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Oracle Net Services Configuration

This appendix describes Oracle Net Services configuration for Windows. For more generic information on Oracle Net Services configuration, see Oracle9i Net Services Administrator's Guide.

This appendix contains these topics:

• Understanding Oracle Net Services Registry Parameter and Subkeys
  
  
• Listener Requirements
  
  
• Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters
  
  
• Advanced Network Configuration

  See Also: Oracle Net Services integration with Active Directory for Windows 2000 in "Using Enterprise User Security with Microsoft Active Directory" in Oracle Advanced Security Administrator's Guide

Understanding Oracle Net Services Registry Parameter and Subkeys

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

Oracle Net Service Subkeys

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services contains subkeys that correspond to services. Depending on what is installed, your Oracle Net Services consist of all or a subset of the following:

• OracleHOME_NAMEClientCache
  
  
• OracleHOME_NAMECMAdmin
  
  
• OracleHOME_NAMECMan
  
  
• OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener

Each service subkey contains the parameters shown in Table A-1.

Table A-1 Service Subkey Parameters

Parameter	Description
DisplayName	Specifies service name.
ImagePath	Specifies fully qualified path name of executable invoked by service and any command line arguments passed to executable at runtime.
ObjectName	Specifies logon user account and computer to which service should log on.

Listener Requirements

In Oracle9i release 2 (9.2), the listener is set to start automatically at system restart. If you intend to use only the listener for all of your databases, ensure that only the Windows NT service for the listener, as listed in the Control Panel, is set to start automatically.

Oracle Corporation normally recommends that you only have a single net listener service running on a Windows NT computer at any one time. This single listener can support multiple databases. If you need to have two different net listener services running on a Windows NT computer at the same time, make sure that they are configured to listen on different TCP/IP port numbers.

If the same IP address and port are used for different listeners, you might expect that the second and subsequent listeners would fail to bind. Instead, Windows NT allows them all to listen on the same IP address and port, resulting in unexpected behavior of the listeners. This is a suspected Windows NT operating system problem with TCP/IP and has been reported to Microsoft.

Understanding Optional Configuration Parameters

You can use the following parameters on Windows NT and Windows 98:

• LOCAL
  
  
• TNS_ADMIN
  
  
• USE_SHARED_SOCKET

Oracle Net Service 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 use parameter LOCAL to connect to Oracle9i database without specifying a connect identifier in the connect string. The value of parameter LOCAL is any connect identifier, such as a net service name. For example, if parameter LOCAL is specified as finance, you can connect to a database from SQL*Plus with:

SQL> CONNECT scott/tiger

rather than

SQL> CONNECT scott/tiger@finance

Oracle Net 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, Oracle Net connects.

TNS_ADMIN

You can add parameter TNS_ADMIN to change the directory path of Oracle Net Services configuration files from the default location of ORACLE_HOME\network\admin. 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 parameter USE_SHARED_SOCKET to true to enable 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 9.0 listener to spawn Oracle7 release 7.x databases. To spawn a dedicated server for an Oracle database not associated with the same Oracle home as the listener and have shared socket enabled, you must also set parameter USE_SHARED_SOCKET for both Oracle homes.

Advanced Network Configuration

The following sections describe advanced configuration procedures specifically for Oracle Net Services on Windows operating systems.

Configuring Authentication Method

Oracle Net Services provides authentication methods for Windows operating systems using Windows Native Authentication.

Configuring Security for Named Pipes Protocol

The network listener service may be unable to open the Named Pipe created by Oracle Names unless service OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener has a valid user ID and password associated with it.

To set up the network listener permissions:

1. From the Control Panel window, double-click Services.

   The Services window appears.

2. Double-click service OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener.

   The Services dialog box appears.

3. Choose option This Account. Then choose option "..." next to it.

   The Add User dialog box appears.

4. Select your logon ID (user ID) from the Names list and choose Add.

   The user ID appears in the Add Name text box.

5. Click OK.

   The Services dialog box appears with the user ID displayed in text box This Account.

6. Type your password in the Password text box.
   
   
7. Retype the same logon password in the Confirm Password text box.
   
   
8. Click OK.