4.7. Exam Essentials

Know the database administrator's responsibilities and how they relate to network administration. Be able to list the responsibilities of the database administrator with respect to network administration. Can you define the basic network configuration choices and summarize the strengths and weaknesses of these options?

Understand what Oracle Net is and the functionality it provides. Be able to list the five categories of functionality that Oracle Net provides and explain the functionality that falls into each category. Also understand what functionality the Oracle Shared Server and Oracle Connection Manager options provide. In addition, be able to define Oracle Advanced Security and know when to use it.

Be familiar with Oracle's Internet connection options. Have a basic understanding of the connection options that Oracle provides from the Internet. This includes connections made via an application server and connections made directly to the Oracle server from a web browser.

Be able to define the main responsibilities of the Oracle listener. To fully understand the function of the Oracle listener, you should understand how the listener responds to client connection requests. In addition, know the difference between bequeath connections and redirect connections, and know under what circumstances the listener will use each. Also, be able to outline the steps involved in using each of these connection types.

Be able to define the listener.ora file and the ways in which the file is created. To understand the purpose of this file, know its default contents and how to change the file using the various Oracle tools. In addition, be able to define the sections of the file and know the definitions of the optional parameters it contains. Also understand the structure of the listener.ora file when one or more listeners are configured.

Understand how to use the lsnrctl command-line utility. To start up and shut down the listener, know how to use the lsnrctl command-line utility. Be able to explain the command-line options for the lsnrctl utility, such as services, status, and reload. When using this utility, also know the options available to you, and be able to define the various set commands.

Understand the concepts of static and dynamic service registration. Be able to define the difference between static service registration and dynamic service registration and know the advantages of using dynamic service registration over static service registration. Also, be aware of the situations in which you have to use static service registration. Lastly, be familiar with the init.ora parameters that you will need to set in order to enable dynamic service registration.

Be able to diagnose and correct network connectivity problems. Know the types of serverside errors that can occur and how to diagnose and correct these problems. Be able to define the difference between logging and tracing and know how to use the types of packet information that you may find in a trace file.

Define the Oracle client-side names resolution options. Be able to define the Oracle clientside names resolution options. Know in which situations to use localnaming, Oracle Easy Connect Naming, hostnaming, and OID.

Define the prerequisites for using the hostnaming method. Know how to configure this method using the Oracle Net Manager, and understand the connection process when you use this method. You also need to be able to define the parameter that you may have to add to the listener.ora file. In addition, understand the HOSTS file.

Use the Oracle tools to configure the client. Be able to use various Oracle tools to configure the sqlnet.ora file on the client. Understand the meaning of the NAMES.DEFAULT_DOMAIN and NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH parameters within the sqlnet.ora file.

Define the localnaming method. In addition to knowing the meaning of the localnaming method and what it does, understand how to use the Oracle Net Manager to configure this names resolution method. Understand the primary file used in the localnaming method, the tnsnames.ora file.

Define the contents and structure of the tnsnames.ora file. Be able to describe the tnsnames.ora file and the various sections of the file and to explain how the file is used. Understand the contents of the tnsnames.ora file so that you can identify syntax problems with the structure of entries in the file. Be familiar with the common locations of this file and how to set the TNS_ADMIN parameter to override the default location of this and the other client-side network files.

Define and correct client-side errors. Understand the types of client-side connection errors that can occur. Be able to define these errors and understand the situations in which a client might encounter them.