Local Naming Configuration Overview

Administrator or Runtime Installation

If directory usage was not configured, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant prompts you to configure net service names in the tnsnames.ora file for an administrator or runtime client installation.

Custom Installation

If local naming is selected as a naming method during a custom client or server installation, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant prompts you to configure net service names in the tnsnames.ora file.

Configuration with Oracle Net Manager

Oracle Net Manager enables you to configure net service names, as well as:

• Create net service names for non-Oracle database services

• Configure multiple routes to a listener through multiple protocol addresses

• Configure advanced CONNECT_DATA information for either a database service or net service name

To access local naming configuration:

From the navigator pane, choose the Local > Service Naming folder to create net service names or modify connect descriptor information.

For more information, see Chapter 8, Configuring Naming Methods, in the Oracle10i Net Administrator's Guide.

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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naming method

A resolution method used by a client application to resolve a connect identifier to a connect descriptor when attempting to connect to a database service. Oracle Net provides four naming methods:

• Local naming

• Directory naming

• Easy connect naming (formerly named host naming)

• External naming

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

logging

A feature in which errors, service activity, and statistics are written to a log file. The log file provides additional information for an administrator when the error message on the screen is inadequate to understand the failure. The log file, by way of the error stack, shows the state of the software at various layers.

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Oracle Net Manager Key Features

Oracle Net Manager is a tool to help you to configure and manage the Oracle networking environment. The following Oracle Net features and components are available to configure and manage with Oracle Net Manager:

Service Naming

You can create or modify network descriptions for database services in a tnsnames.ora file, directory server, or an Oracle Names server. Network descriptions, called connect descriptors, are mapped to connect identifiers that clients use in their connect strings during a database connection.

Listener

You can create or modify a listener, a process on the server that receives and responds to client connection requests for a database service.

Profile

You can create or modify a profile, a collection of parameters that determine how the client connects to the Oracle network. You can use client parameters for naming methods, logging, tracing, external naming parameters, and the Oracle Advanced Security.

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Oracle Net Services Configuration Overview

Oracle Net Manager enables you to configure many elements of the network, including naming methods, client and server profiles, and listeners.

Naming Methods

Define simple names to identify the location of a service, such as a database. These simple names, called connect identifiers, map to connect descriptors, which contain the network location and identification of the service.

With Oracle Net Manager, you can configure different ways in which connect identifiers are resolved into connect descriptors through naming methods.

Client and Server Profiles

Configure preferences for enabling and configuring Oracle Net features on clients and server through profiles. With profiles, you can set preferences that prioritize naming methods, enable Oracle Advanced Security features, enable logging and tracing, or route connections.

Listener Configuration on the Server

Configure the listener to receive client connections. The listener should be configured with:

• One or more listening protocol addresses

• Service information about the destination service

Protocol addresses are configured in the listener configuration file, listener.ora. Service information may or may not be configured in the listener.ora file:

• An Oracle8 i or later database automatically registers certain information with the listener, such as its service names, instance names, service handlers, and load information. This feature, called service registration, does not require configuration in the listener.ora file.

• Other services, including an Oracle7 or Oracle8 database, require service configuration in the listener.ora file.

For information about Oracle Names, see Oracle Names Overview

For more information, see Chapter 8, Configuring Naming Methods, in the Oracle10i Net Administrator's Guide

Related Topics

Directory Naming Overview for an overview of directory naming

Local Naming Configuration Overview for an overview of local naming

Prioritize Naming Methods to configure select naming methods

Profile Overview for an overview of profiles

Listener Overview for an overview of the listener 

Copyright © 1996, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Oracle Net Connectivity Overview

Oracle Net enables connections to various services, such as Oracle databases, non-Oracle databases, gateways, and external procedures.

Users initiate a connect request by passing a user name and password along with an identifier for the service to which they wish to connect. That identifier, called a connect identifier, identifies:

• The destination service

• The path, or network route, across the network to get to that service

A connect identifier is specified in several different ways. One of the most common ways is through use of a net service name, another name for the service, which maps to a connect descriptor. A connect descriptor contains destination service and network route information. The desired service is indicated by using its service name for Oracle9i or Oracle8i databases or its Oracle System Identifier (SID) for Oracle8 or Oracle7 databases. The network route provides, at a minimum, the location of the listener through use of a network address.

The following shows a net service name called sales mapped to a connect descriptor:

sales=

(DESCRIPTION=

  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales-server1)(PORT=1521))

  (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=sales.us.example.com))

The listener, located on sales1-server, listens with the TCP/IP protocol on port 1521 for connection requests for a database service called sales.us.example.com.

The connect identifier and its connect descriptor is stored in at least one naming method. During a connection request, the client resolves the connect identifier (sales in the previous example) to a connect descriptor through a naming method. The client then contacts the listener specified in the connect descriptor.

The listener, through a protocol, accepts the client connection. It compares the client information with the information it has received from the database service through service registration, as well as information it has stored in its own configuration file, listener.ora. If the information matches, a connection is granted.

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

net service name

A simple name for a service that resolves to a connect descriptor. Users initiate a connect request by passing a user name and password along with a net service name in a connect string for the service to which they wish to connect:

CONNECT username/password@net_service_name

Depending on your needs, net service names can be stored in a variety of places, including:

• Local configuration file, tnsnames.ora file, on each client

• Directory server

• Oracle Names server

• External naming service, including Network Information Service (NIS)

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Oracle Net Services Overview

Oracle Net Services provides enterprise-wide connectivity solutions in distributed, heterogeneous computing environments. Oracle Net Services eases the complexities of network configuration and management, maximizes performance, and improves network diagnostic capabilities.

Oracle Net, a component of Oracle Net Services, enables a network session from client application to an Oracle database server. Once a network session is established, Oracle Net acts as a data courier for the client application and the database server. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining the connection between the client application and database server, as well as exchanging messages between them. Oracle Net is able to perform these jobs because it is located on each computer in the network.

Network sessions are established with the help of a listener. The listener is a separate process that resides on the database server. The listener receives incoming client connection requests and manages the traffic of these requests to the server.

The listener brokers the client request, handing off the request to the server. Every time a client requests a network session with a server, a listener receives the actual request. If the client's information matches the listener's information, the listener grants a connection to the server.

Copyright © 1996, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Oracle Net Entries in a Directory

Entries in a directory are arranged into a hierarchical tree-like structure based on their distinguished name (DN). This tree of directory entries is called the directory information tree (DIT). Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry.

Oracle Net entries in a DIT can be the following:

• A database service created during database creation

• Net service name

• Net service alias

All Oracle Net entries appear under an Oracle Context subtree that stores Oracle entries. This subtree is created in a user-specified location in the DIT during a Custom installation on the server. Clients are configured with usage of the directory and a default Oracle Context from which to look up entries.

Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry. Each attribute has a type and a value. The Oracle Net directory entries have the following attributes:

• Common name

• Version of entry

• Connect descriptor

The following illustration shows a DIT with entries for two net service names called sales, which reside under hierarchical domain structures of mktg.uk.example.com and us.example.com.

Text description of the illustration dit.gif

Each entry is identified by a unique DN.

In the above figure, dc stands for a domain component, ou stands for an organizational unit and cn stands for a common name. dc=example,dc=com stands for the organization example.com. The UK and the US organizations are clearly identified by their individual domain components dc=uk and dc=us , respectively. The UK organization of example is further identified by two distinct organizational units called ou=mktg (for marketing) and ou=acctg (for accounting). There are two sales services available in ou=mktg,dc=uk and dc=us, respectively.

The two sales objects have DNs of:

cn=sales,dc=us,dc=example,dc=com
cn=sales,ou=mktg,dc=uk,dc=example,dc=com

Related Topics

Oracle Net Services Overview

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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

profile

A collection of parameters that specifies preferences for enabling and configuring Oracle Net features on the client or server. A profile is stored and implemented through the sqlnet.ora file.

Related Topics

Profile Overview

Oracle Net Services Overview

Copyright © 1996, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.