Application Connectivity
Reset Database Session State
The reset database session state feature clears the session state set by the application when the request ends. The RESET_STATE database service attribute cleans up dirty sessions so that the applications cannot see the state of these sessions. This feature applies to all applications that connect to the database using database services.
This feature uses the RESET_STATE attribute on the database service to direct the database to clean the session state at the end of each request so that developers do not have to clean the session state manually. By using this feature, you ensure that there are no data leaks from a previous session.
Implicit Connection Pooling for Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP)
This feature enables the automatic assignment of DRCP servers to and from an application connection at runtime when the application starts and finishes database operations, even if the application does not explicitly close the connection.
This feature can provide better scalability and efficient usage of database resources for applications that do not use application connection pooling.
Implicit Connection Pooling for Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM)
Client applications that do not use an application connection pool can take advantage of CMAN-TDM Proxy Resident Connection Pooling (PRCP) without making any application changes.
The new feature enables the automatic assignment of PRCP servers to and from an application connection at runtime when the application starts and finishes database operations even if the application does not explicitly close the connection.
This feature can reduce the size of PRCP pools required. It provides better scalability and efficient usage of resources for applications that do not use Oracle Session Pooling or Universal Connection Pooling (UCP).
Improved Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM) Pool Configuration Settings for Autonomous Database
Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM) has new Proxy Resident Connection Pooling (PRCP) configuration settings for use with Autonomous Database. Per-PDB PRCP pools can be enabled, allowing you to consolidate connection pools for each PDB and share these sessions across multiple services that belong to the same PDB. The maximum PRCP pool size can be dynamically configured based on the new cman.ora parameter TDM_PERPDB_PRCP_CONNFACTOR and the Oracle Compute Unit (OCPU) count allocated to each PDB.
The per-PDB PRCP mode provides efficient usage of database resources by reducing the number of pools in a CMAN-TDM gateway. Pool sizing can also now be more autonomous, reducing the need for manual re-configuration.
JDBC Enhancements to Transparent Application Continuity
This feature allows, when the RDBMS server supports it, templates (for example, stable restorable attributes), which are cross-session (one template might be used by multiple sessions). This feature also brings the ability to avoid the combinatorial explosion of templates by quarantining session states that are different in most sessions and therefore cannot be shared.
This feature simplifies high availability by moving most application continuity configurations to the server-side. Java applications inherit transparently (that is, no code required) the latest server-side enhancements.
JDBC Extensions for Apps Configuration Providers
JDBC instrumentalization for securely pulling Java Apps configuration from central stores such as Azure Config Store or OCI Object store or any JSON file accessible from generic web servers.
This feature simplifies Java application configuration in multi-Cloud environments.
JDBC Support for Kerberos Authentication using JAAS Configuration
By default, the Oracle JDBC Thin driver uses the default Kerberos login module, bundled with Oracle JDK (com.sun.security.auth.module.Krb5LoginModule). This feature enables applications that want to override the default behavior to specify a JAAS configuration file through the connection properties.
This feature provides flexibility with Kerberos Authentication configuration.
JDBC Support for Kerberos Authentication using User and Password Properties
This feature enables the users to configure Kerberos Principal and Password through the User and Password properties. The JDBC Thin driver takes care of initializing the KerberosLoginModule on behalf of the applications.
This feature simplifies Kerberos Authentication configuration.
JDBC Support for OAuth 2.0 Including OCI IAM and Azure AD
The Oracle JDBC driver provides support for OAuth 2.0 authentication for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) Cloud Service or the Azure Active Directory.
This feature simplifies Java application authentication to the Oracle Autonomous Database using OAuth 2.0 in multi-Cloud environments (OCI, Azure) in lieu of traditional credentials mechanisms such as username/password or strong authentication mechanisms, such as Kerberos or Radius.
Java Support for True Cache
The Connection.setReadOnly and Connection.isReadyOnly methods have been enhanced to transparently support True Cache. Developers simply need to set the new connection and system property oracle.jdbc.useADCDriverConnection to true.
JDBC support for True Cache furnishes mission-critical availability of Oracle database to Java applications. It eliminates single points of failure and prevents data loss and downtime.
Multiple Named Pools for Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP)
Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP) now supports multiple named pools. New DBMS_CONNECTION_POOL.ADD_POOL() and DBMS_CONNECTION_POOL.REMOVE_POOL() procedures are added. Oracle Net connection string syntax is enhanced so a pool name can be specified for each connection. Existing procedures can be used to start, stop, or configure the named pools. Existing GV$ and V$ views show the appropriate pool name(s) in use.
Having multiple pools allows finer control on the DRCP pool usage. It helps prevent situations where some applications dominate the use of a single pool.
ODP.NET Transparent Application Failover
Oracle Transparent Application Failover (TAF) is a high availability feature that enables client apps to automatically reconnect to a secondary database instance if the connected primary instance fails or shuts down. ODP.NET Core and managed ODP.NET now support connection and basic session state TAF.
ODP.NET TAF enables apps to recover and continue operating when database downtime occurs. It requires no changes to .NET application code to use.
ODP.NET: Application Continuity
ODP.NET Core and managed drivers now support Application Continuity (AC) and Transparent Application Continuity (TAC). AC and TAC mask outages from end users and applications by recovering the in-flight database sessions following recoverable outages, including transactions. The recovery is transparent such that the end user merely experiences a slightly delayed execution, but no perceptible outage nor error.
AC and TAC improve the user experience for both unplanned outages and planned maintenance. They enhance the fault tolerance of systems and .NET applications that use an Oracle database. Developers can use AC and TAC with existing .NET apps without making any code changes.
ODP.NET: Pipelining
ODP.NET core and managed drivers support pipelining for its database communication. It allows subsequent database requests to be sent and queued transparently even while ODP.NET awaits a database response.
Pipelining improves overall app performance and allows database resources to be used more effectively. ODP.NET does not need to wait for the database to respond from previous requests before submitting subsequent requests.
Oracle Call Interface (OCI) Pipelined Operations
Oracle Call Interface (OCI) has been enhanced to support pipelining of operations. Pipelining enables applications to submit multiple database operations without waiting for a response from the server. The application has control over when the responses to the pipelined operations are harvested. This allows applications to continue work without being blocked while the database is generating results.
This feature is used to increase the overall throughput and responsiveness of applications and languages that use OCI. Pipelining reduces the server and client idle times in comparison with the traditional request-response model.
Oracle Call Interface (OCI) Session Pool Statistics
The Oracle Call Interface (OCI) session pool usage statistics can be viewed.
The statistics help in tuning pool sizes for better performance, and aid in understanding the life cycle of connections.
Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM) Support for Direct Path Applications
Oracle Database's Set Current Schema and Direct Path API features are now supported by Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM).
This feature enables more client applications to leverage CMAN-TDM connection multiplexing capabilities.
Oracle Connection Manager in Traffic Director Mode (CMAN-TDM) Usage Statistics
A new V$TDM_STATS view can be used to query usage statistics for CMAN-TDM per-PDB Proxy Resident Connection Pools (PRCP), such as the number of active client connections in the connection pool, the number of busy and free server connections, the maximum number of connections reached, and more.
Providing usage statistics helps to improve the monitoring and tuning of CMAN-TDM.
Resumable Cursors
Resumable cursors, those that span transactions, will be replayable with Transparent Application Continuity. Such cursors are common in batch processing (such as loading sets of records) and require special handling to reposition those cursors during replay with Transparent Application Continuity.
Broadened support with Transparent Application Continuity for applications that rely upon resumable cursors, those that span commits. These cursors are very common in repetitive batch operations, looping through sets of records for updates and inserts with a commit for each set of records. Now, TAC will be able to replay the transactions that were interrupted (and not yet committed).
Shut Down Connection Draining for Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP)
A new, optional DRAINTIME argument to DBMS_CONNECTION_POOL.STOP_POOL() allows active DRCP pools to be closed after a specified connection drain time, or be closed immediately without waiting for connections to be idle.
This feature gives DBAs better control over DRCP usage and configuration.
UCP Support for XA Transactions with Sharded Databases
This feature allows sharded database connections to participate in eXtended Architecture (XA) transactions managed by WebLogic Server Transaction Manager.
This feature allows reliable XA transactions coupled with the scalability of sharded databases.