6 Configuring Oracle RAC

6.1 Creating Directories

If you decide to place the Oracle Clusterware, database, or recovery files on a file system, then use the following guidelines when deciding where to place them.

• Section 6.1.1, "Guidelines for Placing Oracle Clusterware Files on a File System"

• Section 6.1.2, "Guidelines for Placing Oracle Database Files on a File System"

• Section 6.1.3, "Guidelines for Placing Oracle Database Recovery Files on a File System"

• Section 6.1.4, "Creating Required Directories"

6.2 Using Database Configuration Assistant for Oracle RAC

The primary functions of Database Configuration Assistant processing include:

• Creating the database and its instances

• Setting up network configuration for the database, its instances, and database services

• Starting the database, its instances, services, and any other node applications

  See Also:

  • Section 6.5, "Creating the Database After Installation" for more information about using Database Configuration Assistant in standalone mode

  • Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide if you experience problems (for example, with the listener configuration), and for more information about Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-compliant directory support

6.3 Benefits of Using Database Configuration Assistant

Oracle recommends that you use Database Configuration Assistant to create a Oracle RAC database, because Database Configuration Assistant preconfigured databases optimize the environment for features such as the server parameter file and automatic undo management.

By using Database Configuration Assistant, you can create site-specific tablespaces as a part of database creation. If you have data file requirements that differ from those offered by Database Configuration Assistant templates, then create the database with Database Configuration Assistant and modify the data files later. You can also run user-specified scripts as part of the database creation process.

Database Configuration Assistant also configures the Oracle RAC environment for various Oracle Database high-availability features such as services and cluster administration tools. It also starts any database instances required to support the defined configuration.

6.4 Oracle RAC High-Availability Services

When you configure high-availability services with Database Configuration Assistant's Database Services screen, you can also configure service instance preferences and transparent application failover (TAF) policies. These are described in the following subsections:

• Section 6.4.1, "Service Configuration and Instance Preferences"

• Section 6.4.2, "Transparent Application Failover Policies"

6.5 Creating the Database After Installation

To create a database by using Database Configuration Assistant in standalone mode, you must run the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to configure the Oracle Net LISTENER.ORA file. To start Database Configuration Assistant, connect to one of the nodes with Oracle RAC installed and then enter the $DBCA command from the command line.

6.6 Creating the Oracle RAC Database

The first screen that Database Configuration Assistant displays is the Welcome screen for Oracle RAC. Database Configuration Assistant displays this Oracle RAC-specific Welcome screen only if the Oracle Database home from which it is started is cluster installed.

If Database Configuration Assistant does not display the Welcome screen for Oracle RAC, then Database Configuration Assistant was not able to detect whether or not the Oracle home is cluster installed. In this case, verify that oraInventory is not damaged and that Oracle Universal Installer inventory, ORAINST.LOC, is present. By default, this file is placed in a directory that has the same name as the node from where the installation was performed, which, in most cases, is the primary node of the Oracle RAC cluster. This directory is in the login directory of the user who carried out the installation. Otherwise, perform the following steps to create a Oracle RAC database:

1. Select RAC database, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Operations screen. Database Configuration Assistant enables the Configure Database Options, Delete a database, Instance Management, and Services Management options only if there is at least one Oracle RAC database configured on the cluster that runs from the Oracle Database home.

2. Select Create a database and click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Node Selection screen.

3. Database Configuration Assistant highlights the local node by default. Select the other nodes that you want to configure as members of the cluster database, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Database Templates screen. If nodes that are part of the cluster installation are not displayed on the Node Selection screen, then perform inventory diagnostics and Oracle Clusterware diagnostics by running the $OLSNODES command.

4. The templates on the Database Templates screen are Custom Database, Transaction Processing, Data Warehouse, and General Purpose. The Custom Database template does not include data files or options specially configured for a particular type of application. Use one of the other templates, which include data files, if you want to create a database with specifically configured options. Select the template from which you wish to create the cluster database, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Database Identification screen.

5. Enter the global database name and the Oracle Database system identifier (SID) prefix for the cluster database, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Management Options screen.

   Note:

   The global database name can be up to 30 characters in length and must begin with an alphabetic character. The SID prefix must begin with an alphabetic character and contain no more than 5 characters on OpenVMS-based systems. Database Configuration Assistant uses the SID prefix to generate a unique value for the ORACLE_SID for each instance.

6. On the Management Options screen, you can choose to manage the database with Enterprise Manager. Despite choosing the Grid Control option, this will only configure EMAgent on OpenVMS. The Console component of Grid Control is not supported on OpenVMS platform. Refer to Appendix D, "Installing, Configuring, and Running EMAgent" for more information about how to configure the EMagent for use with the Grid Control Enterprise Manager, and how to manage and maintain the EMAgent for the OpenVMS platform.

   Click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Database Credentials screen.

7. Enter the passwords for the database on the Database Credentials screen. You can enter the same or different passwords for the users SYS and SYSTEM, plus DBSNMP and SYSMAN if you selected Enterprise Manager on the Management Options screen. Select the Use the Same Password for All Accounts option to assign the same password to the listed users. Alternatively, provide a different password for each of these users by selecting the Use Different Passwords option. Enter the password information, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Storage Options screen.

8. Use the Storage Options screen to select a storage type for database creation. The Cluster File System option is the default. Select a storage option and click Next to proceed to the next screen. If you select Cluster File System, the Database File Locations screen is displayed.

9. The Database File Locations screen enables you to select the file storage for the database files: locations provided in a template, a common location for all database files (the files will not be Oracle Database-managed files), or Oracle Database-managed files in a common location. If you do not select the template option, then you can enter an existing directory path name in the space provided, or click Browse to open a selection list.

   If you wish to multiplex the database redo log files and control files, click Multiplex Redo Logs and Control Files and provide the location for each copy you want. Click Ok when you have defined the multiplex locations to return to the Database File Locations screen.

   You can also define variables for the file locations if you plan to use the Database Storage screen, explained in Step 14, to define individual file locations.

10. On the Recovery Configuration screen, you can select redo log archiving by selecting Enable Archiving. You can also select the flash recovery area and size on the Recovery Configuration screen. The flash recovery area defaults to ORA_ROOT:[FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA].

    You can also define variables for the file locations if you plan to use the Database Storage screen, explained in Step 14, to define individual file locations. When you have completed the entries, click Next, and the Database Content screen is displayed.

11. On the Database Content screen, if you chose the Custom Database option, you can select or deselect the database components and their corresponding tablespace assignment. For a seed database, you can select whether to include the sample schemas in the database and to run custom scripts as part of the database creation processing. After completing the selections, click Next to display the Databases Services screen.

12. To create services on the Database Services screen, expand the Services tree. Oracle Database displays the global database name in the top left corner of the screen. Select the global database name and click Add to add services to the database. Enter a service name in the Add a Service dialog box, and click OK to add the service and return to the Database Services screen.

    The service name is displayed under the global database name. Select the service name and Database Configuration Assistant displays the service preferences for the service on the right side of Database Configuration Assistant Database Services screen. Change the instance preference (Not Used, Preferred, or Available) and transparent application failover (TAF) policies for the service as needed.

    Repeat this procedure for each service and when you are done configuring services for the database, click Next. Database Configuration Assistant displays the Initialization Parameters screen.

13. By default, the Initialization Parameters screen shows only the basic parameters. Each tab on the Initialization Parameters screen provides different sets of information that you can add or modify as follows:

    1. Memory Tab

       Click Typical for default values based on the database type you selected or Custom to set values for the memory parameters. You can also see values for the advanced parameters by clicking All Initialization Parameters.

       Carefully review the parameter settings displayed in this dialog box because Database Configuration Assistant configures these settings in the server parameter file. Instance-specific parameter settings for the Oracle RAC database are displayed at the bottom of this dialog box. The sid prefixes for these entries are displayed in the left column.

       To review the instance-specific parameter settings, scroll downward using the scroll bar on the right side of the dialog box. Use the check box in the Override Default column to indicate that Database Configuration Assistant should place the parameter setting in the server parameter file. Database Configuration Assistant only places a parameter entry into the server parameter file if the entry displays a check mark in the Override Default column of the All Initialization Parameters dialog box.

       Note:

       • You cannot modify the value of sid in the Instance columnYou can alter self-tuning parameters with this dialog box. However, setting these parameters to inappropriate values may disable Oracle Database self-tuning features.You cannot specify instance-specific values for global parameters with Database Configuration Assistant.

       • You should set the value of the CLUSTER_DB_INSTANCES parameter to the number of instances you intend to use in the cluster if you are not including all the related nodes during the current Database Configuration Assistant session.

       • If the global database name is longer than eight characters, then the database name value (in the DB_NAME parameter) is truncated to the first eight characters and the DB_UNIQUE_NAME parameter value is set to the global name.

    2. Sizing Tab

       Use this screen to select the database standard block size and process count.

    3. Character Sets Tab

       Use this screen to set the database character set value.

    4. Connection Mode Tab

       You can use this tab to select either dedicated or shared database connections to the database.

    When you have specified all the information on the Initialization Parameters screen, click Next, and the Database Storage screen is displayed.

14. If you selected a preconfigured database template, such as the General Purpose template, then Database Configuration Assistant displays the control files, data files, and redo logs on the Database Storage screen. Select the folder and the file name underneath the folder to edit the file name. However, if you selected the Custom Database template, the template without data files, then Database Configuration Assistant displays the control files, tablespaces, data files, and redo logs. To change the tablespace properties, such as the data file or the tablespace size, click the tablespaces icon to expand the object tree on the left side of the screen and click the tablespace. The tablespace property dialog box is displayed on the right side. Make the changes, and click Ok.

    After you specify all the information on the Database Storage screen, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the Creation Options screen.

15. On the Creation Options screen, select one of the following database options and click Finish.

    • Create Database: Creates the database

    • Save as a Database Template: Creates a template that records the database structure, including user-supplied inputs, initialization parameters, and so on. You can later use this template to create a database.

    • Generate Database Creation Scripts: Generates database creation scripts. Database Configuration Assistant only displays this option if you selected the Custom Database template.

    After you click Finish, Database Configuration Assistant displays a Summary dialog box.

16. Review the Summary dialog box information and click Ok to create the database.

After you complete Step 16, Database Configuration Assistant performs the following steps:

• Creates an operative Oracle RAC database and its instances

• Creates the Oracle RAC data dictionary views

• Configures the network for the cluster database

• Starts the listeners and database instances and then starts the high-availability services

6.7 Deleting an Oracle RAC Database

This section explains how to delete a Oracle RAC database by using Database Configuration Assistant. This process deletes a database and removes the initialization parameter files, instances, and Oracle net configuration of the database.

To delete a database by using Database Configuration Assistant:

1. Start Database Configuration Assistant on one of the nodes by entering the DBCA command at the DCL command prompt.

2. Select Oracle RAC and click Next.

   After you click Next, Database Configuration Assistant displays the Operations screen.

3. Select Delete a database, click Next, and Database Configuration Assistant displays the List of Cluster Databases screen.

4. If your user ID and password are not authenticated by the operating system, then the List of Cluster Databases screen displays the user name and password fields. If these fields are displayed, then enter a user ID and password that has SYSDBA privileges.

5. Select the database to delete and click Finish.

   After you click Finish, Database Configuration Assistant displays a dialog box to confirm the database and instances that Database Configuration Assistant is going to delete.

6. Click Ok to begin the deletion of the database and its associated files, services, and environment settings, or click Cancel to stop the operation.

When you click Ok, Database Configuration Assistant continues the operation and deletes all of the associated instances for this database. Database Configuration Assistant also removes the parameter files, password files, and oratab entries.

At this point, you have accomplished the following:

• Deleted the selected database from the cluster

• Deleted high-availability services that were assigned to the database

• Deleted the Oracle net configuration for the database

• Deleted the data files

6.8 Configuring Oracle RAC

The following sections describe how to use the server parameter file (SPFILE) in Oracle RAC as well as how to configure Oracle RAC once it has been installed.

6.9 Parameter Files and Oracle RAC

Oracle Database uses parameter settings in parameter files to determine how to control various database resources. You can use two types of files for parameter administration: the server parameter file (SPFILE) or one or more traditional client-side parameter files.

Oracle recommends that you administer parameters using SPFILE. If you use client-side parameter files, then Oracle Database does not preserve parameter changes made for self-tuning after shutdown.

6.10 Using Server Parameter Files in Oracle RAC

By default, Oracle Database creates the server parameter file based on one SPFILE. You can change parameter settings in the server parameter file only by using Oracle Enterprise Manager or ALTER SYSTEM SET SQL statements; the server parameter file is a binary file that you should not edit.

If you are upgrading from a previous Oracle Database release, then create and configure the server parameter file for Oracle RAC using the procedures described in the following section.

ORA_ROOT:[ORADATA.db_name]SPFILEsid.ORA

ORA_ROOT:[DBS]INIToracle_sid.ora

6.11 Parameter File Search Order in Oracle RAC

Oracle Database searches for the parameter file in the following order:

1. ORA_ROOT:[ORADATA.db_name]SPFILEsid.ORA

2. ORA_ROOT:[ORADATA.db_name]SPFILE.ORA

3. ORA_ROOT:[DBS]INITsid.ora

6.12 Upgrading to the Server Parameter File in Oracle RAC Environments

Upgrade to the server parameter file by creating and editing the server parameter file using the procedures described in this section.

• Section 6.12.1, "Server Parameter File Placement in Oracle RAC"

• Section 6.12.2, "Procedures for Upgrading to the Server Parameter File"

6.13 Server Parameter File Errors in Oracle RAC

Oracle Database reports errors that occur during server parameter file creation or while reading the file during startup. If an error occurs during a parameter update, then Oracle Database records the error in the ALERT.LOG file and ignores subsequent parameter updates to the file. If this happens, then do either of the following:

• Shut down the instance, recover the server parameter file, and restart the instance.

• Enable the instance to continue running without regard for subsequent parameter updates.

Oracle Database displays errors for parameter changes that you attempt when you incorrectly use the ALTER SYSTEM SET statement. Oracle Database does this when an error occurs while reading from or writing to the server parameter file.

6.14 Understanding the Oracle RAC Installed Configuration

The following sections describe the Oracle RAC installed configuration:

• Section 6.14.1, "Understanding the Configured Environment in Oracle RAC"

• Section 6.14.2, "Oracle Cluster Registry in Oracle RAC"

• Section 6.14.3, "OpenVMS oratab Configurations for Oracle RAC"

db_unique_name:ORACLE_HOME:N

db_name:/DISK$PROD/ORACLE10G/10202:N

6.15 Database Components Created Using Database Configuration Assistant

This section describes the database components that Database Configuration Assistant creates, which include:

• Section 6.15.1, "Tablespaces and Data Files"

• Section 6.15.2, "Control Files"

• Section 6.15.3, "Redo Log Files"

6.16 Managing Undo Tablespaces in Oracle RAC

Oracle Database stores rollback or undo information in undo tablespaces. To manage undo tablespaces, Oracle recommends that you use automatic undo management. Automatic undo management is an automated undo tablespace management mode that is easier to administer than manual undo management.

6.17 Configuring Service Registration-Related Parameters

Two key benefits of Oracle RAC are connection load balancing and failover. Oracle RAC extends the ability of single-instance Oracle Database load balancing, where connections are distributed among local dispatchers, to the balancing of connections among all instances in a cluster database. In addition, Oracle RAC provides failover by configuring multiple listeners on multiple nodes to manage client connection requests for the same database service. Connection load balancing and failover increase availability by taking advantage of the redundant resources within a cluster database. These features, however, require cross-instance registration.

Cross-instance registration in Oracle RAC occurs when the PMON process of an instance registers with the local listener and with all other listeners. Therefore, all instances in the cluster database register with all listeners running on nodes that run instances of the cluster database. This enables all listeners to manage connections across all instances for both load balancing and failover.

Cross-instance registration requires configuring the LOCAL_LISTENER and REMOTE_LISTENER initialization parameters. The LOCAL_LISTENER parameter identifies the local listener, and the REMOTE_LISTENER parameter identifies the global list of listeners. The REMOTE_LISTENER parameter is dynamic. Oracle Database changes the setting for REMOTE_LISTENER dynamically when you reconfigure the cluster database, for example, when you add or delete instances.

By default, Database Configuration Assistant configures the environment with dedicated servers. However, if you select the Shared server option on Database Configuration Assistant, then Oracle Database configures the shared server. In this case, Oracle Database uses both dedicated and shared server processing. When shared servers are configured, the DISPATCHERS parameter is specified as in the following example:

DISPATCHERS="(protocol=tcp)"

If the DISPATCHERS initialization parameter does not specify the LISTENER attribute as in the previous example, then the PMON process registers information for all dispatchers with the listeners specified by the LOCAL_LISTENER and REMOTE_LISTENER parameters.

However, when the LISTENER attribute is specified, the PMON process registers dispatcher information with the listeners specified by the LISTENER attribute. In this case, setting the LISTENER attribute overrides REMOTE_LISTENER settings for the specified dispatchers as in the following example:

DISPATCHERS="(protocol=tcp)(listener=listeners_db_name)"

6.18 Configuring the Listener File (LISTENER.ORA)

You can configure two types of listeners in the LISTENER.ORA file as described under the following headings:

• Section 6.18.1, "Local Listeners"

• Section 6.18.2, "Multiple Listeners"

• Section 6.18.3, "How Oracle Database Uses the Listener (LISTENER.ORA)"

sid.local_listener=listener_sid

listener_sid=(address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1522))

listener_node1= 
  (description= 
    (address=(protocol=ipc)(key=extproc))
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-ip)(port=1521)))
sid_list_listener_node1= 
  (sid_list= 
    (sid_desc= 
      (sid_name=plsextproc) 
      (oracle_home=disk:[oracle_home_path]) 
      (program=extproc)

6.19 Directory Server Access (LDAP.ORA File)

If you configure access to a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-compliant directory server with the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant during a Custom installation, then an LDAP.ORA file is created. The LDAP.ORA file contains the following types of information:

• Type of directory

• Location of the directory

• Administrative context from which this server can look up, create, and modify a net service name, and the database service entries

  See Also:

  Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information about directory naming configuration and directory server access configuration

6.20 Net Service Names (TNSNAMES.ORA File)

A TNSNAMES.ORA file is created on each node with net service names. A connect identifier is an identifier that maps to a connect descriptor. A connect descriptor contains the following information:

• The network route to the service, including the location of the listener through a protocol address.

• The SERVICE_NAME for an Oracle Database release 8.1 or later.

  Note:

  The SERVICE_NAME parameter you use in a connect identifier is unique because each connect identifier can map to only one SERVICE_NAME, even though it can map to multiple protocol addresses.

Database Configuration Assistant creates net service names for connections as follows:

Database Connections

Clients that connect to any instance of the database use the net service name entry for the database. This entry also enables Oracle Enterprise Manager to discover a Oracle RAC database.

A listener address is configured for each node that runs an instance of the database. The LOAD_BALANCE option causes Oracle Database to choose the address randomly. If the chosen address fails, then the FAILOVER option causes the connection request to fail over to the next address. Therefore, if an instance fails, then clients can still connect using another instance.

In the following example, db.us.acme.com is used by the client to connect to the target database, db.us.acme.com.

db.us.acme.com= 
 (description= 
  (load_balance=on)
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521)
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521) 
  (connect_data=
     (service_name=db.us.acme.com)))

When you set DB_UNIQUE_NAME by entering a global database name that is longer than eight characters, excluding DB_DOMAIN, then a net service entry similar to the following is created:

mydatabase.us.acme.com=
  (description =
     (address = (protocol = tcp)(host = node1-vip)(port = 1521))
     (address = (protocol = tcp)(host = node2-vip)(port = 1521))
  (load_balance = yes)
     (connect_data =
   (server = dedicated)
   (service_name = mydatabase.us.acme.com)
   )
   )

Instance Connections

Clients that connect to a particular instance of the database use the net service name entry for the instance. This entry, for example, enables Oracle Enterprise Manager to discover the instances in the cluster. These entries are also used to start and stop instances.

In the following example, db1.us.acme.com, is used by Oracle Enterprise Manager to connect to an instance named db1 on db1-server:

db1.us.acme.com=
 (description= 
  (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
  (connect_data= 
    (service_name=db.us.acme.com)
    (instance_name=db1)))

Remote Listeners

As discussed in Section 6.17, "Configuring Service Registration-Related Parameters", the REMOTE_LISTENER parameter identifies the global list of listeners and it is dynamic. Oracle Database changes the setting for REMOTE_LISTENER when you reconfigure the cluster database.

Whether using shared servers or dedicated servers, the list of remote listeners is supplied using the REMOTE_LISTENERS parameter, for example:

REMOTE_LISTENERS=listeners_db_unique_name

This enables the instance to register with remote listeners on the other nodes; listeners_db_unique_name is resolved through a naming method such as a TNSNAMES.ORA file.

In the following example, listeners_db.us.acme.com is resolved to a list of listeners available on the nodes on which the cluster database has instances:

listeners_db.us.acme.com= 
(address_list=
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521)))

The instance uses this list to determine the addresses of the remote listeners with which to register its information.

Nondefault Listeners

As discussed in Section 6.18.1, "Local Listeners" and Section 6.18.2, "Multiple Listeners", the LOCAL_LISTENER parameter is set in the INITsid.ORA file if a nondefault listener is configured. For example:

sid.local_listener=listener_sid

Where listener_sid is resolved to a listener address through a naming method such as a TNSNAMES.ORA file.

In the following example, listener_db1.us.acme.com is resolved to the nondefault listener address:

listener_db1.us.acme.com= 
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1522))

Services Entries

When you configure high-availability services using Database Configuration Assistant Services screen, then Database Configuration Assistant creates net service entries similar to the following. The three services in the following examples, db_svc1, db_svc2, and db_svc3, have TAF policies of NONE, BASIC and PRECONNECT, respectively.

db_svc1.us.acme.com= 
  (description = 
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521)) 
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521))
    (load_balance=yes) 
    (connect_data=
        (server = dedicated) 
        (service_name = db_svc1.us.acme.com) 
  )
  )

db_svc2.us.acme.com= 
  (description=
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521)) 
    (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521)) 
    (load_balance=yes) 
    (connect_data =
        (server = dedicated)
        (service_name=db_svc2.us.acme.com)
        (failover_mode =
        (type=select)
        (method=basic)
           (retries=180)
           (delay=5)
     )
     )
     )

db_svc3.us.acme.com=
    (description=
      (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
      (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521))
      (load_balance=yes)
      (connect_data=
        (server=dedicated)
        (service_name=db_svc3.us.acme.com)
        (failover_mode=
        (backup=db_svc3_preconnect.us.acme.com)
        (type=select)
        (method=preconnect)
        (retries=180)
        (delay=5)
   )
   )
   )

When a service has a TAF policy of PRECONNECT, then a service_name_preconnect net service entry is also created as in the following example:

db_svc3_preconnect.us.acme.com =
  (description =
    (address = (protocol = tcp)(host = node1-vip)(port = 1521))
    (address = (protocol = tcp)(host = node2-vip)(port = 1521))
    (load_balance = yes)
    (connect_data =
      (server = dedicated)
      (service_name = db_svc3_preconnect.us.amce.com)
      (failover_mode =
        (backup = db_svc3.us.acme.com)
        (type = select)
        (method = basic)
        (retries = 180)
        (delay = 5)
      )
    )
  )

External Procedures

An entry for connections to external procedures. This enables an Oracle Database to connect to external procedures.

extproc_connection_data.us.acme.com= 
 (description= 
  (address_list= 
    (address=(protocol=ipc)(key=extproc0))
  (connect_data= 
    (sid=plsextproc)))

db.us.acme.com= 
 (description= 
  (load_balance=on)
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521))
  (connect_data=
     (service_name=db.us.acme.com)))

db1.us.acme.com=
 (description=
  (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
  (connect_data= 
    (service_name=db.us.acme.com)
    (instance_name=db1)))

db2.us.acme.com= 
 (description= 
  (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521))
  (connect_data= 
    (service_name=db.us.acme.com)
    (instance_name=db2)))

listeners_db.us.acme.com= 
(address_list=
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node1-vip)(port=1521))
   (address=(protocol=tcp)(host=node2-vip)(port=1521)))

extproc_connection_data.us.acme.com= 
 (description=
  (address_list=
    (address=(protocol=ipc)(key=extproc)))
  (connect_data=
    (sid=plsextproc)
    (presentation=RO)))

6.21 Profile (SQLNET.ORA File)

The SQLNET.ORA file is automatically configured with:

• The computer domain

  This domain is automatically appended to any unqualified net service name. For example, if the default domain is set to us.acme.com, then Oracle Database resolves db in the connect string CONNECT scott/tiger@db as: db.us.acme.com.

• A naming method the server uses to resolve a name to a connect descriptor

The following is a sample SQLNET.ORA file created during a preconfigured database configuration install:

names.default_domain=us.acme.com
names.directory_path=(tnsnames, ldap)