Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting [Paperback]

Hugo Toledo (Author), Jonathan Gennick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

Net8 is the fundamental Oracle technology that allows Oracle services and clients to communicate with each other over a network. Net8 is most often used to connect client software to Oracle database servers. It may also be used to connect database servers to one another, allowing communication between distributed databases.

This practical guide provides the information that readers, especially database administrators, need to know in order to install configure, tune, and troubleshoot Net8. It discusses how Oracle's network architecture, products, and name resolution methods work, and it provides the details of client and server configuration using a variety of Oracle protocols and networking products, including:

• The Oracle Internet Directory (OID), Oracle's implementation of the standard Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). This directory can be used to maintain a central repository of net service names that can be referenced by all clients.
• Oracle Names, a networking component used mainly in earlier versions of Oracle, that allows net service names to be defined centrally.
• Multi-Threaded Server (MTS), an environment in which the client connections share access to a pool of shared server processes.
• Oracle Connection Manager, a Net8 component that acts much like a router and provides protocol conversion, connection concentration, and access control.

The book also describes the utilities Oracle provides to help manage a Net8 environment; these include the Listener Control Utility (lsnrctl), the Oracle Names Control Utility (namesctl), the Oracle Connection Manager Control Utility (cmctl), tnsping, and Net8 Assistant. In addition, it provides a variety of networking troubleshooting techniques and commonly encountered Net8 configuration problems, and provides complete syntax for all networking files and commands.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oracle's Net8 technologies are what make Oracle databases more than just repositories of values. They facilitate communication between Oracle servers and their clients, as well as among servers for purposes of synchronization, replication, and load balancing. Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting documents the Net8 software in full, explaining to system implementers and administrators what talks to what, and how. The emphasis is on design constraints--for example, the way many operating systems limit the number of simultaneous connections to a single process and so require multiple dispatcher processes. Diagnosis and repair of problems are also explored, and quite a lot of information about console utilities is included.

Syntax statements and annotated lists of parameters complement the text in this book. You'll probably learn the most about the subject that interests you by locating a page reference in the index, then reading straight through a couple of sections on either side of the reference--the pages are rich in information and casual detail. Of course, a book isn't an O'Reilly system administration guide without configuration file documentation, and Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting upholds the tradition with option-by-option coverage of the lines that must and can appear in the four key .ORA files: SQLNET, TNSNAMES, LISTENER, and NAMES. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• Overview of Net8
• The setup process
• Multi-Threaded Server (MTS)
• Integration with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
• Oracle Names
• Clustering for load balancing and redundancy

About the Author

Toledo is director of engineering at DaVinci Software in Chicago. His previous roles include vice president of IT planning at HALO Industries and principal in Navigant Consulting's IT strategy practice where he advised Global 500 firms on best practices in information technology.

Jonathan Gennick is an O'Reilly & Associates editor specializing in database and programming titles. Prior to joining O'Reilly, Jonathan amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience. During the latter part of his career he specialized in relational database programming, and more recently in database management. Jonathan got his start with relational database systems in 1990, first working with Ingres, and later with Digital's Rdb software. During that period he developed a fondness for SQL, and for the challenge of applying SQL creatively in ways that leveraged it's set-oriented capabilities. In 1994 Jonathan made the leap to Oracle, and is now often found writing about it. Recent projects include Oracle SQLLoader (O'Reilly & Associates, 2001); Oracle SQLPlus Pocket Reference (O'Reilly & Associates, 2000); Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999); More recently, Jonathan has made forays into other database products, coauthoring Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) and editing Practical PostgreSQL (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002). Jonathan is certified as an Oracle DBA and is a member of MENSA and the Oracle Technology Network. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Science, with a Business Administration minor, from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Jonathan currently resides in Munising, Michigan with his wife Donna and their two children: Jenny and Jeff. Jonathan may be contacted by email at [e-mail], and you can learn more about him personally by visiting his website at http://gennick.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 387 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565927532
• ISBN-13: 978-1565927537
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,845,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oracle Net8 A Good Book to be on desk., July 25, 2001

By 

"dba_ramanarao" (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting (Paperback)

Oreilly knows how to make a difference when they get a book out on a topic.

This book really stands out on certain day to day practical topics. For Eg: It has been specially metioned that the trace file name while configuring through Net8 is to be given as "Tracefilename" on Windows platform. Net 8 will add the extension of ".trc" while creating the file, where as on Unix it's "filename.trc". Else it would result in "filename.trc.trc" on windows. I have tested this and it really is the same way. Such simple things are also were not left out.

Net 8 is one topic on which little number of books are found. You can just count the number of books written on this topic. And Oreilly has done a good job by bringing out a book long waited for.

If one were to get a good understading about Oracle's Networking technologies One must read this book.

Sure I'm going to buy some more from Oreilly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best and only book out there for Oracle Networking, December 20, 2002

By 

Sudheer Marisetti (Piscataway, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting (Paperback)

This book is a one-stop book about everything you need to know about Oracle Networking. For a very long time there was not a decent book out there on Oracle networking and it is a very wide topic. The authors have done a great job giving intricate details. This book is the most marked up book of all Oracle books I have. My only complaint is about LDAP. The authors could have covered deeper in this subject.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for Nat8 management, February 22, 2001

By 

Donald Burleson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting (Paperback)

I really found this text to be quite useful for managing a SQL*Net and Net8 environment. All of the details are explained in a clear fashion and the text is very comprehensive and complete. Overall, this is a suberb treatment of a complex subject.