1. Installation Guide
  2. Oracle Database Postinstallation Tasks
  3. Configuring Oracle Components

Configuring Oracle Components

Many Oracle products and options must be configured before you use them for the first time.

Before using individual Oracle products or options, refer to the appropriate manual in the product documentation library.

Note:

Perform postinstallation tasks only for the components that you intend to use.

See Also:

Configuring Direct NFS Client

Direct NFS Client is an alternative to using kernel-managed NFS.

About Direct NFS Client Storage

With Oracle Database, you can store data files on a supported NFS system. You can configure Oracle Database to access NFS servers directly using an Oracle internal Direct NFS Client.

Direct NFS Client supports NFSv3, NFSv4, NFSv4.1, and pNFS protocols to access the NFS server. If Oracle Database cannot open an NFS server using Direct NFS Client, then an informational message is logged into the Oracle alert and trace files indicating that Direct NFS Client could not be established.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2, when you enable Direct NFS, you can access Direct NFS dispatcher. The Direct NFS dispatcher consolidates the number of TCP connections that are created from a database instance to the NFS server. In large database deployments, using Direct NFS dispatcher improves scalability and network performance. Parallel NFS deployments also require a large number of connections. Hence, the Direct NFS dispatcher is recommended with Parallel NFS deployments too.

Direct NFS Client supports Dispatcher or the Input/Output (I/O) infrastructure. Dispatcher enables database processes to use I/O slave processes to perform I/O operations. This limits the number of sockets and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections that the Direct NFS Client requires to connect to the NFS server.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), Windows Direct NFS Client supports all widely accepted NFS path formats including UNIX-style NFS paths, NFS version 4, and NFS version 4.1 protocols.

The Oracle database files resident on the NFS server that are served by the Direct NFS Client can also be accessed through a third party NFS client. The volume must be mounted through CIFS or kernel NFS to enable regular windows utilities and commands, such as copy, and so on, access the database files in the remote location. Volumes mounted through CIFS cannot be used for database file storage without configuring Direct NFS Client. The atomic write requirements required for database access are not guaranteed by CIFS protocol. Consequently, CIFS can only be used for the operating system level commands, such as copy, move, and so on.

Some NFS file servers require NFS clients to connect using reserved ports. If your filer is running with reserved port checking, then you must disable it for Direct NFS Client to operate. To disable reserved port checking, consult your NFS file server documentation.

Related Topics

See Also:

About the Oranfstab File for Direct NFS Client

To enable the Direct NFS Client, you must add an oranfstab file to ORACLE_HOME\dbs.

When oranfstab is placed in this directory, the entries in this file are specific to a single database.

Mounting NFS Storage Devices with Direct NFS Client

Direct NFS Client determines the mount point settings for the NFS storage devices based on the configuration information in oranfstab.

Direct NFS Client looks for the mount point entries in ORACLE_HOME\dbs\oranfstab. It uses the first matched entry as the mount point.

Specifying Network Paths for a NFS Server

Direct NFS Client can use up to four network paths defined in the oranfstab file for an NFS server.

The Direct NFS Client performs load balancing across all specified paths. If a specified path fails, then Direct NFS Client reissues I/O commands over any remaining paths.

Direct NFS Client requires an NFS server supporting NFS read/write buffers of at least 16384 bytes.

Direct NFS Client issues writes at wtmax granularity to the NFS server. Direct NFS Client does not serve an NFS server with a wtmax less than 16384. Oracle recommends that you use the value 32768.

For NFS servers that restrict port range, you can use the insecure option to enable clients other than root to connect to the NFS server. Alternatively, you can disable Direct NFS Client.

Note:

Use NFS servers supported for Oracle Database. See the My Oracle Support website for support information:

https://support.oracle.com

Related Topics

Creating an oranfstab File for Direct NFS Client

Direct NFS uses a configuration file, oranfstab, to determine the available mount points.

Create an oranfstab file with the following attributes for each NFS server that you want to access using Direct NFS Client:

  • server

    The NFS server name.

  • local

    Up to four paths on the database host, specified by IP address or by name, as displayed using the ifconfig command run on the database host.

  • path

    Up to four network paths to the NFS server, specified either by IP address, or by name, as displayed using the ifconfig command on the NFS server.

  • export

    The exported path from the NFS server. Use UNIX-style path.

  • mount

    The corresponding local mount point for the exported volume. Use WINDOWS-style path.

  • Dontroute

    Specifies that the outgoing messages must not be routed by the operating system, but sent using the IP address to which they are bound.

  • mnt_timeout

    Specifies (in seconds) the time Direct NFS Client should wait for a successful mount before timing out. This parameter is optional. The default timeout is 10 minutes (600).

  • uid (Optional)

    The UNIX user ID to be used by Direct NFS Client to access all NFS servers listed in oranfstab. The default value is uid:65534, which corresponds to user:nobody on the NFS server.

  • gid (Optional)

    The UNIX group ID to be used by Direct NFS Client to access all the NFS servers listed in oranfstab. The default value is gid:65534, which corresponds to group:nogroup on the NFS server.

  • nfs_version

    Specifies the NFS protocol version used by Direct NFS Client. Possible values are NFSv3, NFSv4, NFSv4.1, and pNFS. The default version is NFSv3. If you select NFSv4.x, then you must configure the value in oranfstab for nfs_version. Specify nfs_version as pNFS, if you want to use Direct NFS with Parallel NFS.

  • security_default (Optional)

    Specifies the default security mode applicable for all the exported NFS server paths for a server entry. The default value is sys . See the description of the security parameter for the supported security levels for the security_default parameter.

  • security (Optional)

    Specifies the security level, to enable security using Kerberos authentication protocol with Direct NFS Client. Specify security per export-mount pair. The supported security levels for the security_default and security parameters are:

    • sys: UNIX level security AUTH_UNIX authentication based on user identifier (UID) and group identifier (GID) values. This is the default value for security parameters.
    • krb5: Direct NFS runs with plain Kerberos authentication. Server is authenticated as the real server which it claims to be.
    • krb5i: Direct NFS runs with Kerberos authentication and NFS integrity. Server is authenticated and each of the message transfers is checked for integrity.
    • krb5p: Direct NFS runs with Kerberos authentication and NFS privacy. Server is authenticated, and all data is completely encrypted.

    The security parameter, if specified, takes precedence over the security_default parameter. If neither of these parameters are specified, then sys is the default authentication.

    For NFS server Kerberos security setup, review the relevant NFS server documentation. For Kerberos client setup, review the relevant operating system documentation.

  • management

    Enables Direct NFS Client to use the management interface for SNMP queries. You can use this parameter if SNMP is running on separate management interfaces on the NFS server. The default value is the server parameter value.

  • community

    Specifies the community string for use in SNMP queries. Default value is public.

The following examples show three possible NFS server entries in oranfstab. A single oranfstab can have multiple NFS server entries.

Example 7-1 Using Local and Path NFS Server Entries

The following example uses both local and path. Because they are in different subnets, you do not have to specify dontroute. 

server: MyDataServer1
local: 192.0.2.0
path: 192.0.2.1
local: 192.0.100.0
path: 192.0.100.1
export: /vol/oradata1 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL

Example 7-2 Using Names in Place of IP Addresses, with Multiple Exports, management and community

server: MyDataServer2
local: LocalPath1
path: NfsPath1
local: LocalPath2
path: NfsPath2
local: LocalPath3
path: NfsPath3
local: LocalPath4
path: NfsPath4
nfs_version: nfsv3
dontroute
export: /vol/oradata2 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL2
export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL3
export: /vol/oradata4 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL4
export: /vol/oradata5 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL5
management: MgmtPath1
community: private

Example 7-3 Using Kerberos Authentication with Direct NFS Export

The security parameter overrides security_default: 

server:  nfsserver
 local: 192.0.2.0
 path: 192.0.2.2
 local: 192.0.2.3
 path: 192.0.2.4
 export: /vol/oradata2 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL2 security: krb5 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL3 security: krb5p 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL4 security: sys 
 export: /vol/oradata3 mount: C:\APP\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL5 
security_default: krb5i

Performing Basic File Operations Using the ORADNFS Utility

ORADNFS is a utility which enables the database administrators to perform basic file operations over Direct NFS Client on Microsoft Windows platforms.

ORADNFS is a multi-call binary, a single binary that acts like several utilities. This allows ORADNFS to be smaller since all the built-in commands can leverage DNFS code for many common operations. ORADNFS is run by issuing a command as an argument on the command line.

For example, C:\> ORADNFS help causes ORADNFS to print a list of built-in commands, and C:\> ORADNFS ls C:\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL causes ORADNFS to behave as an ls command of C:\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORCL remote directory, where C:\ORACLE\ORADATA is a DNFS virtual mount point specified in the oranfstab configuration file.

Note:

  • A valid copy of the oranfstab configuration file must be present in ORACLE_HOME\dbs directory for ORADNFS to operate.

  • The user must be a member of the local ORA_DBA group to execute ORADNFS.

Monitoring Direct NFS Client Usage

Use the following views for Direct NFS Client management:

  • v$dnfs_servers: Shows a table of servers accessed using Direct NFS Client.

  • v$dnfs_files: Shows a table of files currently open using Direct NFS Client.

  • v$dnfs_channels: Shows a table of open network paths (or channels) to servers for which Direct NFS Client is providing files.

  • v$dnfs_stats: Shows a table of performance statistics for Direct NFS Client.

Enabling Direct NFS Client

To enable Direct NFS Client, you must add an oranfstab file to the Oracle_home\dbs directory and modify the related DLL files used by the Oracle Database software.

  1. Create an oranfstab file.
  2. Replace the standard ODM library, oraodm12.dll, with the ODM NFS library
    Oracle Database uses the ODM library, oranfsodm12.dll, to enable Direct NFS Client. To replace the ODM library, complete the following steps:
    1. Change directory to Oracle_home\bin.
    2. Shut down the Oracle Database instance on a node using the Server Control Utility (SRVCTL).
    3. Enter the following commands:
      copy oraodm12.dll oraodm12.dll.orig
copy /Y oranfsodm12.dll oraodm12.dll
    4. Restart the Oracle Database instance using SRVCTL.
    5. Repeat Step 2.a to Step 2.d for each node in the cluster.

Disabling Direct NFS Client

Complete the following steps to disable the Direct NFS Client:

  1. Log in as the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner.
  2. Set ORACLE_HOME to Oracle home for which the Direct NFS Client must be disabled.
  3. Change directory to ORACLE_HOME\bin.
  4. Shut down the Oracle database.
  5. Run the batch file, disable_dnfs.bat to delete ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\lib\odm\oranfsodm12.dll.
  6. Remove the oranfstab file.

Note:

If you remove an NFS path that an Oracle Database is using, then you must restart the database for the change to take effect.

Enabling HCC on Direct NFS Client

To enable Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC) on Direct NFS Client, perform the following steps:

  1. Ensure that SNMP is enabled on the ZFS storage server. For example:

    C:\>snmpget -v1 -c public server_name .1.3.6.1.4.1.42.2.225.1.4.2.0
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.42.2.225.1.4.2.0 = STRING: "Sun Storage 7410"

  2. If SNMP is enabled on an interface other than the NFS server, then configure oranfstab using the management parameter.

  3. If SNMP is configured using a community string other than public, then configure the oranfstab file using the community parameter.

  4. Ensure that Wsnmp32.dll and snmpapi.dll are installed by checking if snmpget is available.

Configuring Oracle Messaging Gateway

Oracle Messaging Gateway, an Oracle Database Advanced Queuing feature, requires additional configuration after you install Oracle Database if you plan to use Oracle Database Advanced Queuing.

See Also:

Oracle Database Advanced Queuing User's Guide

Configuring Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows

Oracle Administration Assistant for Windows requires the Microsoft Management Console and HTML Help 1.2 or later to run.

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) version 3.0 is available with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Oracle recommends the latest MMC version available.

See Also:

Microsoft documentation at

http://www.microsoft.com/

Configuring Oracle Label Security

You must configure Oracle Label Security in a database to use it.

See Also:

Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide

Configuring the OraClrAgnt Service for Oracle Database Extensions for .NET

Oracle Database Extensions for .NET depends on a Windows service to operate properly. This service is called the OraClrAgnt service, which can be accessed through the Service Control Panel, as OracleORACLE_HOMEClrAgent, where ORACLE_HOME represents an Oracle home name.

In earlier versions of Oracle Database, the OraClrAgnt service was automatically created by the installer. Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), after installation you use the OraClrCtl.exe utility to create, start, stop, and delete the OraClrAgnt service. The OraClrAgnt service is configured by this tool using the Oracle Home User account specified during the Oracle Database installation.

See Also:

Oracle Database Extensions for .NET Developer's Guide for Microsoft Windows

Configuring Oracle Database Vault

Oracle Database includes Database Vault by default, but you must register it before you can use it.

You must create the Database Vault Owner user and, optionally, the Database Vault Account Manager administrative user accounts.

See Also:

Oracle Database Vault Administrator's Guide

Configuring Oracle Net Services

Describes how to configure Oracle Net Services.

If you have a previous release of Oracle software installed on this system, you can copy information from the Oracle Net tnsnames.ora and listener.ora configuration files from the previous release to the corresponding files for the new release.

Note:

The default location for the tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files is the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\ directory.

Modifying the listener.ora File

If you are upgrading from a previous release of Oracle Database, Oracle recommends that you use the current release of Oracle Net listener instead of the listener from the previous release.

If you have referenced the previous Oracle home directory names in the static listener information, then these directory names must be modified before the listener.ora file can be used in the 12.2 environment.

To use the listener from the current release, you must copy static service information from the listener.ora file from the previous release to the version of that file used by the new release.

For any database instances earlier than release 8.0.3, add static service information to the listener.ora file. Oracle Database releases later than release 8.0.3 do not require static service information.

Modifying the tnsnames.ora File

Unless you are using a central tnsnames.ora file, copy Oracle Net service names and connect descriptors from the previous release tnsnames.ora file to the version of that file used by the new release.

If necessary, you can also add the connection information for additional database instances to the new file.

Installing Oracle Text Supplied Knowledge Bases

An Oracle Text knowledge base is a hierarchical tree of concepts used for theme indexing, ABOUT queries, and deriving themes for document services.

If you plan to use any of these Oracle Text features, you can install two supplied knowledge bases (English and French) from the Oracle Database Examples media.

See Also:

Oracle Text Reference

Installing the Oracle Text Filtering Component

Oracle Text Filtering Technology requires the Visual C++ libraries included in the Visual C++ Redistributable Package provided by Microsoft.

You can download the 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package version at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads

Run the vcredist_x64.exe file.

See Also:

Oracle Text Reference

Configuring or Reinstalling Oracle XML DB

Oracle XML DB is a component of the Oracle Database installation.

However, you must manually configure the FTP and HTTP ports for Oracle XML DB.

See Also:

Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide

Configuring PL/SQL External Procedures

Configuring PL/SQL depends on the network configuration files used.

In nearly all cases, configuration is automatic. However, if you are using pre-8.0.3 tnsnames.ora and listener.ora files with your 12c database, then you must manually configure them.

Configuring Shared Server Support

The default setup for using the Shared Server mode depends on how the software has been installed.

If you install Oracle Database using Oracle Universal Installer, then shared support is not configured. If you created your database through Oracle Database Configuration Assistant, then you were offered a choice of shared or dedicated server support.

Setting Credentials for the Job System to Work with Oracle Enterprise Manager

Windows systems require that you set the correct credentials for the Jobs system to work properly in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

By default, the Management Agent service is installed as a LocalSystem user. When submitting jobs, such as stopping or starting the database, the operating system user submitting the job must have the Log on as a batch job privilege enabled.

Perform the following steps to establish that privilege for any operating system user who must submit an Oracle Enterprise Manager job.

  1. Under the Security Settings list, expand the list to Local Policies.

  2. Under Local Policies, double-click User Rights Assignment.

  3. Under Policy, search for the Log on as a batch job policy.

    If the Management Agent service is installed as any other user (that is, not LocalSystem), then, in addition to granting the Log on as a batch job privilege, you must grant the "Windows service" user the following three privileges:

    • Act as part of the operating system

    • Adjust memory quotas for a process

    • Replace a process level token

      The service under the "Windows service" user runs at the operating system level.

  4. With each policy, perform the following steps:

    1. Double-click the policy name.

    2. In the Properties dialog box, click Add User or Group.

    3. In the Select Users or Groups dialog box, enter the name of the user (for example, jsmith, administrator, and so on.)

      Note:

      On Windows Server 2008, the name of the dialog box is Select Users, Computers, or Groups.

    4. Click Check Names to check that you have entered the name correctly.

    5. Click OK.

  5. Click OK to exit the Properties dialog box, then exit Local Security Settings and Administrative Tools.

  6. Restart your computer.

If a user exists locally and at the domain level, Windows gives the local user precedence. To use the domain user, qualify the user name with the domain name. For example, to use the user joe in the ACCOUNTS domain specify the user name as ACCOUNTS\joe.

Configuring Oracle Database to Communicate with Oracle Automatic Storage Management

On Windows, Oracle Database installations that use Oracle Automatic Storage Management must use Windows native authentication.

By default, Windows native authentication is enabled. To ensure that Windows native authentication is enabled, check the sqlnet.ora file, which by default is located in ORACLE_HOME\network\admin, and ensure that it has NTS enabled. For example: 

sqlnet.authentication_services=(NTS)

See Also:

Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows

Installing Oracle Database Examples

If you plan to use the following products or features, then download and install the products from the Oracle Database Examples media:

  • Oracle Database Examples

  • Oracle JDBC Development Drivers

  • Oracle Text Knowledge Base

See Also:

Oracle Database Examples Installation Guide

Creating the OraMTS Service for Microsoft Transaction Server

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server (OraMTS) permit Oracle databases to be used as resource managers in Microsoft application coordinated transactions.

OraMTS acts as a proxy for the Oracle database to the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC). As a result, OraMTS provides client-side connection pooling and allows client components that leverage Oracle to participate in promotable and distributed transactions. In addition, OraMTS can operate with Oracle databases running on any operating system, given that the services themselves are run on Windows.

On releases before Oracle Database 12c, the OraMTS service was created as part of a software-only installation. Starting with Oracle Database 12c, you must use a configuration tool to create this service.

To create the OraMTS service after performing a software-only installation for Oracle Database, perform the following steps:

  1. Open a command window.
  2. Change directories to ORACLE_HOME\bin.
  3. Run the OraMTSCtl utility to create the OraMTS Service: