Oracle Network Products Getting Started for Windows Platforms

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Modifying Oracle Parameters for Windows 3.1x

Understanding the ORACLE.INI Configuration File
Defining Configuration Parameters
Understanding Configuration Parameters

Understanding the ORACLE.INI Configuration File

The Oracle configuration file, ORACLE.INI, is an ASCII text file that contains parameters that you modify to suit your setup.

This Oracle configuration file can be placed anywhere in your system and is located by the pointer set by ORA_CONFIG in the Oracle group, [ORACLE], in the WIN.INI file. These parameters for Windows cannot be reset at the command line.

Defining Configuration Parameters

Configuration parameters control the name of the Oracle home directory, the screen driver, and the command used to spool files to the printer.

Configuration parameters also determine the driver to use for network communications and the values for SQL*Net to use for its operating parameters.

Each line of a configuration file specifies one parameter value in the following format:

PARAMETER=VALUE 



 Note

There can be no embedded spaces before or after the equal (=) sign. Inserting a space causes SQL*Net to ignore the command.

For example, you set the ORACLE_HOME parameter to the value C:\ORAWIN by entering:

ORACLE_HOME=C:\ORAWIN

You can modify the contents of a configuration file with any text editor or word processor. Remember that if you are using a word processor to edit Oracle files, you must save the file as an ASCII text file, not as a document file.

Setting Configuration Parameters

Configuration file parameters and default values are added to your configuration file when you install an Oracle product.

After installing an Oracle product, you can reset configuration file parameter values in two ways:

Reset the parameters in the ORACLE.INI file:

ORACLE_HOME=C:\ORAWIN
SQLPATH=C:\ORAWIN
SQLNET DBNAME FINANCE=T:MARKET

Reset the parameters at the command line using the SET command. For example:
```
C:\> SET ORACLE_HOME=C:\ORAWIN2
```
Setting a parameter in this manner is temporary. The parameter is only set for the current login session.

Specifying Alternative Configuration Files

You can specify a configuration file other than the default file by resetting the Windows environment variable configuration to the name and directory where your new configuration file resides. In most cases, a single configuration file can hold all the settings you need. However, in some cases you can define multiple configuration files. For example, you can have a configuration file for each SQL*Net driver you use. In these cases, you can have configuration files with different LOCAL and REMOTE parameters for each SQL*Net driver.

See the sections, "LOCAL" and "REMOTE" in "Understanding Configuration Parameters" for explanations of these parameters.

Understanding Configuration Parameters

Most configuration parameters take effect only when you start up the Oracle7 Server or an Oracle tool.

LOCAL

This parameter specifies the TNS parameters to use when no communications driver is specified upon loading an Oracle tool. This parameter enables the database administrator (DBA) to define a "default" network connection. When the user logs on without specifying any network parameters, Oracle uses the LOCAL connection. Thus, the distributed processing or distributed database is made invisible to the user.

The default and legal values for LOCAL are:

Default Legal Values
2:
Specifies a two-task driver to connect to a Personal Oracle7 database, which is available for 16-bit SQL*Net when running on Windows 95.
TNS prefix

Note If a connect string is not issued, 2: is used. The following error message appears if a default database does not exist:
ORA-00342: Unable to connect to default Host

The syntax for the LOCAL parameter is:

LOCAL=service_name

The following example shows the usage of the LOCAL parameter:

LOCAL=GREEN

where GREEN is the service name located in the TNSNAMES.ORA file located at ORAWIN\NETWORK\ADMIN.

Note If you are using Oracle version 6 tools, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT to include ORAWIN\BIN in the path statement. This allows version 6 tools to access SQL*Net.

To use the server specified by LOCAL, enter:

SQLPLUS SCOTT/TIGER

SQL*Net check for LOCAL=service_name in the ORACLE.INI file. If it exists, SQL*Net connects.

NLS_LANG

This parameter includes three components: language, territory, and character set. This parameter specifies the language in which error and status messages are displayed, the format in which the date is displayed, and the character set displayed. The default value causes all messages to display in American English.

The default and legal values for NLS_LANG are:

Default Legal Values
AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1 supported languages, territories, and character sets

Additional Information See the Oracle7 Server Reference Manual.

ORACLE_HOME

This parameter specifies the Oracle home directory in which Oracle products are installed. It is added to your configuration file when you run ORAINST for the first time.

This directory is the top directory in the Oracle directory hierarchy. The default and legal values for ORACLE_HOME are:

Default Legal Values
ORAWIN any Windows directory on any drive

REMOTE

This parameter specifies the default remote SQL*Net driver to use when connecting to a remote Oracle7 Server.

The default and legal values for REMOTE are:

Default Legal Values
None any valid TNS parameters

Note If you try to connect with SCOTT/TIGER@REMOTE, then SQL*Net tries to find REMOTE in the TNSNAMES.ORA file. If that fails, SQL*Net tries to find REMOTE using an Oracle Names Server. In other words, if you do not specify REMOTE, then SQL*Net treats REMOTE as a service name.

This parameter can include the default parameters (complete connect descriptors). For example:

REMOTE=PIPER_SERVER

where PIPER_SERVER is the service name in the TNSNAMES.ORA file located at ORAWIN \NETWORK\ADMIN.

To use the server specified by REMOTE, enter:

C>SQLPLUS SCOTT/TIGER@REMOTE

If a user logs on and specifies a connection with an explicit driver prefix matching the one specified in REMOTE, but specifies no connect descriptor parameters, the parameters specified in REMOTE are used. This configuration parameter enables the DBA to define a "normal" network connection for which the SQL*Net user need not specify connection parameters.

SQLPATH

This parameter specifies the path that SQL*Plus searches when you execute it. SQL*Plus uses SQLPATH to search for the LOGIN.SQL file, a file that contains commands that SQL*Plus automatically executes upon start-up.

The default and legal values for SQLPATH are:

Default Legal Values
None any directory on any drive

TCP_VENDOR

This parameter specifies which JSB Virtual Socket Library transport to use. Potential values for this parameter are described in Table B-3 and Table B-4.

The default and legal values for TCP_VENDOR are:

Default Legal Values
None any valid vendor key for a supported JSB transport

Note This parameter is only used with the TCP/IP Protocol Adapter.

TNS_ADMIN

This parameter specifies a directory in which the SQL*Net version 2 configuration files reside.

The default and legal values for TNS_ADMIN are:

Default Legal Values
ORACLE_HOME\ NETWORK\ADMIN any valid directory

UTILITY_MSG

This parameter specifies a directory in which error messages issued by Oracle audit tools and utilities are stored.

You can have more than one set of message files and use this parameter to name the set for a particular Oracle configuration.

The default and legal values for UTILITY_MSG are:

Default Legal Values
ORACLE_HOME\DBS any directory

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Default	Legal Values
2: Specifies a two-task driver to connect to a Personal Oracle7 database, which is available for 16-bit SQL*Net when running on Windows 95.	TNS prefix

Default	Legal Values
AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1	supported languages, territories, and character sets

Default	Legal Values
ORAWIN	any Windows directory on any drive

Default	Legal Values
None	any valid vendor key for a supported JSB transport

Default	Legal Values
ORACLE_HOME\ NETWORK\ADMIN	any valid directory