D
Net8 Configuration

This appendix describes Net8 configuration for Windows 98. For an overview of Net8 configuration in general, see the Net8 Administrator's Guide.

Specific topics discussed are:

• Unsupported Net8 Features

• Understanding Net8 Registry Parameter and Subkeys

• Listener Requirements

• Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters

• Net8 Port Numbers

Unsupported Net8 Features

The following Net8 features are currently unsupported on Windows 98 platform.

Feature	Description
TRCROUTE	Client application not supported.
SPAWN	SPAWN command in the listener control utility is not supported.
Pre-SPAWNED dedicated server processes	Not supported by the listener. Therefore, do not include the following parameters in the SID_DESC's of the LISTENER.ORA file: PRESPAWN_MAX, PROTOCOL, POOL_SIZE, and TIMEOUT.

Understanding Net8 Registry Parameter and Subkeys

Net8 contains the registry entries for Net8 parameters and Net8 service subkeys. To successfully add or modify Net8 configuration parameters, you must understand where they are located and the rules that apply to them.

Net8 Parameters

The location of the Oracle Net8 registry parameters is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEID

where ID is incremented for each additional Oracle home directory on your computer (for example, HOME0 is for a first directory, HOME1 is for a second directory, and so forth).

Listener Requirements

A release 8.1.6 listener is required for the Oracle8i release 8.1.6 database. Previous versions of the listener are not supported with the Oracle8i release 8.1.6 database. However, the release 8.1.6 listener is supported with previous versions of the database.

Once Oracle8i is installed, Oracle Corporation recommends that you use the release 8.1.6 listener for all of your Oracle release 8.1 databases and previous releases (such as an Oracle8 8.0 database). Even if you install Oracle8i in multiple Oracle homes on the same computer, you should only use one listener for all your databases on the same computer.

If you must use multiple listeners (such as a Net8 8.0 listener and Net8 8.1 listener) on the same computer, see the Net8 Administrator's Guide and Chapter 5 for more information.

You can start your 8.1.6 listener by using the LSNRCTL control utility:

To start the listener using LSNRCTL:

C:\> LSNRCTL START LISTENER_NAME 

where LISTENER_NAME is the listener name for typical install or a name given during custom install.

To exit the utility:

LSNRCTL> EXIT

In past releases, information about instances was configured manually in the LISTENER.ORA file. Instance registration is now automatic. Instances register themselves with the listener when they are started.

Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters

You can use the following parameters on Windows 98:

• LOCAL

• TNS_ADMIN

• USE_SHARED_SOCKET

Net8 first checks for the parameters as environment variables, and uses the values defined. If environment variables are not defined, it searches for these parameters in the registry.

LOCAL

You can add the LOCAL parameter to make a connection without specifying a connect string service name. The value for LOCAL is the service name in the TNSNAMES.ORA file located in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN directory.

For example, if the LOCAL parameter is specified as finance, you connect to a database from SQL*Plus with the following command:

SQL> CONNECT SCOTT/TIGER 

Net8 checks if LOCAL is defined as an environment variable or as a parameter in the registry, and uses finance as the service name. If it exists, Net8 connects.

TNS_ADMIN

You can add the TNS_ADMIN parameter to change the directory name for configuration files from the default location. For example, if you set TNS_ADMIN to ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\TEST\ADMIN, the configuration files are used from ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\TEST\ADMIN.

USE_SHARED_SOCKET

You can set the USE_SHARED_SOCKET parameter to TRUE to enable the use of shared sockets. If this parameter is set to TRUE, the network listener passes the socket descriptor for client connections to the database thread. As a result, the client does not need to establish a new connection to the database thread and database connection time improves. Also, all database connections share the port number used by the network listener, which can be useful if you are setting up third-party proxy servers.

This parameter only works in dedicated server mode in a TCP/IP environment. If this parameter is set, you cannot use the 8.1.6 listener to spawn Oracle 7.x databases. To spawn an Oracle 8.0.x database from an 8.1.6 listener with the shared socket enabled, you must also set the variable USE_SHARED_SOCKET for the 8.0.x Oracle home.

Net8 Port Numbers

The following table describes the port numbers used by Net8.

Product	Default Port Number	How do I change the port number?
Listener	1521	Modify the LISTENER.ORA and TNSNAMES.ORA files, using Net8 Assistant. These files are located in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN directory, or in the directory specified by the TNS_ADMIN environment variable or registry value.