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.

• Windows Authentication No Longer Uses NTLM by Default
  For Microsoft Windows installations with AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=NTS, in this Oracle Database release, the SQLNET.NO_NTLM parameter setting in the sqlnet.ora file defaults to TRUE, which can cause ORA-12638 errors.
• 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.
• 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.
• Configuring Oracle Net Services
  Describes how to configure Oracle Net Services.
• 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.
• 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.
• Configuring or Reinstalling Oracle XML DB
  Oracle XML DB is a component of the Oracle Database installation.
• Configuring PL/SQL External Procedures
  Configuring PL/SQL depends on the network configuration files used.
• Configuring Shared Server Support
  The default setup for using the Shared Server mode depends on how the software has been installed.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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:
• 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.

Windows Authentication No Longer Uses NTLM by Default

For Microsoft Windows installations with AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=NTS, in this Oracle Database release, the SQLNET.NO_NTLM parameter setting in the sqlnet.ora file defaults to TRUE, which can cause ORA-12638 errors.

Date: August 2023

In previous releases, the default for AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=NTS was FALSE. SQLNET.NO_NTLM controls whether NTLM can be used with NTS authentication. A TRUE setting means that NTLM cannot be used in NTS authentication. Because NTLM does not normally provide mutual authentication and is hence less secure, a TRUE setting for SQLNET.NO_NTLM makes the database and client more secure.

The SQLNET.NO_NTLM parameter is used on both the server and the client. If you have upgraded a Microsoft Windows installation of Oracle Database, or upgraded a client in which SQLNET.NO_NTLM had not been set, then its default will be TRUE. In that case, when you have SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=NTS in your sqlnet.ora, clients can encounter the error ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed.

If you prefer to use NTLM authentication for certain clients, then set this parameter as required in client-side sqlnet.ora files:

SQLNET.NO_NTLM=FALSE

You must include this setting on both the server and client, and this setting should be the same on both. Ideally, you should ensure that SQLNET.NO_NTLM is set to TRUE. However, if there is an authentication failure in extproc, a virtual account, or a local account on Windows, set the client SQLNET.NO_NTLM to FALSE, and then retry the login. If you change SQLNET.NO_NTLM on the server, then you must restart the database.