-of-use. There is also better integration of database upgrade with Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster and Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control.

  See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide.

• Oracle Home User Support for Oracle RAC on Windows

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database supports the use of an Oracle Home User, which can be specified at installation time. The Oracle Home User is associated with a Windows domain user. The Windows domain user should be a standard (non-Administrator) account to ensure that the Oracle Home User has a limited set of privileges, thus ensuring that the Oracle Database services have only those privileges required to run Oracle products.

  Windows Administrator user privileges are still required to perform Oracle software maintenance tasks including install, upgrade, patching and so on. Oracle Database administrative tools have been enhanced to ask for the password of the Oracle Home User, if needed. In Oracle RAC environments, you can store the password for the Oracle Home User in a secure wallet. If such a wallet exists, then the Oracle Database administrative tools automatically use the password from the wallet and do not require the user to enter the password for the Oracle Home User.

  See Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows.

• Oracle Home User Control Utility

  This release introduces a new Windows utility called Oracle Home User Control. This is a command line tool that displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle Home. This utility also enables you to modify the Windows Services used by Oracle to use a new password when the password for Oracle Home User is changed.

• Oracle ACFS Auditing and Support for Importing Auditing Data into Oracle Audit Vault Server

  This feature provides auditing for Oracle ACFS security and encryption. In addition, this feature also generates an XML file containing Oracle ACFS audit trail data which can be imported by Oracle Audit Vault Server.

  See Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.

• DBCA Support for Multitenant Container Database and Pluggable Database Configurations

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) allows you to create either a multitenant container database (CDB) or a non-CDB. You can create the CDB with zero, one, or more pluggable databases (PDBs).

  You can also create a CDB with one PDB during the database installation.

  See "Introduction to Pluggable Databases" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c

  Oracle Database 12c introduces Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express (Oracle EM Express), a web management product built into Oracle Database without any need for special installation or management. Using Oracle EM Express, you can perform administrative tasks such as managing user security, and managing database memory and storage. You can also view performance and status information about your database.

  See Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for information about Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express.

• Policy-Based Cluster Management and Administration

  Oracle Grid Infrastructure allows running multiple applications in one cluster. Using a policy-based approach, the workload introduced by these applications can be allocated across the cluster using a policy. In addition, a policy set enables different policies to be applied to the cluster over time as required. Policy sets can be defined using a web-based interface or a command-line interface.

  Hosting various workloads in the same cluster helps to consolidate the workloads into a shared infrastructure that provides high availability and scalability. Using a centralized policy-based approach allows for dynamic resource reallocation and prioritization as the demand changes.

  See Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide.

• Simplified Oracle Database Vault Installation

  Oracle Database Vault installs by default as part of the Oracle Database installation. You can also configure, enable, or disable Oracle Database Vault after completing the Oracle Database installation, either by using Oracle DBCA, or by running SQL statements.

  See Installing the Oracle Database Vault Option for more information about Oracle Database Vault installation.

• Simplified Oracle Label Security Installation

  Oracle Label Security installs by default as part of the Oracle Database installation. You can also configure Oracle Label Security after the Oracle Database installation using Oracle DBCA.

  See Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide.

• Support for Separation of Database Administration Duties

  Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) provides support for separation of administrative duties for Oracle Database by introducing task-specific and least-privileged administrative privileges that do not require the SYSDBA administrative privilege. These new privileges are: SYSBACKUP for backup and recovery, SYSDG for Oracle Data Guard, and SYSKM for encryption key management.

  See Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for your platform and "Managing Administrative Privileges" in Oracle Database Security Guide.

• Unified Database Audit Configuration

  Starting with Oracle Database 12c, you can create named audit policies. An audit policy contains a set of audit options, which is stored in the database as an object. The advantage of creating a named audit policy is that it reduces the number of commands that are required to create a database audit policy, and it simplifies the implementation of an audit configuration for security and compliance with conditional auditing. This new audit policy framework is included with the database installation.

  See "Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement" in Oracle Database Security Guide.

The following features are deprecated in this release, and may be desupported in another release. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a complete list of deprecated features in this release.

• Single-letter SRVCTL command-line interface (CLI) options

  All SRVCTL commands have been enhanced to accept full-word options instead of the single-letter options. All new SRVCTL command options added in this release support full-word options, only, and do not have single-letter equivalents. The use of single-letter options with SRVCTL commands might be desupported in a future release.

• Standalone Deinstallation Tool

  The deinstallation tool is now integrated with the database installation software.

  See "About the Deinstallation Tool"

• The -cleanupOBase flag of the deinstallation tool

  The -cleanupOBase flag of the deinstallation tool is deprecated in this release. There is no replacement for this flag.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express replaces Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control.

• A deinstall option using Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) replaces the standalone deinstall utility.

The following features are no longer supported by Oracle. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a complete list of desupported features in this release.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control

• CLEANUP_ORACLE_BASE property removed

• Deinstall standalone utility

• Oracle Counters for Windows Performance Monitor

• Oracle Cluster File System for Windows (OCFS for Windows)

This topic lists the other changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 relevant to installing Oracle Real Application Clusters.

• LREG (listener registration process) replaces the PMON (process monitor) for notifying listeners about instances, services, handlers and endpoints.

• Oracle RAC is supported on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.