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Oracle7 Server^(tm) Products for Digital Alpha Windows NT Release Notes

December 1996

These hardcopy release notes contain the more up-to-date information about the products included in the Oracle7 Server for Digital Alpha Windows NT package.

New to this Release

Basic Database Administration Operations

All of the functions provided by NT Database Manager can now be accomplished using the Oracle Enterprise Manager Instance Manager application.

Parallel Query Option with Bitmap Index

Note: Bitmap indexes should only be used where the data is read only or infrequently updated. The parameter COMPATIBLE, in <device>:\ORANT\DATABASE\INIT<sid>.ORA must be set to 7.3.2.3 for bitmap index.

Release Restrictions

• This release of the Oracle7 Server is only supported under Digital Alpha Windows NT version 3.51 with Service Pack 4.

• We do not support the use of Intel Windows applications running under Intel emulation on a Digital Alpha platform to interact with an Oracle7 Server database.

• At this time we do not support the Oracle Enterprise Manager Web Administration Tools, which allow for HTML-based server management.

• At this time MultiThreaded Server is not supported on Windows NT. The MultiThreaded Server permits many remote clients to connect to the database through relatively few shared dispatchers, which execute user queries through a small number of shared server threads. This lowers the resource requirements on the server machine, and allows more users to connect to the database than might otherwise be possible.

• This release does not include the separately licensable ConText and Spatial Data Options.

• Oracle WebServer is currently not available on the Digital Alpha Windows NT platform.

• In Oracle7 Server Version 7.3.2.3.1, lsncrtl does not support the subagent control and informational commands dbsnmp_start, dbsnmp_stop and dbsnmp_status.

• If Database Administrators need to back up the local database and prefer not to use the Oracle Enterprise Manager Backup Manager Application, please see Chapter 18 of the Oracle7 Server Administrator's Guide for instructions on how to backup a database using the SVRMGR23 application and the Windows NT Backup utility.

You can use the NTBACKUP program in the command-line mode to perform backups and recoveries.

• This release of Oracle7 Server does not update the NT Performance Monitor with Oracle performance information. This information is still accessible via the Oracle base tables. See the Oracle7 Server Tuning manual for information on obtaining performance information from Oracle.

Documentation

• Online documentation for Windows NT-specific and base documentation is provided in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format.

	<cd_drive>:doc\intel\acroread.exe

to your Intel system using the file manager.

• Documentation may be included in your package detailing products that you did not buy or license, or whose functionality is not included in the current release. The presence of such documentation does not mean that these products are included in your package or that you are allowed to use them.

• In the documentation collection, the Oracle7 Server Tuning Guide is Release 7.2, unlike the other current Oracle7 Server documentation that is Release 7.3. This is not an error, an updated version of this manual will be included in a future release. For more information on Oracle7 Server Release 7.3 tuning, see "Tuning Issues" in the README file installed with the Oracle7 Server.

• Online documentation for Oracle Enterprise Manager is available in HTML format. You can download an Alpha NT compatible version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer from:

	http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/

Changes Since Release 7.2

• The SQLDBAxx application has been replaced by SVRMGR23 (Server Manager). The functionality remains the same.

• Online documentation for Digital Alpha Windows NT-specific and base documentation is provided in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format. See the "Documentation" section.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation is installed as HTML files as well as Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files. However, the Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files are viewable only from an Intel Windows platform.

Hardware Requirements

Server

• 32-64 MB RAM recommended

• 185 MB hard disk space

• 205 MB hard disk space (with replication support)

Client

• 8 MB RAM recommended

• 40 MB hard disk space

• CD-ROM drive

Software Requirements

Oracle Enterprise Manager and the Oracle Intelligent Agent require an Oracle Release 7.3 database for operation.

Product Licenses

De-installation

Replication Between 7.2 and 7.3

Performance Boost with Character Mode Tools

Tuning

The physical memory that Windows NT allows a process to use at any given time is called the process' working set. Programs that need more virtual memory than allowed by their maximum working set have portions of their process memory paged into and out of the working set (physical memory) on a demand-basis: memory in active use is paged into the working set, while memory that hasn't been used in a while is paged out.

Windows NT provides a generous working set that is adequate for most types of processes. The Oracle service, however, tends to grow beyond these limits. The memory used by the Oracle service is related almost entirely to the size of the Oracle Shared Global Area (SGA), whose size is tied in a complex manner to an instance's INIT.ORA parameters. If you see the Oracle service paging a lot in situations where you would not expect this to be happening (when not doing huge joins or other large database operations), then you might have allocated too little physical memory to that process.

Oracle provides a number of registry variables that can be used to tune the minimum and maximum working set of the Oracle service, either for all instances on a machine at once, or individually. To adjust the working set for a given Oracle instance (that is identified by its System IDentifier or SID), create the following registry variables. Substitute the SID of your instance for sid (for example, the default SID is "ORCL", so we would define ORA_ORCL_WORKINGSETMAX) as follows:

ORA_sid_WORKINGSETMIN

ORA_sid_WORKINGSETMAX

The following registry variables can be used to control the working set for all Oracle instances on a system, each of which runs as a separate service:

ORA_WORKINGSETMIN

ORA_WORKINGSETMAX

By default, these values are determined by the Windows NT operating system when Oracle Services start. The range for both of these parameters can be from 1 to FFFFFFFE. Oracle recommends that these registry variables be left unchanged, unless persons knowledgeable in the tuning of Windows NT and the Oracle7 Server software have specific requirements.

Oracle Network Products for Windows NT

Supported Oracle Network Product Versions and Vendors

The DECnet Adapter

When configuring the TNS listener to listen for DECnet connections, you need to specify an OBJECT value in the LISTENER.ORA file for the DECnet protocol. The listener registers itself as a DECnet object, using the name specified as the OBJECT value. After the listener is started, you can see the listener object if you issue the following command in the DECnet NCP utility:

NCP> SHOW KNOWN OBJECTS

The DECnet protocol adapter supports DECnet Phase IV. If you are connecting to an OpenVMS machine having DECnet Phase V installed, you must run it in Phase IV compatibility mode.

DECnet Connect Descriptor Configuration

Syntax

(PROTOCOL=DECNET)

(NODE=node)

(OBJECT=object name)

The following field is optional:

(QUEUESIZE=n)

where:

PROTOCOL Is the keyword that identifies the specific protocol adapter used; for this protocol, the value is DECNET. The value can be entered in either uppercase or lowercase.

NODE Is the name of the remote node to which you want to connect. This node must be included in the list of your system's node names. Use the NCP utility to display these parameters by entering the following command in NCP:

					NCP> SHOW KNOWN NODES

OBJECT Is the DECnet object name of the listener to which you want to connect on the specified node. The object is created when the listener starts and is deleted when the listener is stopped. The object of an alias used in the TNSNAMES.ORA file must have a corresponding address in the LISTENER.ORA file; it must have the same object, protocol, and node. An object name must be less that 15 characters in length.

Use upper case when entering object IDs.

QUEUESIZE If many simultaneous connections are made to the listener, some connection requests may not be received because the DECnet connection mailbox is too small. Using this parameter, the connection mailbox can be made larger. This parameter is optional; if it is not specified, the default value of 20 is used, allowing twenty DECnet connections to the listener to be pending.

Example

(PROTOCOL=DECNET)

(NODE=VAX1)

(OBJECT=LISTEN1)

Note: A full example of a DECnet connect descriptor can be found in the file ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN\SAMPLES\TNSNAMES.ORA.

Note: SQL*NET*Easy currently does not support creating aliases for DECnet protocol. You need to do this manually using the information given in the sample TNSNAMES.ORA file that came with your system.

SQL*Net Client Products

Before You Install SQL*Net V2.3

SQL*Net DECnet Protocol Adapter Version 2.3.2.1.4

This release of SQL*Net DECnet Protocol Adapter is not supported by the SQL*Net Easy Configuration utility. Use Oracle Network Manager for Windows (supported only on an Intel platform) for configuration.

SQL*Net Easy Configuration or Oracle Network Manager for Windows

Oracle Corporation strongly recommends that every machine in the workgroup network be configured with one, and only one, of the configuration utilities: SQL*Net Easy Configuration, or Oracle Network Manager for Windows.

SQL*Net Easy Configuration and Oracle Network Manager for Windows are mutually exclusive on any one machine.

SQL*Net Easy Configuration allows you to add up to 15 new database aliases.

Note: Oracle Network Manager for Windows is supported only on an Intel platform.

SQL*Net Easy Configuration and Configuration Files

• ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN

• ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\CFG

SQL*Net Easy Configuration and Client-Server Configuration

• use the Add Database Alias feature

• do not use the Modify Database Alias feature to modify the example aliases provided with SQL*Net Easy Configuration.

Back Up TNSNAMES.ORA

Make sure you know the network address of your server machine.

Back Up LISTENER.ORA

Each time you run SQL*Net server installation, pre-existing versions of the LISTENER.ORA and SQLNET.ORA files are incrementally backed up to LISTENER.001, LISTENER.002, SQLNET.001, SQLNET.002, etc. This prevents these files from being overwritten.

Before Installing the SQL*Net SPX/IPX Protocol Adapter

Starting the Listener

Stopping the Listener

Step 1. Invoke the LSNRCTL utility program

Step 2. At the LSNRCTL prompt, type:

SET PASSWORD XXXX

where XXXX is the password specified in the LISTENER.ORA file.

Step 3. Stop the Listener.

SQL*Net for Windows NT Server, Version 2.3.2.1.4 Production

A SQL*Net V2 TNS Listener listening on an SPX address may fail to restart immediately after you stop it. If so, wait for two minutes before restarting the TNS Listener. If you restart without waiting, the following error message may appear: "TNS-12542: TNS: Address already in use".

To start or stop the TNS Listener, use the LSNRCTL utility or the following Windows NT command:

net start OracleTNSListener<listenername>

net stop OracleTNSListener<listenername>

You can also use the Services' display in the "Control Panel" to start/stop the listener.

No Prespawned Dedicated Server Processes Supported by TNS Listener

• PRESPAWN_MAX

• PROTOCOL

• POOL_SIZE

• TIMEOUT

Oracle Names Server for Windows NT, Version 2.0.1.1.0 Production

The Dynamic Discovery Option (DDO) is a new feature of this Oracle Names release.

A SQL*Net client no longer requires the TNSNAMES.ORA in order to locate a service. If the TNSNAMES.ORA is created, the client first uses it to resolve the service name before resolving it through the DDO.

A SQL*Net server requires the following entries in the LISTENER.ORA file for a listener to register itself as a service to a well known Names Server.

	(SID_DESC = (SID=...) 
	            (GLOBAL_DBNAME=service) 
	)

	USE_PLUG_AND_PLAY=ON

where the service is the service name to be registered with the name server.

With the DDO, the customer needs to configure the Names Server with one of the well known names. The name to use is based on the type of connection being used:

The well known host names for TCP connections are:	The well known service name for an SPX connection is:	The well known computer names for Named Pipes connections are:
oranamesrvr0	oranamesrvr	oranamesrvr0
oranamesrvr1		oranamesrvr1
oranamesrvr2		oranamesrvr2
oranamesrvr3		oranamesrvr3
oranamesrvr4		oranamesrvr4

The DDO is automatically disabled in the SQLNET.ORA file in the ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN directory. To use the DDO, enable the NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH parameter in this file. Refer to the Oracle Names Administrator's Guide for instructions.

Refer to the Oracle Names Administrator's Guide to learn more about planning, configuring, running and managing Oracle Names.

Security for the Named Pipes Protocol

1. Go to the Windows NT Control Panel.

2. Double-click on the Services icon.

3. Scroll to Oracle Names Service and double-click.

4. Select the "This Account" radio button in the Log On As box.

5. Click on the ". . ." button to the right of "This Account" radio button.

6. Select your logon id (user id).

7. Click on the OK button.

8. In the Log On As box, type your logon id password in the Password field.

9. Retype the same logon id password in the Confirm Password field.

10. Click on the OK button.

11. Choose Close to return to the Control Panel.

12. Start the Name Server using the following command in the command line:

NAMESCTL START

Note: You may not see the OracleNamesService in the Services dialog box when you install Oracle. This will be added to the Services list when you attempt to start the Names Server using the "NAMESCTL START" command.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Repository

Oracle Intelligent Agent Installation

• Networking Products

• Oracle7 Server

Additional Issues

SQL*Plus for Windows NT

This release note contains important information about SQL*Plus that is not included in the SQL*Plus documentation.

Non-blocking Version

SET AUTOTRACE and PLUSTRCE.SQL

Access to these tables is available to users who have the PLUSTRCE role. To grant this role to users, run PLUSTRCE.SQL while connected as SYS.

SET NEWPAGE 0

Multiple Versions of SQL*Plus

National Language Support

Documentation

· The Oracle Installer also copies GLOGIN.SQL, a global LOGIN file, to your SQL*Plus directory. The GLOGIN.SQL file is similar to the LOGIN.SQL file, except that GLOGIN.SQL can be used to set preferences that all SQL*Plus sessions can use.

Known Problems, Restrictions and Workarounds

• After several documents are opened in Adobe Acrobat, you may receive an error message when trying to open an additional document stating that the document does not exist. This error occurs because memory has run out. To solve the problem, close open documents and continue.

• On Windows NT, an SPX connection will work only if the machines have the nwlink SPX/IPX transport protocol installed with the Client Services for NetWare (included on the Windows NT installation media).

• The use of multiple Oracle Homes and the capability of switching between Oracle Homes is not supported in this release.

• When started, the Intelligent Agent dynamically creates queue files. The presence of earlier versions of these files may cause the Agent to behave unpredictably. The customer should delete any files of the form *.q or tcl*.* from the directory:

	${ORANT}\network\agent\

• When upgrading from Oracle7 Server Version 7.2.2 to Oracle Server Version 7.3.2, and executing the oradmin73 command to create a password file, the password file does not get created. Consequently, the password file must be created manually. (Bug#:429202)

	orapwd73 file=<fname> password=<password> entries=<users>

where

file= the name of the password file (mandatory.) You may call this file anything you wish. Oracle suggests PWD<sid>.ORA in the <drive>:\orant\database directory.

password= password for SYS and INTERNAL (mandatory.) This is the password that will be used by the server to authenticate a statement such as "CONNECT INTERNAL/<password> AS SYSDBA" or "CONNECT SYS/<password> AS SYSDBA". If you want to log in as SYS into the user schema, you can do so (if the database is up) using "CONNECT SYS/CHANGE_ON_INSTALL" (or whatever is your present setting for the SYS password.) This is because the password in the file can be different from the password already assigned to the SYS account. However, once you bring up the database with the password file in exclusive or shared mode, then changing the password of SYS will make the one in the file the same as the one in the database. To authorize local connects or remote connects *with secure protocols* you do not need to use the password file if you have the appropriate OS role, otherwise you do. Since neither DECnet nor TCP/IP are truly secure protocols, Oracle strongly recommends the use of this feature.

entries= the maximum number of OS DBA or OS OPER users that will be allowed to use the database. This allows the password utililty to make the password file large enough to store this many entries. Please be sure to leave room in this file for the addition of potentially new DBAs as it cannot be expanded.

In addition, in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ORACLE file, add or modify the registry key called ORA_<sid>_PWFILE, giving the name and full path of the password file, as in the following example:

ORA_ORCL_PWFILE = <drive>:\ORANT\DATABASE\PWDORCL.ORA

Oracle recommends for any registry additions or modifications, that you notify your NT System Administrator to implement the required registry changes.

• DECnet does not connect reliably in loop back mode, experiencing intermittent connection failures. DECnet should not be used to diagnose local connection problems. It is recommended that local connections rely on Bequeath or IPC (bug #: 431878.)

• When installing the products of Oracle7 server for Digital Alpha Windows NT, the installer incorrectly reports that the space required for each product is 24K bytes. If you are concerned about the actual space required, you can use the "{Selective Product Install}" function which correctly reports the space required for your choice(s) (bug #: 431126.)

• The Data Manager within Oracle Enterprise Manager generates a "Parameter not Optional" error. This happens in the Data Manager wizard page six of seven, which is the last page for gathering parameters for export, import or load. Exhaustive tests have not been completed, but initial tests indicate that the export, import and load do complete successfully (bug #: 429935.)

• Online help is unavailable for the NT Instance Manager. Clicking on the help button in the NT Instance Manager fails to invoke online help (bug #: 430166.)

• Correction regarding the Windows NT/95 online documentation: at this time, there are no Borland compilers available on Alpha Windows NT for Pro*C/C++ (bug #: 431455.)

• The maximum trace level for SQL*Net tracing is ADMIN. Setting the trace level to a value higher than ADMIN fails to produce a trace (bug #: 429733.)

• When running the Oracle Installer, the "default" value displayed for ORACLE_HOME drive letter does not match the value entered during previous installations, or that of a system disk. You need to check this field and verify that the ORACLE_HOME drive letter is correct every time you install (bug #: 429763.)

• The Oracle Names Service is created when the user initially runs namesctlstart. Since it did not create this service, the installer is not sure of its name and does not remove this service during deinstallation. It must be removed manually by running the command:

	net stop OracleNamesService

(bug #: 432269.)

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