oracle8i™ enterprise editionfinally, oracle8i includes oracle® enterprise manager, which is the...

Oracle8i™ Enterprise Edition

Technical Data SheetNovember 1999

Just as the Internet is changing the way that we use and access information, Oracle8i™ is changing theway that information is managed. Oracle8i Enterprise Edition is designed specifically to support thedemanding requirements of Internet and traditional mission critical OLTP and data warehouseapplications. From development to deployment, Oracle8i Enterprise Edition offers unparalleled andrevolutionary functionality to manage all data necessary to web-enable your business.

PRODUCT SUMMARY

Oracle8i Enterprise Edition, the database forInternet computing, changes the way informationis managed and accessed to meet the demands ofthe Internet age, while providing significant newfeatures for traditional OLTP and data warehouseapplications. With solutions developed anddeployed with Oracle8i, any organization is ableto exploit the unlimited opportunities the Internetprovides. Oracle8i not only provides the advancedtools to manage all types of data that is found intoday’s most popular web sites, but it alsoprovides the performance and scalability needed tosupport these large sites and other mission-criticalapplications.

Oracle8i Enterprise Edition provides efficient,reliable, secure data management for high-endapplications such as high volume on-linetransaction processing (OLTP) and query-intensive data warehouse applications. Oracle8iEnterprise Edition provides the tools andfunctionality to meet the demanding availabilityand scalability requirements required by today’smission-critical applications.

In today’s fast-paced business climate, applicationdevelopers have been pushed to produce advanced

applications not only quickly, but also withinherent flexibility to meet ever-changing needs.Oracle8i introduces additional support for Java™ –today’s most popular and productive programminglanguage by including a robust, integrated, andscalable Java VM within the server. This expandsOracle’s support for Java into all tiers ofapplications, allowing Java programs to bedeployed where they perform best, either in theclient, server, or middle tier without recompilingor modifying the Java code. Oracle8i alsoincludes Oracle® WebDB, a browser-basedapplication development, deployment, andmanagement toolset that makes web-enabling abusiness easy and inexpensive.

Oracle8i is much more than just a simplerelational data store. Oracle, having invented therelational database, continues to lead andrevolutionize the database industry by introducingOracle® iFS (Internet File System) and Oracle®

interMedia with Oracle8i. Oracle® iFS, the Internetfile system, provides the easy-to-use functionalityof a file system combined with the advantages ofall data, such as text and web pages, in a singleserver – data integration with the cost savings of asingle server. Oracle8i also introduces Oracle®

interMedia, which allows businesses to manage

Oracle8i Enterprise Edition Technical Data SheetNovember 1999

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and access multi-media data, including image,text, audio/video, and spatial data.

Not only does Oracle8i introduce significantbreakthrough technology, such as a Java VM andOracle iFS, it also has significant new features andfunctionality for traditional OLTP and datawarehouse applications. Oracle8i EnterpriseEdition provides the scalability, availability, andperformance needed by mission-criticalapplications. For data warehouses, Oracle8i nowprovides sophisticated summary managementfeatures to store aggregates that are commonlyqueried, reducing query processing significantly.For OLTP applications, Oracle8i introduces manyfeatures that improve the availability of thedatabase during routine operations, such as indexrebuilds, and in disaster situations, by providingautomated standby database support.

The deployment of applications is just as criticalas the functionality of the application, withperformance and manageability the key to thesuccess of the implementation. Oracle8i providesmany alternatives to the client/serverimplementation architecture. Oracle is reducingthe complexity of application management byproviding an architecture that allows for thin-clients that are easy to support and maintain, andby consolidating data and logic in a single orreplicated server environment. Data can bereplicated to servers that are closer to users andhave only the data those users need, providingbetter performance.

Finally, Oracle8i includes Oracle® EnterpriseManager, which is the comprehensivemanagement framework for managing the Oracledatabase and application environment. OracleEnterprise Manager includes an easy-to-usecentralized console, a rich set of managementtools, and the extensibility to detect and solve anyproblems that may arise. It also includes severaladministrative applications for performing day-to-day tasks for databases and applications, such asscheduling backup routines.

Based on the world’s leading database technology,

Oracle8i is designed for efficient applicationdevelopment, superior content management, andsuccessful application deployment on the Internet.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

JAVA IN ORACLE8i

Java has quickly become today’s most popularprogramming language because it appeals toeveryone, from developers who find the languagerobust and object-oriented, to CIOs and managerswho see Java as reducing costs and simplifyingapplication development and support. Oracle8iextends Oracle’s Java strategy by integrating ascalable Java Virtual Machine (Java VM) with thedatabase server. Oracle8i also supports SQLJ, asyntax for embedding SQL in Java code. Java inthe database allows developers to create highperforming, scalable applications based on open,industry standards.

Oracle® JServer, Oracle’s Java2 compliant JavaVM, enables developers to write, store, andexecute Java code within the database. Thismeans developers can create stored procedures,functions, or triggers in Java. A Java VM withinthe database server also dramatically reduces theskill set required for database programming. Asopposed to C, Oracle® Call Interface, PL/SQL™,and other languages, developers can now createapplications using only Java.

SQLJ provides a powerful and easy to useinterface between relational databases and Java. Itis an open standard being developed by Oracle,IBM, and Sun. Using SQLJ, SQL can easily beembedded in client or server Java code forcommunication with a relational database. Client-side Java code with SQLJ statements are runthrough a Java precompiler to create executableJava programs based on JDBC. Server-side Javacode directly accesses the database, via nativeinterfaces.

Oracle8i also provides support for EnterpriseJavaBeans™ and communication via the CORBA


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communication standard, IIOP. Distributed Javaobjects can connect directly to Java objects in anOracle Data Server via native CORBA protocols.

JDeveloper™ is Oracle’s next generationcomponent-based Java development tool.JDeveloper allows developers to build completeOracle and 100 percent Java business solutions.JDeveloper supports any kind of developmentfrom a simple JavaBeans component to anenterprise-wide application developmentenvironment.

Oracle8i also integrates closely with Oracle®

Application Server, which provides an open,standards-based architecture for developing anddeploying real-world business and commerceapplications. Its scalable, distributed architectureand superior database integration are thefoundation for supporting business-critical,transaction-based applications.

XML SUPPORT

XML has emerged as the de facto standard fordescribing business data for business to business(B2B) commerce on the Internet. Just as HTMLis the universal language for formatting data andcontent on the Internet, XML is the language fordescribing business data. Similar to HTML, XMLprovides the facility to embed business descriptorsalong with raw business data in a message,simplifying data integration and exchange. Oracleprovides several XML parsers that convert XMLdata into a form that can be easily understood bythe Oracle8i database.

Oracle’s XML products include the XML Parserfor Java - version 1 and version 2 (which includesan XSLT processor), the XML Class Generator,and the XML Parsers for C, C++, and PL/SQL.Since the Oracle XML Parser for Java isimplemented in Java, it runs efficiently in theOracle8i Java VM, Oracle JServer. Oracle8iincludes the Oracle XML Parser for Java, wherethe Java XML parser classes (DOM/SAX APIs)are pre-loaded into Oracle JServer.

ORACLE WEBDB FOR DEVELOPING WEB-BASED APPLICATIONS

Oracle WebDB is the solution for building,deploying, and proactively monitoring webdatabase applications, and content-driven Websites. By combining an intuitive, HTML interfacewith a complete set of robust, browser-basedHTML tools, Oracle WebDB enables users toeasily and quickly develop Web databaseapplications. Oracle WebDB is the fastest andeasiest way to web-enable Oracle databases.

Oracle WebDB comes with all the tools necessaryto build dynamic Web applications and content-driven Web sites. Applications and Web sitesdeveloped using Oracle WebDB are completelycontained within the Oracle database. The onlyclient software needed to develop and deployOracle WebDB applications is a Web browser.There is no need to install software on everymachine being used, no need to use FTP toremotely manage files, and no need to have acomplex deployment plan every time a developerfixes a bug and needs to upgrade the system.Oracle WebDB truly meets the demandingchallenges the Internet poses to the traditional ITshop — fast application development andsimplified deployment.

PRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT

Oracle8i includes the powerful, flexible, scalableapplication development features necessary toconstruct a new generation of sophisticatedapplications at low cost. Declarative functionalitysuch as constraints ensure scalable, reliableenforcement of data integrity, while minimizingdevelopment, maintenance, and administrationcosts. PL/SQL, an advanced procedural 4GLlanguage that is tightly integrated with theOracle8i Server, provides the power to easilyexpress complex business rules as stored,procedural code in the form of stored proceduresor triggers. Java is also available as an open


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alternative to PL/SQL. Wherever PL/SQL can beprogrammed, so can Java. The Oracle8iprogrammatic interfaces enable 3GL programs toaccess and manipulate Oracle8i data and schemas.

Oracle8i supports PL/SQL Server Pages, whichare server-side Web pages written in HTMLand/or XML with embedded PL/SQL scriptsdesignated with special tags. After beingdeveloped, the PL/SQL Server Page is loaded intothe database and invoked via a URL. Whenexecuted, the PL/SQL Server Page dynamicallycreates standard HTML on the server-side that isthen interpreted by a client-side browser orInternet-aware program.

Oracle National Language Support (NLS) ensuresthat error messages, sort order, date format, andother conventions automatically adapt to thenative language. Parameter settings at theOracle8i and operating system levels determinethe behavior of individual conventions.

Oracle8i’s productive development featuresimprove application performance, scalability, andsecurity, to support hundreds of applications andthousands of users.

CONTENT MANAGEMENTFOR THE INTERNET

The Web and the Internet bring many newchallenges to organizations. Today’s Web sitesare usually a series of Web pages that take toomuch time and too many human resources todevelop, deploy, and manage. In addition, theirinfrastructure is usually not stable or robustenough to support mission-critical applications.Everything you need to transform data into apowerful application and content-driven Web sitedevelopment environment is included withOracle8i. It essentially eliminates the differencesbetween the way in which database stores data andthe way web sites store files.

ORACLE iFS (INTERNET FILE SYSTEM)

Oracle iFS combines the power of Oracle8i withthe ease of use of a file system. Completely

integrated with Oracle8i, Oracle iFS is a Javaapplication that runs on the Oracle8i Java VM.

From the end user’s standpoint, Oracle iFSappears as if it were just another volume on thenetwork. Whether the user accesses the contentsof Oracle iFS through Windows Explorer, a Webbrowser, an FTP client, or an e-mail client, thefiles appear the same. Relational data can appearas files; so too can hybrid documents that combinerelational and non-relational data. It also supportsintelligent text searches and queries of files anddata stored in Oracle iFS.

From a developer’s standpoint, Oracle iFS is thesingle data store containing the data for manydifferent applications. And for the systemadministrator, Oracle iFS provides a single systemfor file storage and messaging, rather than severalseparate systems to maintain and administer. Inshort, Oracle iFS is a simpler way of storingdifferent types of files in the database.

As part of Oracle8i, Oracle iFS provides universalaccess to any data in the database. While theOracle iFS runs within Oracle8i, it appears as if itwere simply another file system volume on thenetwork. Any data or files in Oracle iFS can beaccessed using any of these different protocols:

• SMB for Windows 95, 98 or NT clients.Users can drag files into and out of OracleiFS, or edit them directly within Oracle iFS.

• HTTP or FTP for Web browsers and networkcomputers. The contents of Oracle iFS aredisplayed as normal web pages or standardFTP directories.

• SMTP, IMAP4, POP3 for using Oracle iFSlike an e-mail system through clients likeNetscape Communicator, Eudora, MicrosoftOutlook, and others.


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Oracle interMEDIA

Web applications require advanced datamanagement services that support the rich datatypes used in Web repository, e-commerce, andother Internet applications. Oracle interMedia addssupport that enables Oracle8i to managemultimedia content, both for Internet, andtraditional applications that need access to image,audio, video, text, and location information.Oracle interMedia includes the following:

• Oracle’s award-winning ConText® text services,to deliver the powerful text retrieval capabilitiesfundamental to Web applications. This letsusers query and analyze documents stored indocument archives, online news feeds,customer call reports, and other online textinformation sources. Users can query for datain the most common formats, including HTML,Word, Excel, and Acrobat/PDF formats.

• Audio, video, and image services supportintegrated management of audio, video, andimage information within an Oracle8i database.These services enable access to audio, video,and image data in dozens of Internet formatsfrom a variety of sources, both within Oracle8iand from external locations such as Web URLsites or specialized servers. Oracle interMediasupports delivery of video through anystreaming server such as the Oracle® VideoServer, or RealNetworks RealAudio™ andRealVideo™ Servers. Oracle interMedia alsosupports drag and drop of audio, video, andimage data through the Oracle interMediaclipboard into web applications and webauthoring tools such as Oracle WebDB,Symantec® Visual Page, and Microsoft®

FrontPage.

• Geometric locator services to support thedevelopment of Internet applications that helpusers locate information, such as stores,distribution points, and events, based on theirlocation or distance from a given address. OracleinterMedia locator enables Oracle8i to performlocation queries, and supports the Internet’sleading online geocoding services, including

Centrus from QMSoft® and MapXtreme™ fromMapInfo®.

THE INTERNET CONVERGES WITHTHE ENTERPRISE

Today’s Internet applications require the samemission critical capabilities that traditional OLTPand data warehouse applications require, such asscalability, availability, and reliability. Oracle8iintroduces many new features that support thesetraditional applications and provides the powerand functionality to support Web-enabling thesesame applications.

HIGH-END DATA WAREHOUSING

Data warehouse applications require differentprocessing techniques than OLTP applications dueto the complex, ad hoc queries running againstlarge amounts of data. To address these specialrequirements, Oracle8i offers a rich variety ofquery processing techniques, sophisticated queryoptimization to choose the most efficient dataaccess path and a scalable architecture that takesfull advantage of all parallel hardwareconfigurations. Oracle8i also addressesapplications that have mixed workloads and whereadministrators want to control what users, orgroups of users, have priority when executingtransactions or queries.

RICH QUERY PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

Successful data warehouse applications rely onsuperior performance, when accessing theenormous amounts of stored data. Oracle8iprovides a rich variety of integrated indexingschemes, join methods, and summary managementfeatures, to deliver answers quickly to datawarehouse users.

SUMMARY MANAGEMENT

In a data warehouse application, users often issuequeries that summarize detail data by commondimensions, such as month, product, or region.Oracle8i provides a mechanism for storing


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multiple dimensions and summary calculations ofa table. So, when a query requests a summary ofdetail records, the query is transparently re-writtento access the stored aggregates, rather thansumming the detail records every time the query isissued. This results in dramatic improvements inquery performance. These summaries areautomatically maintained from data in the basetable. Oracle8i also provides summary advisoryfunctions that assist database administrators inchoosing where summary tables will be the mosteffective, depending on actual workload andschema statistics. Oracle Enterprise Managersupports the creation and management ofmaterialized views and related dimensions andhierarchies via a graphical interface, greatlysimplifying the management of materializedviews.

ANALYTIC FUNCTIONS

Oracle8i includes a powerful family of SQLfunctions for business intelligence and data-warehousing applications. These functions arecollectively called “ analytic functions” , and theyprovide significantly improved performance andsimplified coding for many business analysisqueries. Some examples of the new capabilitiesare:

• Ranking (“Find the top 10 sales reps in eachregion.”)

• Moving aggregates (“What is the 200-daymoving average of our company’s stockprice?”)

• Other functions include: Cumulativeaggregates, lag/lead expressions, period-over-period comparisons, and ratio-to-report

Oracle8i also includes the CUBE and ROLLUPoperators for OLAP analysis, via SQL. Theseanalytic and OLAP functions significantly extendthe capabilities of Oracle8i for analyticapplications.

BITMAPPED INDEXES

Bitmapped indexes deliver dramatic performancebenefits to data warehouse applications. Theycoexist with, and complement other availableindexing schemes, including standard B-treeindexes, clustered tables, and hash clusters. WhileB-tree indexes may be the most efficient index toretrieve data using a unique identifier, bitmappedindexes are most efficient when retrieving databased on much wider criteria, such as "How manyred cars were sold last month?" In data warehouseapplications, end-users often query data based onthese wider criteria.

Bitmapped indexes are fully integrated into theOracle8i Server. Oracle8i enables efficient storageof bitmap indexes through the use of advanceddata compression technology. Parallel indexcreation and support for automatic indexmaintenance with update operations facilitate easymaintenance.

ADVANCED JOIN METHODS

Oracle8i offers partition-wise joins whichdramatically increase the performance of joinsinvolving tables that have been partitioned on thejoin keys. Joining records in matching partitionsincreases performance, by avoiding partitions thatcould not possibly have matching key records.Less memory is also used since less in-memorysorting is required.

Hash joins deliver higher performance over otherjoin methods in many complex queries, especiallyfor those queries where existing indexes cannot beleveraged in join processing, a commonoccurrence in ad hoc query environments.Oracle8i’s hash joins eliminate the need toperform sorts, by using an in-memory hash tableconstructed at run-time. They are also ideallysuited for scalable parallel execution.

SOPHISTICATED SQL OPTIMIZER

Oracle8i’s numerous powerful query processingtechniques are completely transparent to the enduser. The Oracle8i cost-based optimizer


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dynamically determines the most efficient accesspaths and join methods for every query. Itincorporates powerful query transformationtechnology that automatically rewrites queriesgenerated by end-user tools, for efficient queryexecution.

To choose the most efficient query executionstrategy, the Oracle8i cost-based optimizer takesinto account statistics, such as the size of eachtable, and the selectivity of each query condition.Histograms provide the cost-based optimizer withmore detailed statistics for skewed, non-uniformdata distribution.

The cost-based optimizer optimizes execution ofqueries involved in a star-schema, which iscommon in data warehouse applications. Byusing a sophisticated star-query optimizationalgorithm and bit-mapped indexes, Oracle8i candramatically reduce the query response timecompared to similar query executions done in atraditional join fashion.

Oracle8i query processing not only includes acomprehensive set of specialized techniques in allareas (optimization, access and join methods, andquery execution), they are also all seamlesslyintegrated, and work together to deliver the fullpower of the query processing engine.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Managing CPU and disk resources in a multi-userdata warehouse, or OLTP application ischallenging. As more users require access,contention for resources becomes greater.Oracle8i has resource management functionalitythat provides greater control of system resourcesassigned to users. Important online users, such asorder entry clerks, can be given a high priority,while other users — those running batch reports— receive lower priorities. Users are assigned toresource classes, such as “order entry ” or“batch, ” and each resource class is then assignedan appropriate percentage of machine resources.In this way, high priority users are given moresystem resources than lower priority users.

ADDITIONAL DATA WAREHOUSE FEATURES

Oracle8i also includes many features that improvethe management and performance of datawarehouse applications. Index rebuilds can bedone online without interrupting inserts, updates,or deletes that may be occurring on the base table.Function-based indexes can be used to indexexpressions, such as arithmetic expressions, orfunctions that modify column values.

The sample scan functionality allows queries torun and only access a specified percentage of therows or blocks of a table. This is useful forgetting meaningful aggregate amounts, such as anaverage, without accessing every row of a table.

VERY LARGE DATABASE SUPPORT

Oracle8i addresses the largest and mostdemanding OLTP and data warehousingapplications that have databases into the terabytesand beyond.

PARTITIONED TABLES AND INDEXES

Partitioning stores large tables and indexes inpieces instead of as one large monolithic object.Partitions are a “divide and conquer ” techniquethat provides scalable performance with a largeamount of data. Each partition can be managedindividually, and can operate independently of theother partitions, increasing availability andmaking administrative tasks easier. Oracle8isupports range, hash, and composite partitioning,which provides better manageability, availability,and performance.

Range partitioning provides the ability to subsetdata into individual partitions, based on a rangedefined by the data administrator. For example,an order table could be range-partitioned by salesdate, putting each order record into one of fourpartitions, one for each quarter of the year. Thismethod of partitioning data is useful when there isa logical range to divide the data into such as byquarter of the year. However, in this case,partition size could vary dramatically, which couldaffect performance of maintenance operations if


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the data is skewed into one particular partition.

Hash partitioning provides an easy-to-usemechanism for evenly striping data across devices,retaining the benefit of performance. This methodprovides a very simple way to break data up intoevenly sized containers that can be spread acrossmultiple I/O devices or even multiple machines ina shared-nothing cluster. Query performance isimproved by spreading I/O across multipledevices.

Manageability is simple if the number ofpartitions doesn’t change, which makes thisapproach inappropriate for rolling changewindows of historical data.

Composite partitioning combines the best of bothapproaches, range and hash. Data is firstpartitioned by a range of values then each partitionis sub-partitioned into several hash partitions.Composite partitioning combines the superiormanageability and availability benefits of rangepartitioning with the data distribution advantagesof hash partitioning. Administrators can specifyranges of values for the primary partitions of thetable or index then specify a number of hash sub-partitions. Data skew is unlikely because sub-partitions can always be added or dropped within apartition to maintain even distribution of eachcontainer. Administrators can also easily maintainrolling change windows of historical data byadding/dropping primary partitions withoutaffecting sub-partitions in other primary partitions.

All partitioning techniques are transparent toapplications and standard DML statements runagainst partitioned tables. The optimizer ispartition-aware and partitions that do not containany data for a query are eliminated from thesearch, often resulting in a substantial performanceincrease.

SCALABLE PARALLEL SQL ARCHITECTURE

Large data warehouse and transactional serversmust also provide scalable performance, forprocessing large amounts of data. Oracle8i’ssuperior, integrated, parallel SQL architecture

provides excellent scalability on SymmetricMultiprocessor (SMP), massively parallelprocessors (MPP), and hybrid hardware platforms.

Oracle8i’s parallel SQL architecture increases theperformance of database queries and updates, bydynamically subdividing these operations intodistinct tasks, and distributing the workload acrossall multiple processors. Oracle8i parallelizes moreoperations than any other database product. Apartial list includes queries,inserts/updates/deletes, data loading, indexcreation, recovery, table creation using aSELECT, and data aggregations.

Oracle8i combines intelligent use of datapartitioning in the form of partition eliminationand parallelism across partitions with Oracle'sunique, dynamic, intra-partition parallel queryexecution. This architecture transparently deliversscalable query performance, by using, but notconstrained by, data partitioning. Since Oracle8iparallel execution is not completely based on datapartitioning, administrators are not forced tochoose between parallel execution performanceand manageability. All available processingresources are utilized even in the presence of real-world data skew.

On an SMP platform, Oracle8i symmetricallyparallelizes a database operation across allavailable processors. On an MPP or clusterplatform, Oracle8i transparently exploits datalocality. Each processor is assigned to work on itslocal data partitions. Moreover, Oracle8i alwaysutilizes all available processors, independent ofhow the data is partitioned.

Oracle8i’s adaptive parallel architecture combinesthe best elements of "shared disk" and "sharednothing" approaches, and provides excellent loadbalancing and dynamic load distribution. Oracle8iis a proven solution that enables customers torealize the maximum potential of parallelperformance.


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TRANSPORTABLE TABLESPACES

Moving data from a data warehouse to a data mart,or from an OLTP system to a staging area for adata warehouse, can be cumbersome and timeconsuming. Oracle8i provides a mechanism,transportable tablespaces, for copying tablespaces(datafiles) between identical systems, andallowing the same data to be accessed by bothsystems. Now data movement can be as fast astransferring the file between machines. Thisgreatly improves the performance and operationalsimplicity of transferring data.

MAINFRAME-CALIBER OLTP

Oracle8i’s reliable architecture delivers unmatchedscalability, availability, and performance neededfor mission-critical OLTP systems. Integrated,dynamic facilities ensure that Oracle8i and theOracle® Parallel Server make efficient use of allsystem resources on hardware ranging from uni-processors to SMPs, from clusters to MPPs.

SUPERIOR SCALABILITY FOR TRANSACTION

PROCESSING

The Oracle8i architecture provides OLTPapplications with scalability to support largenumbers of users and high-volume transactionworkloads. Oracle8i provides exceptionalscalability on SMP, clustered, and MPPmachines.OLTP applications take advantage ofOracle8i’s parallel architecture by distributingtasks across multiple processors or machines, suchas in a clustered environment, which improvesindividual transaction response times and overallsystem throughput. An automatic, dynamic self-tuning capability balances processing workloadevenly across allocated hardware and operatingsystem resources.

Additional processors and/or nodes can be addedto expand your configuration incrementally asboth your organization and data volumes grow,with minimal disruption to your existingenvironment. The result is dramatic performance

improvements and breakthroughprice/performance.

HIGH AVAILABILITY FOR TRANSACTION

PROCESSING

Mission-critical, OLTP systems require highavailability so your business can continue tooperate if a hardware failure occurs. The OracleParallel Server uniquely extends the reliability ofopen systems applications by transparentlyharnessing the power of clustered computers into asingle, logical processing "complex." Thecomplex can tolerate individual machine and/ornode failures while maintaining data availability.

The Oracle Parallel Server also supports hybridconfigurations, combining elements of clusteredand MPP architectures.

Oracle8i with Oracle Parallel Serverprovides superior scalability to meetincreasing transaction processingrequirements while assuring high

availability in case of hardware failure orsite disaster


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HIGH PERFORMANCE FOR TRANSACTION

PROCESSING

For high-performance transaction processing, theOracle8i multithreaded, multi-server architecturecoordinates thousands of simultaneous userrequests. Individual requests are queued andserviced by a minimum of server processes.Sophisticated caching of database blocks, SQLexecution plans, and executable stored procedurestakes maximum advantage of available servermemory.

ADVANCED QUEUING WITH PUBLISH AND

SUBSCRIBE MODEL

Advanced queuing adds direct support in thedatabase for high performance queuing ormessaging operations. This capability addsasynchrony, and eliminates the dependency onexternal systems for applications requiring highscalability. The enqueue and dequeue operationsmay also be used to shift processing from within atransaction to a background process, improvingthe transaction response time.

In Oracle8i, advanced queuing supports a robust,rule-based publish/subscribe model for automaticforwarding of messages to registered clients.Applications can subscribe to a queue, using a ruleto determine what queue messages they are“interested” in. With a business eventframework, integrated applications that subscribeto messages for seamless communication can becreated. New event triggers now allow a databaseevent, such as a database startup or user login, tofire a trigger that executes an operation.

LARGE USER POPULATION SUPPORT

Oracle8i and Net8™ efficiently utilize operatingsystem and networking resources, allowing tens ofthousands of concurrent users to connect overmultiple network protocols. Connection poolingtemporarily drops the physical connection for idleusers, and transparently re-establishes theconnection when needed. This increases thenumber of users that can be supported. The

Connection Manager multiplexes several usersessions over one network connection, whichreduces resource requirements, especially formulti-tier application architectures.

TRANSACTIONAL DATA ACCESS

Oracle8i offers a number of different access pathsfor locating transactional data quickly andefficiently including fast, full-table scans; b-treesingle column and concatenated-index scans;clustered (pre-joined) tables; hash clusters(utilizing a single column, or an applicationspecific SQL hash function); unique rowidentifiers; and indexes based on functions orexpressions.

The Oracle8i cost-based optimizer dynamicallyselects the fastest available access path, andsatisfies query requests directly from indexes,whenever possible.

RELIABLE QUERY RESULTS

Oracle8i effectively supports mixed workloadenvironments characterized by simultaneous queryand update activity. Many databases force usersto choose between good performance andguaranteed data consistency, one coming at theexpense of the other. Oracle8i’s non-blocking,multi-version read consistency always providesusers with consistent query results while neverimposing a performance penalty on concurrentupdate activity.

TP MONITOR SUPPORT

Dynamic XA support provides high performanceto multi-tier applications through industry-standard XA-compliant Transaction Processing(TP) monitors.

HIGH-AVAILABILITY OPERATIONS

Oracle8i’s online backup facility allowsadministrators to perform backup activities whilethe database is running, and without interruptingtransaction processing — even during periods ofheavy OLTP usage. Should a device containing


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user data fail, lost data files can be recovered onanother device, while Oracle8i continuesprocessing requests directed at the remainder ofthe database. Oracle8i can use multiple processesto recover the database in parallel, speeding theon-line recovery.

Oracle8i also supports read-only tablespaces,saving time by eliminating backup and recovery ofstatic data. Oracle8i includes a number of featuresthat promote high availability in the presence ofmedia failures or errors. Mirrored, multi-segmentlogs ensure that critical log data remains availableif a log device fails. Optional check-sumcomputation, verification for database blocks, andredo log block facilitate early detection andimprove diagnosis of media errors.

HIGH-AVAILABILITY APPLICATIONS

In addition to providing scalable performance forOLTP and data warehouse applications, theOracle8i server ensures high availability of yourapplications, by providing a variety ofimplementation options for disaster recovery.This allows you to choose the most appropriaterecovery method for your application. The OracleParallel Server, the Oracle8i standby databasefeature, and Oracle Advanced Replication aremethods of providing high availability forapplications. Each is an integrated, supportedfunction of the Oracle8i Server.

The Oracle Parallel Server ensures that your datais accessible in the event of a node failure, whenoperating in a clustered computer environment. Ifany node in the system should fail, affected userscan simply log in to another operating node andresume processing. Transactions committed onthe failed node, but not written back to thedatabase files, are automatically recovered by oneof the remaining nodes while transactions thatwere not committed are automatically rolled back.

The Oracle8i standby database feature provides areliable and automated mechanism forimplementing a standby database system tofacilitate rapid disaster recovery. The scheme uses

a secondary system on duplicate hardware that ismaintained in a constant state of media recoverythrough automatic application of log files archivedat the primary site. In the event of a primarysystem failure, the standby database can beactivated with minimal recovery, providingimmediate system availability. The standbydatabase can be operated as a read-only database,providing a platform for query only access andbatch reporting.

Advanced replication can also be used to providehigh data availability. Data from a primarysystem can be replicated to one or more alternatesites. Each alternate site is fully accessible, andcan be used for query access, and, in some cases,for updates as well. In the event of a systemfailure, your application can failover to any of thealternate sites, providing continuous dataavailability.

EXTENDED BACKUP/RECOVERYSUBSYSTEM

Oracle8i server-managed backup and recoveryprovides a high level of backup and recoveryfunctionality from within the Oracle Server.Oracle8i maintains detailed information on whenbackups are performed, exactly which parts of thedatabase are backed up, and where the files arestored. Should a recovery be necessary, Oracle8ianalyzes the state of the database, and determinesthe operations necessary to repair the database.Then, Oracle8i automatically performs thoseoperations, greatly simplifying the recovery forthe administrator, and reducing the possibility ofhuman error. A simple graphical user interface(GUI) within the Oracle Enterprise Managercontrols backup and recovery. An applicationprogramming interface (API) is also available forthird parties who want to provide an alternateinterface. A media management layer interfaceswith popular third party tape managementproducts.


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Multi-level incremental backups greatly reduce thesize of the backups since only the changed blocksare backed up. This also reduces the time requiredto backup a datafile.

Oracle8i includes the LogMiner™ feature, whichallows DBAs to view the contents of thetransaction log files. This allows them to viewwhat SQL DML and DDL operations wereexecuted, by whom, and at what time. It alsocreates the SQL necessary to “backout ” any DMLoperation that a user inadvertently executed. Forexample, LogMiner returns the necessary insertsstatements to re-create records that wereaccidentally deleted from a table.

OBJECT-RELATIONAL DATABASE

The Oracle8i object-relational paradigm enablesdevelopers to directly define their businessobjects, such as purchase orders, inventory items,and data warehouse information, within Oracle8i.Using this paradigm, developers of mainstreamcommercial applications can better manage theirbusiness objects.

EXTENSIBILITY AND USER-DEFINED

DATATYPES

Oracle8i allows users to define custom objecttypes. An object type is typically defined tocorrespond to some business object such as apurchase order. The object type may containmultiple fields, or attributes, and the object typemay be nested within other object types. Morecomplex objects that include a variable number ofitems are supported through variable length arraysand nested tables. This allows, for example, apurchase order object type that can accommodatea variable number of line items.

Methods perform typical operations on the objecttype, for example, calculating the total of apurchase order. An Oracle8i method consists ofprogram code associated with an object type.Methods may be created in PL/SQL or Java, andstored within the database or written in an external3GL procedure, and called through a safe external

callout mechanism.

User 3GL code is safely and dynamically linkedand loaded, which means a user cannot disruptothers using the same database. User-definedmapping and ordering methods provide databaseextensibility, and allow users to define howcomparisons and ordering should be performed onobject types.

Oracle8i includes a comprehensive set of APIs forspecialized datatype developers. This allowspartner-developed data cartridges to have the sameinternal access mechanisms as data cartridgesdeveloped at Oracle. New data cartridges havelow-level access to memory, the optimizer,indexing, and other database internals. Partnerscan develop highly customized data cartridges thatmeet performance goals of demanding multimediaapplications.

EVOLUTIONARY, OPEN, SECURE

Oracle8i eases the evolution from relational toobject-oriented database designs. The Oracle8iobject-relational capabilities are built on the samesolid foundation as the relational functionality.

Like relational views, Oracle8i object viewsprovide the appearance of a complex object,including support for object methods, but the datais stored in underlying object (or relational)structures. An object view allows, for example, apurchase order object view to be defined onexisting relational purchase order data. Thisdesign allows the existing relational applications,which still read and write rows and columns, tocoexist with new object-oriented applications,which read and write purchase order objects.

APPLICATION DEPLOYMENT

For applications to be successfully deployed, theymust be secure, manageable, integrated withexisting systems. Oracle8i provides flexible,integrated, manageable, distributed databasefacilities that make the integration of enterprisedata practical. Data can be replicated for directand highly available local access. Data can be


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accessed remotely, using both SQL and procedurecalls in a fully transparent manner, as if the datawere local. Also, data can be in both Oracle andnon-Oracle severs and can be accessedtransparently. When deploying an application,Oracle Enterprise Manager is the key to managingthe Oracle database and application environment.

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMSMANAGEMENT

Oracle Enterprise Manager is a comprehensivefamily of systems management products thatcontain open interfaces for third party andcustomer applications, including integration withall the major network management platforms. Theproduct family consists of next-generation systemsmanagement tools, designed to efficiently managethe complete Oracle environment, includingsystems, databases, networks, and applications.This reduces the number of hours administratorsneed for managing complex productionenvironments.

The Oracle Enterprise Manager base productincludes a centralized, light-weight console, apowerful Management Server that provides allframework services, and distributed, non-intrusiveagents that execute tasks and monitor conditionson each managed system. The base product alsoincludes an additional set of administrationapplications for performing day-to-day tasks fordatabases and other services.

ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER ARCHITECTURE

Oracle Enterprise Manager’s lightweight, three-tierarchitecture offers flexible deployment optionsand unparalleled scalability. Built on a networkcomputing model, Enterprise Manager clients,consoles, and other management applications,communicate with the middle-tier ManagementServers primarily over IIOP using standardCORBA. Depending on the number of targetsmanaged (Intelligent Agents) and notificationsprocessed, users can increase scalability by

seamlessly adding additional Management Serversto the environment.

The Management Servers offer transparentworkload balancing and failover, guaranteeing theassurance of constant and consistent availability.

ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER CONSOLE

The Oracle Enterprise Manager Console is theprimary interface for performing all managementtasks. The console’s graphical display includesmenus, toolbars, and four customizable paneswhich are extensible throughout the framework.These panes include: the Navigator, Groups, EventSystem, and Job System. All Oracle managementapplications can be launched from within theConsole.

ORACLE MANAGEMENT SERVER

The Management Server processes all systemmanagement tasks, administers the distribution ofthese tasks across the enterprise, and providesscalability across the system. The ManagementServer uses the Enterprise Manager Repository asits persistent back-end store. This Repositorymaintains system data, application data, and thestate of managed entities distributed throughoutthe environment.

OPEN, STANDARDS COMPLIANT

The Intelligent Agent is a process that runsindependently on managed nodes. The Agent isresponsible for service discovery, eventmonitoring, and job execution. The IntelligentAgent also supports the Simple NetworkManagement Protocol (SNMP), enabling thirdparty applications to communicate with the Agent.SNMP traps can be sent to SNMP consoles, suchas HP OpenView. The Agent also provides directaccess to Oracle’s database ManagementInformation Base variables.


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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TUNING

In addition to Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracleprovides an advanced package of tools forperformance tuning, diagnostics, and changemanagement, known as:

• Oracle Diagnostics Pack

• Oracle Tuning Pack

• Oracle Change Management Pack

These tools, all integrated with the console ofOracle Enterprise Manager, consist of modulesthat help the administrator with performancemanagement, tuning, diagnostics, and objectchange management. Oracle® TRACE and OracleExpert™ enable application performance tracingand expert database tuning.

The Oracle Diagnostics Pack ensures highavailability of business systems by simplifying thecomplex tasks of diagnosing and correctingperformance problems. The pack allows you tomonitor the health of databases (both Oracle andthird-party), operating systems, and applications.It also allows you to both diagnose and correctproblems now, and plan for future resourcerequirements to avoid problems in the future.

Oracle Tuning Pack is a set of applications thatprovide advanced tools for tuning the Oracleenvironment. The Oracle Tuning Pack tunesevery dimension of your Oracle environmentincluding application SQL, access methods,environment parameters and storage optimization.In addition, it is the only product that takes intoaccount the inter-dependencies of these areas,providing a holistic approach to tuning.

The Oracle Change Management Pack is a set ofadvanced tools that enable administrators tomanage change more effectively in the Oracleenvironment. The components of the pack allowadministrators to safely make complex changes toschema objects, track changes to schemas anddatabases over time, make copies of schemas orobjects, and compare and synchronize schemas

and databases.

DATA DISTRIBUTION

The benefits of open, relational technology cannotbe achieved without transparent integration of newand existing systems. Oracle8i provides flexible,integrated, manageable distributed databasefacilities that make the integration of enterprisedata practical. Data can be replicated for directand highly available local access. Data can beaccessed remotely using both SQL and procedurecalls in a fully transparent manner as if the datawere local. Also, data can be in both Oracle andnon-Oracle servers.

DATA REPLICATION

Oracle8i Enterprise Edition delivers the industry’smost comprehensive replication capabilities.From mass deployment applications such as salesforce automation to applications requiring datasynchronization between servers supporting, forexample, multiple websites or call centers, OracleAdvanced Replication supports them all in oneintegrated environment.

For mass deployment applications, OracleAdvanced Replication provides support forpotentially very large numbers of small remotesites, centralized management, disconnectedoperations, and sophisticated subsetting. WithOracle Advanced Replication users can exploit thescalability of the Oracle server at their centralconsolidation site, and the small footprint, self-management capabilities of Oracle® Lite for massdeployment to remote, often mobile sites.Replication environments are defined centrallyusing the Oracle8i template facility and deployedautomatically to remote Oracle Lite or Oracleserver sites. Performance is optimized to allowremote sites that normally operate in adisconnected manner to connect to the centralizedserver and synchronize data quickly.Sophisticated subsetting capabilities enable eachremote site to maintain its own, unique subset ofdata easily without requiring the maintenanceheadaches and rigidity of data denormalization.


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For server-to-server configurations supportingmultiple web sites, call centers and otherapplications, Oracle Advanced Replication enablesdata, such as user account information or customerservice records, to be moved quickly and in largevolume between sites. To support very hightransaction rates, Advanced Replication leads theindustry by enabling replicated transactions to bepropagated between sites in parallel whilemaintaining full transactional consistency.Replicated transactions can be propagated quicklyin a near real-time manner so that should any onesite fail users can connect to other sites to accesstheir most current data.

Oracle Advanced Replication enables both massdeployment and server-to-server configurations tobe integrated into one coherent environment sothat, for example, salesforce automationapplications and customer service call centers canshare data. All advanced replication mechanismswere designed from the beginning to be bi-directional. All sites, e.g., servers or massdeployment sites, are potentially updatable.Updates are captured, propagated, and applied toall sites maintaining replicas of that data. Robust,comprehensive update conflict detection andresolution mechanisms protect your wholeenvironment. A single tool - Oracle® ReplicationManager, which runs as an applet within Oracle’sEnterprise Manager facility - manages your wholeenvironment. Replication change capture andapply functions run directly within the OracleServer executable itself (in C code) for maximumperformance and minimal resource utilization.

TRANSPARENT DISTRIBUTED SQL

With Oracle8i, a single SQL statement can queryor update data from multiple databases and evenperform complex joins of data physically stored indifferent servers. Distributed optimizationtechniques select efficient execution plans andminimize data transmission over slow networks.Location transparency allows applications to bedeveloped without knowledge of the location ofdata, and ensures that applications never need re-

coding if data moves from one node to another.Network transparency leverages existing networksand protocols to efficiently transmit data betweenservers and return results to clients. DistributedSQL functionality is tightly integrated into thecore Oracle8i architecture, allowing sites tooperate autonomously and preserve compatibilitywith all server functionality.

TRANSPARENT DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTIONS

Oracle8i employs a robust, transparent two-phasecommit mechanism to ensure the integrity ofdistributed update transactions. Updates may beperformed by remote or distributed SQLstatements, or through remote procedure calls(RPCs) to distributed Oracle8i Servers. Committransparency ensures that all sites automaticallycommit or roll-back in response to the singlestandard SQL COMMIT statement—no complexprocedural or 3GL coding is required. Oracle8iautomatically detects failure conditions, and ifnecessary, automatically resolves them withoutmanual intervention.

INTEGRATING NON-ORACLE SYSTEMS

Oracle8i enables all your data to be accessedtransparently, not just Oracle data. Oracle8iintegrates all your data into one uniform view as ifall the data resided on your Oracle server with fulltransparent SQL and distributed transactioncapabilities. Access to non-Oracle data stores isintegrated directly into the Oracle8i Server itselfthrough a facility called heterogeneous services.Heterogeneous services extends the Oracle SQLengine to recognize the SQL and proceduralcapabilities of the remote store and the mappingsrequired to obtain necessary data dictionaryinformation. Using this information, the OracleSQL engine chooses the optimal executionstrategy for accessing heterogeneous data just as itdoes for data stored within Oracle servers.

The actual interface, capability settings and datadictionary mappings for each non-Oracle store areprovided by Oracle Transparent Gateway®. OracleTransparent Gateway are available to integrate


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data from virtually any data store into your Oracleenvironment. Oracle Procedural Gateway®

provide transparent procedural (RPC) access tonon-Oracle systems. Oracle8i also provides anXA-compliant interface that allows externaltransaction managers, such as TP monitors, tocoordinate distributed transactions that spanOracle and non-Oracle systems.

ENTERPRISE DATA SECURITY

Oracle8i, together with Net8, providescomprehensive, flexible, and reliable facilitiesthat:

• Ensure proper user authentication;

• Guarantee the privacy and integrity of data;

• Manage the assignment of database privileges

• Monitor database operations across theenterprise, including today’s vulnerable intranetand Internet environments.

SECURITY

Oracle8i functions as a Virtual Private Databaseby providing fine-grained access control that usesa parameter-driven, extensible application context,to allow applications to control users’ accessbased on user attributes such as their customernumber. For example, for a Web application, anadministrator may wish to give access to externalcustomers, but allow them to access only theirown orders. Using fine-grained access control,this can be easily accomplished without theadministrative overhead of views by using thecontext area to store the customer number and asecurity policy to determine what rows can beaccessed.

For applications with special requirements tosecure sensitive data from view, even from DBAs,Oracle8i provides a PL/SQL package to encryptand decrypt data, including string inputs and rawinputs, using the industry-standard Data

Encryption Standard (DES), in exportable keylengths. This functionality allows data to benatively encrypted in the server to protectespecially sensitive data, such as credit cardnumbers, “application user ” passwords, or sessioncookies.

USER AUTHENTICATION AND SECURITY

Oracle8i normally performs user authenticationinternally by verifying the password provided atlogin time. Optionally, authentication may beperformed:

• Externally by the operating system

• By a security package

• With Oracle Advanced Security, by an externalauthentication service, such as a networkoperating system, network security service (i.e.,Kerberos, SESAME, DCE), or by anauthentication device (e.g., smart cards)

This functionality allows businesses to centrallymanage Oracle security for the entire database ornetwork, reducing administration costsconsiderably, by specifying security policies onceand enforcing them network-wide. Oracle8i alsoprovides data signature services callable fromOracle Call Interface, PL/SQL, and Java.

Oracle8i also offers security to multi-tierarchitectures. In some systems, the middle tier isoften "super-privileged," to perform any action onbehalf of any user, and the identity of the "real"client is not preserved through the middle tier.Middle-tiers, especially Web servers orapplication servers, may often sit on or outside afirewall, so limiting their access and auditing theiractions is important. Oracle8i provides the abilityto preserve the "real" client identity through themiddle tier and limit the users on whose behalf amiddle tier can connect. The server can also auditactions taken by a middle tier on behalf of aparticular user.


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Oracle8i’s integrated security and directoryservices address two common problems that leadto security failures -- too many passwords and toomany user accounts.

Oracle8i offers enhanced PKI-based single sign-onthrough Internet standard X.509 (version 3)certificates and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Inaddition to strong user authentication, SSL alsoprovides network data confidentiality and dataintegrity for multiple types of connections: LDAP,IIOP (Internet Intra-ORB Protocol), and Net8.Oracle8i’s integrated security and directoryservices offer reduced total cost of ownershipthrough single station administration of users andprivileges in Oracle Internet Directory, an LDAP-compliant directory, built on the Oracle8idatabase. Oracle8i’s support for SSL and X.509ensures that Oracle8i’s security mechanisms areinteroperable with the widest range of Internetproducts and services.

Finally, Oracle8i can enforce your passwordsecurity policy. The security policy is encoded ina stored procedure. Checks may be performed, forexample, for minimum length and complexity, oragainst a history of previously used passwords.Passwords may be authorized for a set time periodafter which they would have to be changed.

DATABASE PRIVILEGES

Database privileges authorize users to performcertain SQL operations such as insert, update, ordelete on selected database objects. Oracle8i’sfine-grain privileges allow you to preciselyenforce database security policies, ensuring usershave only the privileges they require. Roles areused for grouping together privileges on tables andother database objects, and granting them toindividual users or groups of users as a whole. Inthis way, security administrators can authorizeusers to run entire applications with a singleGRANT statement, thus significantly reducing theburden and cost of security management.

AUDITING

Oracle8i provides integrated, flexible, and reliableauditing capabilities that ensure all databaseoperations of interest are recorded at theappropriate level of granularity. The AUDITcommand declaratively enables the auditing ofsuccessful and/or unsuccessful user actions, duringa session and during user attempts to accessdatabase objects. Audit trail data are securelyrecorded in the Oracle8i data dictionary and/oroperating system files. Procedural auditing, viastored Java or PL/SQL procedures and databasetriggers, can be used to perform application-specific or context-sensitive auditing.

NETWORKING

Net8 is the foundation for Oracle’s family ofnetworking features, providing the industry’s mostcomprehensive, enterprise-wide data accesssolution for heterogeneous, distributed computingenvironments. It enables both client/server andserver/server communications across any network,allowing applications and databases to reside ondifferent computers and communicate as peerapplications. Net8 eases the complexity ofnetwork configuration and management,maximizes performance, and improves diagnosticcapabilities while introducing distributed accessfor Java-based applications.


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Net8 provides a host of supporting services,including:

• Centralized administration through LDAP-compliant directory services and OracleNames®;

• Integration with various naming environmentsthrough external naming;

• Efficient client connection management withOracle Connection Manager and multiplexing;

• Support for Internet technologies such as IIOPand Java;

• Data encryption and security integration withOracle Advanced Security.

Net8 is the enterprise networking and securitysolution that also provides unmatched userscalability.

SUMMARY

Oracle8i is the latest generation of the world’sleading database and the first database designedspecifically to be an Internet development anddeployment platform. It enhances Oracle8™, theindustry-leading technology, with innovativefeatures that make it easier for businesses,application developers, and system integrators tocreate corporate intranet and web applications.

Oracle8i is the perfect combination: a robust,proven database product with the functionality thatenables businesses to harness the potential of adynamic new medium: the Internet.


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KEY FEATURES

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

• Oracle JServer: Java VM in the database

• Java stored procedures, functions, and triggers

• Seamless interaction between Java, SQL, andPL/SQL

• SQLJ: embedded SQL in Java code

• Enhanced JDBC driver

• WebDB to build, deploy, and monitor Webapplications

• 100 percent ANSI/ISO SQL 92 Entry Levelcompliant NIST tested

• ANSI/ISO standard precompiler applicationsinterface

• SQL3 inline views (query in the FROM clauseof another query)

• Updatable join views

• 100 percent ANSI/ISO standard declarativeentity and referential integrity constraints

• Check, default, and not null constraints

• Primary, foreign, and not null constraints

• Optional delete cascade

• Constraint checking at end of statement or endof transaction

• Procedures, functions, and packages supported

• User-defined PL/SQL functions in SQL

• External procedure callouts

• Packages supplied to access/execute jobqueues, alerts, HTML, and file I/O

• Database triggers available on insert, update,and delete statement fired before or afteroperation

• Database triggers available on events such asdatabase startup/shutdown, user logon/logoff

• Oracle® Precompilers

• Oracle Call Interface

• SQL*Module®

• JDBC and SQLJ for Java applications

• Multithreaded client application support

NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT (NLS)

• Full 8-bit and 16-bit NLS support for Europeanand Asian languages

• Unicode UTF-2 variable width encoding

• Per-session control of language preference withsystem defaults

• National calendar support

• Dual database character sets

• Euro symbol support

CONTENT MANAGEMENT

• Oracle interMedia

• Oracle iFS

DATA WAREHOUSING

• Summary management

• Analytic functions

• Bit-mapped indexes

• Partition-wise joins

• Optimized star queries


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• Resource management

• Online index rebuilds

• Function-based indexes

• Sample scan

VERY LARGE DATABASE SUPPORT

• Unlimited database size

• Partitioned tables and indexes

• Range, hash, and composite partitioning

• Scalable, parallel architecture

• Transportable tablespaces

• Progress monitor for long-running operations

PARALLEL SQL

• Parallel execution of SELECT, INSERT,UPDATE, DELETE, with full applicationtransparency

• Parallel execution of queries based on full tablescans, index scans, and partition scans

• Both intra-partition and inter-partitionparallelism

• Parallel sorts, joins, and aggregates

• Parallelization of PL/SQL functions

PARALLEL DATA MANAGEMENT

• Parallel create index and creation of table withSELECT clause

• Parallel, direct-path load

• Parallel constraint enabling, statistic collection,and summary creation

• Parallel direct database reads and directdatabase writes

TRANSACTION PROCESSING

• Multi-threaded server architecture

• Scalable SMP performance

• Shared database buffer cache

• Share SQL cache

• Logging and archiving

• Deferred writes

• Serializable transactions

• Queuing with publish and subscribe model

• Database event triggers

• Connection Manager and Connection Pooling

• Object type columns in partitioned tables

• LOBs in partitioned tables

• Partitioned index-organized tables

• Optimizer plan stability

• Dynamic XA support

ORACLE PARALLEL SERVER

• Clustered and MPP support

• Multiple node access to a single Oracle8idatabase

• Easy incremental expansion of computingnodes

• Linear scalability when nodes added

• Solution for high availability requirements

• Cache Fusion™ technology for scaling non-partitioned applications

• Single console to manage multiple instances


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• Automatic connection load balancing

• Job execution forced on specific node

HIGH AVAILABILITY

• Online backup by file, tablespace, or database

• Online recovery

• Read-only tablespaces

• Database mirror re-silvering

• Automated, queryable standby database

• Oracle Parallel Server for high availability

EXTENDED BACKUP AND RECOVERY

• Server managed backup and recovery

• GUI console for Recovery Manager

• Parallel recovery

• Parallel backup and restore utility

• Point-in-time database, tablespace recovery

• Incremental multi-level backups

• Import/Export utility

• Mirrored multi-segment log files

• Fast-start fault recovery

OBJECT RELATIONAL DATABASE

• Complex object types

• VARRAYs and nested tables

• Object references

• User-defined methods

• Syntax follows SQL3

• Object views

• Instead Of triggers to update views

• Client-side cache

• Object support for Pro*C™, Oracle CallInterface

• Object Type Translator utility to generate Cheader files

• C and Pro*C external procedures

• Binary, character LOBs with random, piece-wise access

• LOB storage inside or outside the database

• User-defined object identifiers and nested tableidentifiers

• Extensible indexing

• Extensible optimizer

• Specialized datatype services


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SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND EASE OF USE

• Java-based console and repository to managethe entire Oracle environment

• Multiple administrator framework

• Secure, remote database administration

• Three-tier architecture for scalability andfailover

• Job scheduling

• Event management and resolution

DATA REPLICATION

• Multiple, read-only snapshots (basic primarysite replication)

• Full transactional consistency and data integrity

• Full and subset table replication

• Incremental refresh of snapshot copied

• Event and demand based refresh

• Primary key snapshots

ADVANCED REPLICATION

• Snapshot templates for easy mass deployment

• Off-line instantiation

• Updatable snapshots (both master and snapshottables updatable)

• Multiple master configurations (full tablereplication between master sites)

• Hybrid configurations (combine snapshot andmultiple master configurations)

• Failover configuration support

• Automatic conflict detection and resolution

• Distributed schema

• Synchronous and asynchronous replicationsupport

• Subquery snapshots

DISTRIBUTED QUERIES AND TRANSACTIONS

• Transparent remote and distributed query

• Distributed, optimized joins

• Location transparency, network transparency

• Transparent, multi-site distributed transactions

• Distributed SQL updates and remote procedurecalls (RPCs)

• Commit transparency

OPEN GATEWAYS

• Data source transparency

• Transparent SQL gateways

• Transparent procedural gateways

• Distributed queries and update transactions

• Compliant with XA standard for TP-monitorcoordinated two-phase commit

DATA SECURITY

• Choice of internal or external userauthentication

• External choices include: operating system, OSsecurity package, network operating system,security service, authentication device

• PL/SQL package to encrypt /decrypt data

• Password policy enforcement

• Global users and roles

• Full datastream encryption through DES andRSA RC4 encryption algorithms


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• Complete protocol support and applicationtransparency

• Fine-grain database privileges

• Virtual Private Database

• Extensible and parameter-driven applicationcontext specification

• Hierarchical role-based security for group-levelaccess control

• Roles are basis for ANSI/ISO SQL3 securitystandard

• Site-customized DBA roles

• Submitted for evaluation at US TCSEC C2,European ITSEC E3

• Automatic auditing on per-session or per-object basis

• Application-specific or context-sensitiveauditing via PL/SQL stored procedures anddatabase triggers

• N-tier authentication/authorization

• SSL and X.509v3 support

• RADIUS authentication

ORACLE8i ENTERPRISE EDITION OPTIONS

• Some functionality and features described inthis document may require licensing a separateoption at an additional cost. For details on theavailability of features and options, see the“ Oracle8i: A Family of Database Products”paper at www.oracle.com/database/availability.

Oracle CorporationWorld Headquarters500 Oracle ParkwayRedwood Shores, CA 94065U.S.A.

Worldwide Inquiries:+1.650.506.7000Fax +1.650.506.7200http://www.oracle.com/

Copyright © Oracle Corporation 1999All Rights Reserved

This document is provided for informationalpurposes only, and the information herein issubject to change without notice. Please reportany errors herein to Oracle Corporation. OracleCorporation does not provide any warrantiescovering and specifically disclaims any liability inconnection with this document.

Oracle, ConText, Oracle Transparent Gateway,Oracle Procedural Gateway, Oracle Names, andSQL*Module are registered trademarks, andOracle8 i Enterprise Edition, Oracle8 i PL/SQL,JDeveloper, Net8, LogMiner, Oracle Expert,Oracle8, Cache Fusion, and Pro*C are trademarksof Oracle Corporation.

All other company and product names mentionedare used for identification purposes only and maybe trademarks of their respective owners..

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