Preface

The complete name for the product described in this book is Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2) for IBM z/OS (OS/390). To maintain readability and conciseness in this document, the product is also referred to as Oracle Database for z/OS and the platform as z/OS.

Audience

This guide is intended for those who are responsible for performing tasks such as:

Running Oracle Database tools or utilities, such as SQL*Plus, Export, Import, or SQL*Loader on z/OS
Designing or developing Oracle Database applications using Oracle Precompilers or the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) on z/OS
Running Oracle Database application programs on z/OS

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Command Syntax

UNIX command syntax appears in monospace font. The dollar character ($), number sign (#), or percent character (%) are UNIX command prompts. Do not enter them as part of the command. The following command syntax conventions are used in this guide:

Convention	Description
backslash \	A backslash is the UNIX command continuation character. It is used in command examples that are too long to fit on a single line. Enter the command as displayed (with a backslash) or enter it on a single line without a backslash: dd if=/dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s6 of=/dev/rst0 bs=10b count=10000
braces { }	Braces indicate required items: .DEFINE {macro1}
brackets [ ]	Brackets indicate optional items: cvtcrt termname [outfile]
ellipses ...	Ellipses indicate an arbitrary number of similar items: CHKVAL fieldname value1 value2 ... valueN
italics	Italic type indicates a variable. Substitute a value for the variable: library_name
vertical line \|	A vertical line indicates a choice within braces or brackets: FILE filesize [K\|M]

Accessing Documentation

The documentation for this release includes platform-specific documentation and generic product documentation.

Platform-Specific Documentation

Platform-specific documentation includes information about installing and using Oracle products on particular platforms. The platform-specific documentation for this product is available in both Adobe portable document format (PDF) and HTML format on the product disc. To access the platform-specific documentation on disc:

Use a Web browser to open the welcome.htm file in the top-level directory of the disc.
For DVD only, select the appropriate product link.
Select the Documentation tab.

If you prefer paper documentation, then open and print the PDF files.

Product Documentation

Product documentation includes information about configuring, using, or administering Oracle products on any platform. The product documentation for Oracle Database 10g products is available in both HTML and PDF formats in the following locations:

In the doc subdirectory on the Oracle Database 10g DVD

To access the documentation from the DVD, use a Web browser to view the welcome.htm file in the top-level directory on the disc, then select the Oracle Database 10g Documentation Library link.
Online on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html

Typographic Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic	Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
`monospace`	Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.