Confused over Net8 terminology

[Gus]

Would like to iron out my interpretation of the following Net8 terms as i often seem to trip up on their use and am a little confused about some.

Easy bit...

Net Service Name: locates the connect descriptor which supplies the network path to the server and the oracle service

Database name: is the actual database

Instance name: is the instance, there can be more than one instance for a database.

So is it true to say one can have many service names which refer to a unique database/instances combination?

GLOBAL_DBNAME (rather like DB_NAME in the init.ora file but without the extensions) parameter is the global database name, which uniquely identifies a database in a hierarchical naming structure.


gets confusing....

http://download-west.oracle.com/docs...los.htm#998437
Oracle System Identifier (SID)
A name that identifies a specific instance of a running pre-release 8.1 Oracle database. For an Oracle Parallel Server database, each node within the cluster has an instance referencing the database. The database name, specified by the DB_NAME parameter in the initdb_name.ora file, and unique thread ID make up each node's SID. The thread ID starts at 1 for the first instance in the cluster, and is incremented by 1 for the next instance, and so on. For pre-release 8.1 databases, SID was used to identify the database. The SID was included in the part of the connect descriptor in a tnsnames.ora file, and in the definition of the network listener in the listener.ora file.

...so what is SID in a post release 8.1 I assume it still refers to an instance and not to the database, in listener files one also sees SID_NAME is this equivalent to SID and ORACLE_SID.

Service name: is an alias for the database ? (instance and database)

It is stated that the service name does not have to be the same as the ORACLE_SID as it was in the past (why not?). A database can have multiple service names defined for it (whats the point?)


Thanks
Gus

[stecal]

Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting by Gennick/O'Reilly. Clear those questions right up for you.

[DaPi]

Originally posted by stecal
Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting by Gennick/O'Reilly. Clear those questions right up for you.

YES !

[JMac]

Well if its good enough for a cranky Swiss philosopher ... Just ordered it from Amazon!

Been asking those same sort of questions myself. Thanks guys.

[stecal]

Order from Bookpool.com next time. Cheaper.

[JMac]

Got a 2nd hand copy (Excellent condition) on Amazon for £12 (less than $20) incl postage!

[Gus]

Gosh was just trying to clear up some questions for the OCP exam i'll be doing. Looks like I'll need to buy this book and go thru it, another post OCP certification book I'm gonna have to read, feel like i havent' even scratched the surface. Didn't realise there was so much to net8, hey maybe i could be a net8 troubleshooter and get a contracting position sorting out new installations.

Cheers
Gus