| Oracle9i Database New Features Release 2 (9.2) Part Number A96531-02 |
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| Oracle9i Database New Features Release 2 (9.2) Part Number A96531-02 |
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View PDF |
The Oracle9i Database contains important new features that make it possible for users to maximize the usefulness of traditional business applications, facilitate critical competitive advantages for Internet-based business, and foster growth in the emerging hosted application market. These new features include new transparent, rapid growth clustering capabilities along with powerful and cost-effective security measures, zero-data-loss safeguards, and real-time intelligence, all to deliver the power needed in today's dynamic marketplace.
This chapter discusses features new to the Oracle9i database release 1 (9.0.1). This chapter is organized to introduce new features listed in accordance with the following themes:
Oracle9i continues to offer the best development platform for e-business and traditional application development. Key focus areas include the following:
Oracle9i JVM (previously JServer) extends its support for Java 2 Enterprise Edition application programming interfaces (APIs) and containers by means of the following new features:
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Note: The Oracle9i JVM embedded in both Oracle9i and Oracle iAS enables reliable, flexible, scalable, and secure e-business applications deployment. |
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is designed to improve the functionality of the Web by providing more flexible and adaptable information identification. It is called extensible because it is not a fixed format like HTML (a single, predefined markup language). Instead, XML is actually a meta-language--that is, a language for describing other languages--which lets you design your own customized markup languages for limitlessly different types of documents.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
XMLType natively stores XML content and enables XML operations to be run from SQL.
XMLType enables non-native XML data to be treated as XML by allowing users to create an XML view over standard database tables, documents, or web content. Thus, the same high-performance access to XML data is available whether data is natively XML or is an artifact generated from existing data.
To more efficiently generate XML in bulk from a database, XML generation capabilities have been moved into the database and application server kernels and have been made available as built-in SQL operators. The kernel proximity of these operators ensures massively sustainable throughputs that are large enough to meet the processing demands of the largest content repositories or the busiest exchanges.
A universal content model for all kinds of data and documents can be created through a set of native Arrive data types, which can hold references to XML documents or fragments either inside or outside the database. Just as applications locate HTML files using a uniform resource locator (URL), a set of native Arrive data types can locate native or generated XML content inside or outside of the database. Universal resource identifier references play a major role in creating database-backed content repositories, which in turn can be used to feed portals, archives, or other content management systems.
Oracle9i features several enhanced database operations to store XML using SQL and to render traditional database data as XML. These functionalities are required to support business-to-business and business-to-customer e-business, packaged applications, and internet content management. The main area of XML support in Oracle9i is built-in XML Developer Kits (XDKs).
With pre-loaded Java and the C XDK linked into Oracle9i, developers are easily able to access World-Wide-Web Consortium (W3C) functionalities that generate, manipulate, render, and store XML-formatted data in Oracle9i. Also available in PL/SQL and C++, XML developer kits provide XML/XSLT parsers, XML schema processors, XML Class Generators, XML Transviewer Beans, and the XSQL Servlet to allow developers to quickly enable their applications for XML.
SQL and PL/SQL have continued to be improved in Oracle9i to meet current development requirements.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
The following datatypes are new for Oracle9i:
TIMESTAMPTIMESTAMP WITH [LOCAL]TIME ZONEINTERVAL YEAR TO MONTHINTERVAL DAY TO SECONDXMLType, native XML datatypeSYS.UriType, SYS.UriFactoryTypeSYS.ANYType, SYS.AnyData, SYS.AnyDataSetMDSYS.SDO_GEOMETRY, new spatial datatypeORDSYS.ORDImage - media typeORDSYS.ORDVideo - media typeORDSYS.ORDAudio - media typeThe following built-in SQL functions are new for Oracle9i:
ASCIISTRBIN-TO-NUMCOALESCECOMPOSECURRENT_DATECURRENT_TIMESTAMPDBTIMEZONEDECOMPOSEEXISTSNODEEXTRACT (datetime)EXTRACT (XML)FIRSTFROM_TZGROUP_IDGROUPING_IDLASTLOCALTIMESTAMPNULLIFNUMTOYMINTERVALNUMTODSINTERVALPERCENTILE_CONTPERCENTILE_DISCRAWTONHEXROWIDTONCHARSESSIONTIMEZONESYS_CONNECT_BY_PATHSYS_DBURIGENSYS_EXTRACT_UTCSYS_XMLAGGSYS_XMLGENSYSTIMESTAMPTO_CHAR (character)TO_CLOBTO_DSINTERVALTO_TIMESTAMPTO_TIMESTAMP_TZTO_YMINTERVALTREATTZ_OFFSETUNISTRWIDTH_BUCKETThe following built-in SQL expressions are new for Oracle9i:
The following built-in SQL condition is new for Oracle9i:
The following top-level SQL statements are new for Oracle9i:
Custom aggregate functions can be defined for working with complex data.
Oracle9i includes a PL/SQL package, DBMS_METADATA, which provides interfaces for extracting complete definitions of database objects. The definitions can be expressed either as XML or as SQL data definition language (DDL). The following two styles of interface are provided:
Other technological advances to PL/SQL include the following new features:
CASE statements and expressions.RAW and numeric datatypes. The UTL_RAW package offers CAST_TO_NUMBER, CAST_FROM_NUMBER, CAST_TO_BINARY_INTEGER, and CAST_FROM_BINARY_INTEGER
External procedures can be given fields or parameters of a generic type that can contain values of any scalar or user-defined type, making it unnecessary to implement multiple versions of the same external procedure just to handle multiple datatypes.
Specialized versions of user-defined types can be defined as subtypes in a SQL type hierarchy.
Hierarchies can be created of object views based on some or all of the types in a type hierarchy. Object view hierarchies simplify targeting a particular subtype (and perhaps its subtypes) in queries and other operations.
Oracle Text, formerly interMedia Text, includes the following new features to provide greater flexibility in building text query applications.
CTX_OUTPUT PL/SQL Package has procedures that allow logging of index file with rowid information, which is useful in debugging an index operation.
Oracle9i enables customers to store, manage and aggregate all types of multimedia content into a single database by significantly enhancing the capabilities of the database to serve as a platform for creating, managing, and delivering internet content. Key focus areas include the following:
Oracle9i includes enhancements to interMedia image, audio, and video support. Oracle9i greatly simplifies the ability to add multimedia formats, processing, and rendering by incorporating Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) into the database and providing support for the Java Media Framework (JMF) in interMedia. Also, interMedia now supports PNG and EXIF image formats.
A browser-based version of the clipboard supports insert, retrieve and annotate media objects in Oracle9i. Improvements to the image search capabilities and support for storage and delivery of streaming media with new streaming formats and plug-ins are also part of Oracle9i. In addition, interMedia's audio, video, and image media processing services are now accessible in native form through relational PL/SQL and JAVA interfaces.
Oracle9i provides powerful Internet search facilities to extract and index metadata from rich content and to search XML and catalog structures. Now, all content in Oracle9i can be location-enabled and mobile-ready so that it can be searched and delivered according to from where the request is originating--such as mobile phone and internet personalization criteria--or its location association.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
Unlike other search engines, Oracle Ultra Search is able both to search the contents of a database to find documents, newspaper articles, and other information stored inside a database and to search the contents of static HTML pages. (Other search engines can merely search the content of static HTML pages.) Oracle Ultra Search enables you to search across heterogeneous corporate repositories, Web sites, and groupware content all in the same search. Oracle Ultra Search also provides a unified interface for enterprise and vertical portal search applications, which interface includes a Web interface, Web crawling, and search administration facilities.
Improved in Oracle9i to meet the needs of e-business applications, Oracle Text indexing in uses a new indextype to perform very fast searches across volumes of short textual descriptions. This functionality is ideal for facilitating faster catalog, metadata, auction data, and resume searches. In Oracle9i, text searches of nested XML elements, search attribute values, XPath query syntax, and other advanced XML structures are also all supported.
Media and document metadata can be extracted, indexed, and mapped to XML documents or database schema through Java application programming interfaces (APIs) available through the interMedia Annotator. These APIs allow for programmatic invocation of metadata services by any application or scripting language that can use Java APIs, including JAVAscript, VBscript, and Apple Script.
Oracle9i provides organizations with the ability to create shared workspaces to support collaborative, long-duration projects. Workspaces support in-place, existing content and allow existing applications to run transparently against the workspace view of the database. Database content can be associated within a workspace and then used for a specific application while the underlying transaction database continues to run without being affected. Multiple, concurrent database-backed projects can coexist simultaneously against different versions of content.
For e-business and mobile applications, Oracle9i and Oracle Spatial provide users with the ability to search, to index, and to deliver data based on the location attributes of content or proximity.
Support for mobile device protocols (WAP) and formats--such as WBMP--along with delivery through Oracle iAS Wireless (formerly Portal-to-Go) make Oracle9i a complete platform for the delivery of content for mobile applications. Content stored in Oracle9i can now be associated with related location criteria and services.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) formats used in mobile applications are now supported in interMedia. New support for online mapping, yellow pages, driving directions, traffic, and geocoding services allow online content to be merged with database content.
iSQL*Plus, a browser-based implementation of SQL*Plus, can be used to connect to an Oracle database system over the Internet to perform the same tasks as those that are performed through the SQL*Plus command line. The iSQL*Plus implementation uses a Web browser, an Oracle HTTP Server with the iSQL*Plus Server, and an Oracle Database.
Oracle9i extends Oracle's lead on the competition in the area of internet database availability that is critical for any e-business application. Key focus areas in Oracle9i include the following:
Oracle9i sets a new standard for high availability by the introduction of the following four powerful new features to protect against downtime.
Oracle9i offers many new features for disaster recovery. Key focus areas include the following new features:
The Oracle9i Data Guard Broker introduces an important advance in physical standby database management with Data Guard Redo Apply by automating monitoring and control features. Previously, switching to the standby database had been a highly complex administrative task, and switching back had been very difficult. Data Guard Redo Apply now presents a primary database system and its physical standby system as one environment, thus unifying configuration, monitoring and control. Oracle9i Data Guard continually monitors both the primary and standby databases.
Oracle9i Data Guard maintains a physical standby database that protects against any loss of data during log transport. Log file updates are synchronously written directly from the primary database to the physically identical standby database, making it fully up-to-date at the point of failure in any disaster recovery situation. During log file updates, only log entries for the current transaction are stopped, instead of the entire log file. This disaster recovery solution makes third-party products that mirror online redo logs redundant.
Delayed mode guards against database administrator mistakes by enabling a time lag that protects against the application of corrupted or erroneous data from the primary database to the physical standby database. Under most circumstances, Data Guard Redo Apply automatically applies achieved redo logs by default when they arrive from the primary database. Delayed mode bypasses this default to protect data in the standby database.
LogMiner provides information necessary for performing recovery operations, tuning, and capacity planning. The Oracle9i LogMiner utility makes it possible to query both online and archived redo log files through a SQL interface in real time. LogMiner provides optional tracking of data definition language (DDL) statements, the ability to limit queries to committed transactions, and the ability to perform queries based on actual data values. Log Miner also supports a multi-versioned dictionary.
LogMiner has also been enhanced in Oracle9i to provide comprehensive log analysis for additional datatypes. LogMiner now supports the following functionalities:
LOB and LONG datatypesLogMiner also displays the primary key and supports queries on the logs based on the content of changes. (This is useful, for example, in the hypothetical situation where you want to show all changes to an employee named Smith.)
A component of Oracle Enterprise Manager, the Oracle LogMiner Viewer provides users with an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) to the Oracle9i LogMiner. The LogMiner GUI may be used to query online and archived redo log files to analyze the activity that has taken place in a database. Users can select redo log files, specify filters to be applied to the data, view query results and save the query and results for future use.
Oracle9i provides fast recovery with products improved by the following new features:
Real Application Clusters provides improved availability as compared to single-node configurations by eliminating the server as a single point of failure. For example, in a two-node cluster configuration where the primary node fails, the applications from that node automatically fail over to the surviving node--sometimes within seconds. With Real Application Clusters, failover minimizes the adverse effects of node failure on application processing and data availability.
Real Application Clusters Guard I, formerly Oracle Application Clusters Guard, is an enhanced configuration of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters. It tightly integrates enhanced recovery features with the cluster framework of the platform to provide a configuration that leverages the best high-availability technology each partner has to offer.
The Real Application Clusters Guard I architecture is designed to build on the strengths of traditional high-availability solutions and provides the following functionality:
Oracle9i Fail Safe Configuration for Windows provides the high availability and protection from system failures that e-businesses demand on Windows NT and Windows 2000 clustered architectures. Oracle9i Fail Safe provides failover processes for database and application servers in both 2- and 4-node Windows NT and Windows 2000 clusters.
Oracle9i introduces an enhancement to Fast-Start Fault Recovery that enables database administrators to specify the expected amount of time Oracle takes to recover a single instance, also known as the expected mean time to recover (MTTR).
A common dilemma that has faced database administrators is that of whether to identify the cause of a failure or to ensure that normal service is restored as quickly as possible. By invoking Flash Freeze, the database administrator can take a diagnostic snapshot of the entire system at the time of failure, quickly restart the database, and then make a diagnostic analysis offline.
Oracle9i eases the challenge of failures or downtime due to user errors, including erroneous or out-of-sequence updates.
Oracle9i Flashback Query lets users and applications query data from points in the past. Using this flashback parameter, a user can specify a date and time for the data and then issue standard queries on the data as it appeared at the specified time.
Identification of updates is also achieved by analysis of the database log files. Oracle9i LogMiner is a utility that enables log files, whether online or archived, to be read, analyzed, and interpreted with a SQL interface. By using Oracle9i LogMiner, database administrators can now examine all updates to the database, including all data manipulation, definition, and administration commands.
Certain large, long-running operations such as data uploads and complex update processes may run out of resources (disk space, for example) prior to completion. Unsuccessful completion can be time-consuming to resolve. Oracle9i addresses this challenge by enabling database administrators to suspend operations that cannot be completed. Once the operation has been suspended, the database administrator can resolve the resource issue and then allow the statement to resume from the point of interruption.
Oracle9i enables comprehensive planned maintenance operations, which previously required downtime, to run during normal usage.
Oracle9i provides the mechanism to redefine table structures while keeping them online and fully accessible to users and applications.
Oracle9i provides a simple mechanism to reorganize and redefine tables while keeping them online and available to application users. Oracle9i online table and index reorganization reduces planned downtime, increases application availability, reduces disk fragmentation, and improves application performance.
With Oracle9i, all table indexes can be created and re-created online. With this capability, users can continue to run their applications during table index creation.
Oracle9i database parameter settings that affect Database memory use can now be reset online. This enables the database administrator to reset parameter settings without having to take the databases offline and then restart them.
Oracle9i contains a new online reorganization and redefinition architecture that enables powerful new reorganization capabilities. Administrators can now perform a variety of online operations to table definitions, including online reorganization of heap-organized tables, thus making it possible to reorganize a table at the same time that users have full access to it. Key focus areas include the following new features:
Oracle9i now enables an online CREATE TABLE AS SELECT operation. In this new architecture, contents of a table are copied into a new table. While the contents are copied, updates to the original table are tracked by the database. After the copy is made, updates are applied to the new table.
After the updates are applied, indexes can be created on the new table. After indexes are created, any additional updates are applied and the resulting table replaces the original table. The table is locked in exclusive mode for a very brief period of time when the dictionary data is updated at the beginning and end of an operation.
This new online architecture provides the following functionalities:
ROWIDs stored in secondary indexes (on index-organized tables). This enables online repair of invalid physical guessesAdministrators can also rapidly quiesce the database to perform operations that require that there be no active transactions. Also, with Oracle9i, the buffer cache and the shared pool can be resized dynamically. Oracle9i can also validate the structure of an object (ANALYZE VALIDATE) while the object is online and accessed by users.
Oracle9i includes improved prevention and handling of log file corruption, thus reducing the risk of extended downtimes. It is also able to restore the database to a consistent state when log corruption is detected during recovery. If corruption needs to be repaired through media recovery, a new block media recovery feature enables only the corrupt blocks to be recovered while the remainder of the table is online. These improvements include the following new features:
Oracle9i can recover from crashes more quickly than in previous releases with a new two-pass recovery algorithm that ensures that only the blocks that need to be processed are read from and written to the datafiles. A new time-based mean time to recover (MTTR) parameter also makes it much easier to set a limit on crash recovery time.
Oracle9i includes improved diagnosis of a failed instance and enables diagnostics to be read after recovery on the failed state. This helps diagnose the cause of the failure after its first occurrence, rather than requiring users to set events that capture data in future failures.
For multi-node systems, Oracle9i provides faster failure detection--for instance, node and network failures--and reconfiguration for Oracle9i Real Application Clusters, reducing downtime due to a system fault.
Oracle Fail Safe Configuration for Windows provides the high availability and protection from system failures that e-businesses need to take advantage of multi-node clusters with the enhanced functionality of Windows 2000. This allows for configurations where multiple databases on multiple nodes share a common backup node, reducing the cost of providing redundancy to multiple applications.
Advanced Replication, formerly known simply as Replication, includes the following new features:
CHAR column length semantics and UnicodeOracle9i systems management is simplified and improved with increased self-management and self-tuning capabilities. Also, Oracle9i integrated system management tools create a complete view of all database and host critical processes, making it possible to quickly and completely assess the overall health of an e-business infrastructure.
Oracle9i management advances include the following features:
Oracle9i includes several new features that make the Database more autonomous and self-managing. For example, new features such as automatic undo management, automatic SQL execution memory management, and automatic segment-space management enable database administrators to delegate many daily administrative tasks to the server itself.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
Oracle9i databases are capable of managing their own undo (rollback) segments. Administrators no longer need to carefully plan and tune the number and sizes of rollback segments or to decide strategically how to assign transactions to a particular rollback segment. Oracle9i also enables administrators to allocate their undo space in a single undo tablespace with the database taking care of issues such as undo block contention, consistent read retention, and space utilization.
Memory management is another area which has been given significant attention in Oracle9i. Traditionally, administrators have needed to shut down the instance in order to grow or shrink System Global Area (SGA) components. Oracle9i introduces a dynamic memory management feature that enables dynamic resizing of the buffer cache and shared pool. A buffer cache size advice mechanism that predicts the performance of running with different sizes for the buffer cache is also available with Oracle Enterprise Manager.
Oracle9i provides transparent management of working memory for SQL execution by self-tuning the initialization runtime parameters that control allocation of private memory. This feature enables low-end users to reduce the time and effort required to tune memory parameters for their data warehouse and their reporting applications, while high-end users are able to avoid memory tuning for individual work loads.
Oracle9i provides transparent management of segment space in the Oracle database. With automatic segment-space management, you use bitmaps, which describe the status of each data block within a segment with respect to the amount of space in the block available for inserting rows, to enable Oracle to automatically manage the free space in the segments.
Several new features simplify administration of the Oracle9i database.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
With the introduction of the server parameter file feature, server parameter file changes persist across database shutdowns and startups. This feature also enables the administrator to start the database from remote machines without a local copy of the server parameter file. This facilitates database performance tuning because parameter changes made by performance management tools such as Oracle Enterprise Manager and changes made by internal self-tuning now persist across shutdowns.
The Database Configuration Assistant has been redesigned to include saved definitions of existing databases in the form of templates provided by Oracle that can, in turn, be used to generate new databases. Users can create their own templates by modifying existing templates, defining new ones, or by capturing the definition of an existing database.
When creating a database with the Database Configuration Assistant, users can include Oracle Sample Schemas at database creation or can add these schemas later as an option. Oracle Sample Schemas are the basis for many of the examples used in Oracle documentation.
Oracle9i introduces Oracle-managed files. This simplifies database administration by removing the necessity that administrators directly manage the files that make up an Oracle database. Instead, Oracle9i uses internal standard file system interfaces to create and delete files as needed. While administrators must still be involved in space planning and administration, Oracle-managed files automates the routine tasks of creating and deleting database files. Operating system files associated with a temporary file also can be deleted.
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Note: With the introduction of default temporary tablespace, the |
Resumable Space Allocation, another feature introduced in Oracle9i, enables an administrator temporarily to suspend a large operation, such as a batch update or data load, if they start to encounter out-of-space errors. This enables the administrator to fix the problem and resume the operation from the point of interruption without disrupting normal database operation.
Oracle9i supports databases created with multiple block sizes and enables administrators to configure corresponding sub-caches within each alternative block size. This capability enables administrators to locate objects in tablespaces of appropriate block size in order to maximize I/O performance. It also enables administrators to transport tablespaces more easily between different databases (for example, from an OLTP environment to a data warehousing environment).
Oracle9i also provides for better control over database downtime by enabling administrators to specify in number of seconds the mean time to recover (MTTR) from system failures. This feature, coupled with more dynamic initialization parameters, helps administrators further improve database availability.
The execution plan of a SQL statement in the shared pool is now queryable through the view V$SQL_PLAN. The data contained within this view is similar to that of EXPLAIN PLAN; the difference is that EXPLAIN PLAN shows a theoretical plan should the statement be executed, whereas V$SQL_PLAN shows the actual plan used to execute the statement.
Database administration is simplified because parameter changes made through performance management tools--such as Oracle Enterprise Manager--and changes made by internal self-tuning parameters now persist across shutdowns.
To ease backup and recovery operations, Recovery Manager (RMAN) in Oracle9i provides the following new features:
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
Oracle9i introduces many new features and enhancements that increase manageability and greatly expand functionality. Persistent RMAN settings can be created for automatic channels, channel parallelism, retention policies, backup options, and auxiliary filenames, and can be applied to any session, thus removing the need for manual allocation of channel settings.
Recovery Manager implements a recovery window that controls when backups expire. Recovery Manager also automatically marks as obsolete all backups and archived logs no longer required to restore the database to a point in time during the recovery window. These features are designed to reduce administrator time and effort spent performing routine backup activities tasks by automating of the most commonly performed tasks.
Block media recovery can perform media recovery on individual blocks in a datafile while the datafile remains online. The block media recovery feature is only available with RMAN.
The new control file auto backup feature provides for restoring or recovering a database even when a Recovery Manager repository is not available. Recovery Manager in Oracle9i also features enhanced reporting and a more user-friendly interface.
Improvements in user-managed backup and recovery include the following new features:
FILE_NAME_CONVERT parametersIn Oracle9i, Oracle Enterprise Manager continues to provide easy-to-use management tools that support the new capabilities of the database and the entire e-business platform.
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
The Oracle Enterprise Manager graphical interface makes it simple to adopt and manage new components such as Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle OLAP Server, and Oracle9iAS.
In Oracle9i, Oracle Enterprise Manager has the ability to connect to multiple target databases without starting up the Oracle Management Server.
To further simplify management tasks, Oracle Enterprise Manager has been enhanced to include guided, expert diagnostics and problem resolution, as well as greatly enhanced reporting capabilities.
Advice and recommendations about how properly to configure an Oracle environment, how effectively to monitor its performance, and how quickly to resolve problems has been incorporated directly into the Oracle Enterprise Manager management tools. For example, administrators can instantly display a set of overview charts to show the overall health of their system, with indicators that automatically alert administrators to potential problems. Administrators can then analyze the problem by following the proper steps required to diagnose the problem's underlying cause.
Because all essential management functions are also Web-based, administrators can manage their systems directly from a Web browser. Tools such as DBA*Studio are consolidated into the integrated management console. Oracle Enterprise Manager can also publish detailed reports to a Web site, allowing administrators easy access to any systems management information they wish to publish.
In Oracle9i, Oracle Enterprise Manager enables administrators to monitor the performance of more than one system. With this release, administrators are able to monitor the response of their entire Oracle-based system and to ensure that they are meeting the required business service level agreements. This capability is critical to users such as application service providers, e-business sites, or any business whose success depends on maintaining superior response time, performance, and availability of their information technology systems.
Oracle Enterprise Manager enables administrators to monitor service levels and automatically alerts them to any degradation in performance. Extensive service level reports are also available to provide a complete picture of the performance of the system.
In addition to service level reports, reporting capabilities throughout all of Oracle Enterprise Manager have been significantly enhanced. A comprehensive set of predefined reports are included with Oracle Enterprise Manager that document the configuration and health of the entire Oracle environment. Reports can be generated, for example, on the configuration of databases, the performance of applications over the last week, or the current load on the system. Customized reports can also be generated using a site's own data or by mixing and matching the predefined report topics that Oracle Enterprise Manager provides. These reports can be automatically generated and posted to a Web site for convenient access across the organization.
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Note: Oracle Enterprise Manager supports server parameter file (SPFILE) and automatic undo management. |
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following enhancements to Oracle Net Services:
The Oracle Net Configuration Assistant enables you to create multiple Oracle Contexts to facilitate management of a complex naming structure in a directory server.
In future releases, Oracle Names will not be supported as a centralized naming method. As Oracle Names is deprecated in favor of directory naming with LDAP-compliant directory servers, Oracle Names LDAP Proxy servers provide a way for release 8.1.5 or previous clients that do not support directory naming to use the same data as is used for directory naming. Oracle Names LDAP Proxy servers are Oracle Names servers that have been configured to proxy for LDAP-compliant directory servers. Upon startup, Oracle Names LDAP Proxy servers obtain network object information from a directory server. This provides a single point of definition for all data in a directory server and does not require that both Oracle Names servers and directory servers be maintained separately and simultaneously.
Oracle Net Services includes the following new features:
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following enhancements to data cartridge functionalities:
Discrete domain indexes, called local domain indexes, can be built on the partitions of a range-partitioned table. Local domain indexes are equi-partitioned with the underlying table: all keys refer only to rows stored in the local domain index's corresponding table partition.
The extensible optimizer supports collection of user-defined statistics partition level and aggregate for partitioned tables.
New package DBMS_ODCI contains a utility to help better estimate the cost of user-defined functions.
Instances of an indextype or object inherit an association of a statistics type. Now you can replace this with a NULL association for occasions when the benefit of using a better plan may not outweigh the added cost of compiling the cost or selectivity functions implemented by the statistics type.
For e-business and mobile applications, the location capabilities in Oracle9i and Oracle Spatial have been greatly enhanced. Content stored in Oracle9i can now be associated with related location criteria and services. New support for online mapping, yellow pages, driving directions, traffic, and geocoding services allow online content to be merged with database content. Support for mobile devices and formats--such as WBMP, interactive voice response, microbrowsers and delivery through Oracle iAS Wireless--make Oracle9i a complete platform for the delivery of content for mobile applications.
Oracle Spatial includes the following new features:
SDO_GTYPE element of the SDO_GEOMETRY type has a new format that identifies the linear referencing dimension (if any).SDO_GEOMETRY type: GET_GTYPE, GET_DIMENSIONS, and GET_LRS_DIMS.SDO_AGGR_MBR, SDO_AGGR_UNION, SDO_AGGR_BUFFER, and SDO_AGGR_CONVEXHULL.SDO_GEOMETRY type can be embedded in a user-defined data type.UNITS support--for example, "UNITS=mile"--is provided for relevant Spatial functions and operators.Heterogeneous Services, a component of the database that enables Oracle9i to access and process data from non-Oracle data systems, includes the following new features:
DESCRIBE commandDATE/TIME datatypesPIECEWISE, INSERT, and FETCH of long columnsOUT argumentsOracle9i continues to challenge the competition by providing the best platform support for business intelligence in medium to large scale enterprises. Oracle9i technology focuses especially on the challenges raised by the large volume of data and the need for near real time complex analysis in an Internet-enabled environment. Additionally, Oracle9i provides the first true business-intelligence platform, including extended database support for online analytical processing (OLAP), data mining, and major data extraction, transformation, and loading enhancements.
Oracle9i key focus areas for business intelligence include the following:
Key enhancements in Oracle9i include the following:
Index-organized tables include the following technological advances:
Oracle's materialized views, which provide a mechanism for improving the performance of almost any type of query, have been enhanced in Oracle9i in important ways:
Oracle9i provides an automated mechanism for dynamically allocating runtime memory to each query. Up to 70% or more of the data warehouse server's physical memory is commonly allocated for runtime memory.
By automating the allocation of runtime memory, Oracle9i improves the overall throughput of the data warehouse and makes it possible to support larger numbers of users at the same levels of performance.
The automatic memory tuning feature ensures that memory-intensive queries receive sufficient memory, while memory-light queries are not given too much memory. By making more effective use of memory, Oracle9i increases overall query performance.
Oracle partitioning delivers significant improvements in the manageability, availability, and query performance of large tables and indexes. Partitioning is a key technology for data warehousing, where large tables are commonplace. Oracle partitioning capabilities have been enhanced in Oracle9i with the addition of a new partitioning scheme, list partitioning.
List partitioning gives data warehouse administrators precise control over which data belongs in each partition. For each partition, the data warehouse administrator can specify a list of possible values for the partitioning key of the rows in that partition. Each partition in a list partitioning scheme corresponds to a list of discrete values.
Oracle9i includes the following data extraction, transformation, and loading new features:
To increase efficiency and reduce the time taken to load and refresh critical data warehouses, Oracle9i provides support for external tables to allow data from external systems to be quickly loaded into the database. External tables do not reside in the database and may be in a format, for which a driver is provided. The CREATE TABLE... ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL statement specifies metadata describing the external table.
Other data load capabilities provided to increase data load scalability and reduce complexity include multitable INSERT and MERGE semantics. Both of these SQL enhancements allow more complex data loading to be processed within a SQL single statement, unlike the old way, where several process steps were required. With multitable inserts, data can be inserted into more than one table using a single SQL statement; this is more efficient than using multiple, separate SQL statements for each table.
Multitable inserts make SQL more useful for data transformations and conditional handling. An incremental refresh, also known as a MERGE, of a table requires two tasks: new records will be inserted and existing records will be updated. Rather than requiring two separate steps, the new MERGE statement enables both steps to be processing simultaneously within a single SQL statement. This new ETL functionality is also leveraged by Oracle Warehouse Builder.
Table functions can be used in the FROM clause of a query to return a collection (either a nested table or a varray) of rows as output. A table function can use parallel execution, and result rows from can be pipelined--that is, iteratively returned.
Oracle9i introduces bitmap join indexes, which provide further improved performance for a specific class of join queries. A join index is an index structure which spans multiple tables and improves the performance of the joins of those tables.
Oracle9i addresses the growing workloads of established data warehouses with enhanced capabilities for managing larger numbers of users. These capabilities ensure that an appropriate amount of resources is allocated to each query, the throughput of the entire warehouse platform is maximized, the warehouse administrator and users can view the status of ongoing jobs, and the database can automatically terminate or queue queries, depending upon conditions pre-specified by the database administrator in order to maintain optimal system load.