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Oracle8 Database Specifications for Windows NT

Oracle8 Enterprise Edition uses initialization parameters to enable various features of the database every time an instance is started.

Specific topics discussed are:

Initialization Parameter File Overview

An initialization parameter file is an ASCII text file containing parameters. By changing the parameters and values in an initialization file, you can specify, for example:

the amount of memory the database uses
whether to archive filled online redo logs
which control files currently exist for the database

Every database instance has a corresponding initialization parameter file and ORACLE_SID registry parameter that points to the system identifier (SID) for the instance.

The initialization parameter file name takes the form INITSID.ORA, where SID is the name of the database instance. For example, the initialization parameter file for the first starter database on your computer is named INITORCL.ORA. For each subsequent starter database installed on the same computer, the last letter of ORCL is replaced by a number and automatically incremented (that is for an initialization parameter file for a second starter database, the SID is ORC1, for a third starter database, the SID is ORC2, and so on).

A single instance might also have several initialization parameter files, each having some differences that affect system performance.

Additional Information:

See Oracle8 Reference for a complete list and descriptions of all initialization parameters.

Location of the Initialization Parameter File

By default, Oracle8 Enterprise Edition uses the initialization parameter files located in ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE, unless you specify a different initialization file with the PFILE option at database startup.

Editing the Initialization Parameter File

To customize Oracle8 database functions, you may need to edit the initialization parameter files. Use any ASCII text editor to modify the file.

Sample File

A sample file called INITSEED.ORA is located in the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE directory. If you want to use this file as part of database creation:

Rename the file INITSID.ORA where SID is the system identifier of the database instance you want to create.
Edit this file to reflect the correct location of your database files and the name of your database.

If you installed a starter database, the initialization parameter file INITSID.ORA used by the starter database is also located in ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE. You can use either INITSEED.ORA or INITSID.ORA as a model for creating a new Oracle8 database initialization parameter file.

The annotated, sample initialization parameter file contains alternative values for the initialization parameters. These values and the annotations are preceded by comment signs (#), which prevent them from being processed. To activate a particular parameter, remove the preceding # sign. When you no longer want to use a particular parameter, edit the initialization parameter file to add a comment sign.

For example, several initialization parameters are specified with three different values to create small, medium, or large System Global Areas (SGAs), respectively. The parameter that creates a small SGA is active in the following example:

  db_block_buffers = 200                 # SMALL 

# db_block_buffers = 550                 # MEDIUM 

# db_block_buffers = 3200                # LARGE

To create a medium-sized SGA, comment out the small parameter definition and activate the medium parameter definition. Edit the initialization parameter file as follows:

# db_block_buffers = 200                 # SMALL 

  db_block_buffers = 550                 # MEDIUM 

# db_block_buffers = 3200                # LARGE

Initialization Parameters

Oracle8 Reference includes descriptions of all initialization parameters and instructions for setting and displaying their values. The following table describes initialization parameters and default values for Oracle8 Enterprise Edition for Windows NT.

Initialization Parameter Name Default Value Range of Values

AUDIT_TRAIL

NONE

NONE (FALSE),
DB (TRUE), OS

BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST

%RDBMSnn%\TRACE\

Any valid directory

COMPATIBLE

8.0.0.0.0

Default release to current release

COMMIT_POINT_STRENGTH

1

0 - 255

CONTROL_FILES

%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\ CTL1%ORACLE_SID%.ORA

Any valid path and filename

DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS

200

200 to 3200

DB_BLOCK_SIZE

2048

512 - 16384¹

DB_FILES

1024

65,536 files²

DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_ READ_ COUNT³

8

1 - 31⁴

DB_FILE_SIMULTANEOUS_ WRITES

4

1 - 24

DB_NAME

ORCx

Any valid database name limited to a maximum of eight characters.

DISTRIBUTED_TRANSACTIONS

5 * TRANSACTIONS

0 - TRANSACTIONS

DML_LOCKS

300

20 to unlimited

LOG_ARCHIVE_BUFFER_ SIZE

127

1 - 127

LOG_ARCHIVE_BUFFERS

4

1 - 8

LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST

%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\ARCHIVE

Any valid directory

LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT
"%%ORACLE_SID%%T%TS%S.ARC"
A valid filename format

LOG_ARCHIVE_START

None

TRUE or FALSE

LOG_CHECKPOINT_ INTERVAL

10,000

2 - Unlimited

LOG_FILES

255

2 - 255

LOG_SMALL_ENTRY_MAX_ SIZE

80

0 - Unlimited

MAX_DUMP_FILE_SIZE

10240

0 to 4,000,000

MTS_DISPATCHERS

Unspecified⁵

User specific

MTS_MAX_DISPATCHERS

5

User specific

MTS_MAX_SERVERS

20

User specific

MTS_SERVERS

0

User specific

MTS_SERVICE

SID

SID

NLS_LANGUAGE

AMERICAN

Any valid language

NLS_SORT

(Language dependent)

(Language dependent)

NLS_TERRITORY

AMERICA

Any valid territory

OPEN_CURSORS

50

1 - Unlimited

OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX

OPS$

Any character string

PROCESSES

59

3 - Unlimited

REMOTE_LOGIN_ PASSWORDFILE

SHARED

SHARED, EXCLUSIVE, NONE

SNAPSHOT_REFRESH_PROCESSES

0

0 to 10

SEQUENCE_CACHE_ENTRIES

10

10 to 32000

SHARED_POOL_SIZE

11,534,336

300 KB - Unlimited

SORT_AREA_SIZE

65536

0 - Unlimited

SORT_READ_FAC

20

0 - Unlimited

SORT_SPACEMAP_SIZES

512

0 - Unlimited

TEXT_ENABLE

TRUE

TRUE or FALSE

TEMPORARY_TABLE_LOCKS

69

0 - Unlimited

TIMED_STATISTICS

FALSE

TRUE or FALSE

TRANSACTIONS_PER_ROLLBACK_SEGMENT

11

1 - 255

USER_DUMP_DEST

%RDBMSnn%\TRACE

Any valid directory

¹ The Range of Values for DB_BLOCK_SIZE on a 7.3.x database is 512 to 8192.
² See section, "Calculating Database Limits" for more information.
³ DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT is used to determine the number of blocks that are read in one batch. For example, if DB_BLOCK_SIZE is equal to 8 KB and DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT is equal to 16, then the amount of I/O data that is read at once is (8 * 16) 128 KB. Ensure that the I/O data size you define does not exceed the MAX_IO_SIZE limit of 1 MB for release 8.0.5. MAX_IO_SIZE is not a configurable parameter. Note that if the values you set for DB_BLOCK_SIZE and DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT exceed 1 MB, you do not receive an error message, but the I/O data size value defaults to 1 MB. See the chapter "Initialization Parameters" in Oracle8 Reference for more information on DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT and MAX_IO_SIZE.
⁴ Depends on value for DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter.
⁵ To use MTS, manually set this parameter to the following value: "(PRO=TCP)".

Initialization Parameter Name	Default Value	Range of Values
AUDIT_TRAIL	NONE	NONE (FALSE), DB (TRUE), OS
BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST	%RDBMSnn%\TRACE\	Any valid directory
COMPATIBLE	8.0.0.0.0	Default release to current release
COMMIT_POINT_STRENGTH	1	0 - 255
CONTROL_FILES	%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\ CTL1%ORACLE_SID%.ORA	Any valid path and filename
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS	200	200 to 3200
DB_BLOCK_SIZE	2048	512 - 16384¹
DB_FILES	1024	65,536 files²
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_ READ_ COUNT³	8	1 - 31⁴
DB_FILE_SIMULTANEOUS_ WRITES	4	1 - 24
DB_NAME	ORCx	Any valid database name limited to a maximum of eight characters.
DISTRIBUTED_TRANSACTIONS	5 * TRANSACTIONS	0 - TRANSACTIONS
DML_LOCKS	300	20 to unlimited
LOG_ARCHIVE_BUFFER_ SIZE	127	1 - 127
LOG_ARCHIVE_BUFFERS	4	1 - 8
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST	%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\ARCHIVE	Any valid directory
LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT	"%%ORACLE_SID%%T%TS%S.ARC"	A valid filename format
LOG_ARCHIVE_START	None	TRUE or FALSE
LOG_CHECKPOINT_ INTERVAL	10,000	2 - Unlimited
LOG_FILES	255	2 - 255
LOG_SMALL_ENTRY_MAX_ SIZE	80	0 - Unlimited
MAX_DUMP_FILE_SIZE	10240	0 to 4,000,000
MTS_DISPATCHERS	Unspecified⁵	User specific
MTS_MAX_DISPATCHERS	5	User specific
MTS_MAX_SERVERS	20	User specific
MTS_SERVERS	0	User specific
MTS_SERVICE	SID	SID
NLS_LANGUAGE	AMERICAN	Any valid language
NLS_SORT	(Language dependent)	(Language dependent)
NLS_TERRITORY	AMERICA	Any valid territory
OPEN_CURSORS	50	1 - Unlimited
OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX	OPS$	Any character string
PROCESSES	59	3 - Unlimited
REMOTE_LOGIN_ PASSWORDFILE	SHARED	SHARED, EXCLUSIVE, NONE
SNAPSHOT_REFRESH_PROCESSES	0	0 to 10
SEQUENCE_CACHE_ENTRIES	10	10 to 32000
SHARED_POOL_SIZE	11,534,336	300 KB - Unlimited
SORT_AREA_SIZE	65536	0 - Unlimited
SORT_READ_FAC	20	0 - Unlimited
SORT_SPACEMAP_SIZES	512	0 - Unlimited
TEXT_ENABLE	TRUE	TRUE or FALSE
TEMPORARY_TABLE_LOCKS	69	0 - Unlimited
TIMED_STATISTICS	FALSE	TRUE or FALSE
TRANSACTIONS_PER_ROLLBACK_SEGMENT	11	1 - 255
USER_DUMP_DEST	%RDBMSnn%\TRACE	Any valid directory

Initialization Parameters Without Windows NT-Specific Values

Oracle8 Reference describes the default values for many initialization parameters as being operating system-specific. Parameters with Windows NT-operating system specific settings are described in the previous section. However, not all the parameters that Oracle8 Reference describes as having operating system-specific values affect Windows NT. In these cases, Windows NT uses either the default value set in the Oracle8 kernel or does not use the parameter. This table describes these initialization parameters:

Parameter Description

COMPATIBLE_NO_RECOVERY

Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value).

CPU_COUNT

Oracle8 automatically sets value to number of CPUs available for your Oracle instance.

HI_SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS

Not applicable to Windows NT.

SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS

Not applicable to Windows NT.

LARGE_POOL_SIZE

Uses maximum value of at least 2 GB.

LOG_BUFFER

Starter database uses value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value). The Custom option of the Oracle Database Assistant enables you to customize the value for this parameter.

ORACLE_TRACE_COLLECTION_PATH

Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)

ORACLE_TRACE_FACILITY_NAME

Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)

ORACLE_TRACE_FACILITY_PATH

Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)

SPIN_COUNT

Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)

Parameter	Description
COMPATIBLE_NO_RECOVERY	Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value).
CPU_COUNT	Oracle8 automatically sets value to number of CPUs available for your Oracle instance.
HI_SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS	Not applicable to Windows NT.
SHARED_MEMORY_ADDRESS	Not applicable to Windows NT.
LARGE_POOL_SIZE	Uses maximum value of at least 2 GB.
LOG_BUFFER	Starter database uses value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value). The Custom option of the Oracle Database Assistant enables you to customize the value for this parameter.
ORACLE_TRACE_COLLECTION_PATH	Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)
ORACLE_TRACE_FACILITY_NAME	Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)
ORACLE_TRACE_FACILITY_PATH	Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)
SPIN_COUNT	Uses default value set in Oracle8 kernel (no Windows NT-specific value)

Displaying Initialization Parameter Values

Windows NT-specific parameter values can be viewed by using an ASCII editor to open the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE\INITSID.ORA file. To display all parameter values (whether set in the INITSID.ORA file or the Oracle8 kernel), enter the following command at the Server Manager command prompt:

SVRMGR> SHOW PARAMETER PARAMETER_NAME

where PARAMETER_NAME is the name of a specific initialization parameter.

The value for this parameter, whether defined in the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE \INITSID.ORA file or the Oracle8 kernel, displays on-screen.

Database Initialization Parameters

Check the following initialization parameters when creating a new database. They cannot be modified after you have created the database. See Chapter 9, "Creating a Database" for details on creating a new database, including the part of the procedure when you modify these parameters.

Parameter Description

CHARACTER SET¹

Specifies the database National Language Support (NLS) character set to use. This parameter can be set only when you create the database.

DB_BLOCK_SIZE

Specifies the size in bytes of Oracle database blocks.

DB_NAME

Specifies the name of the database to be created. The database name is a string of eight characters or less. You cannot change the name of a database.

¹ Not an initialization parameter, but rather a clause in the CREATE DATABASE statement. See Chapter 9, "Creating a Database" for an example of using this clause.

Parameter	Description
CHARACTER SET¹	Specifies the database National Language Support (NLS) character set to use. This parameter can be set only when you create the database.
DB_BLOCK_SIZE	Specifies the size in bytes of Oracle database blocks.
DB_NAME	Specifies the name of the database to be created. The database name is a string of eight characters or less. You cannot change the name of a database.

Calculating Database Limits

Use the size guidelines in the following table to calculate Oracle8 database limits using the equations given in Oracle8 Administrator's Guide.

Type Size

Maximum block size

16,384 bytes (K)

Maximum blocks per file

4,194,304 million blocks

Maximum possible file size with 16 K blocks

64 Gigabytes (GB)
(4,194,304 * 16 K) / 1024 / 1024 = 64 GB

Maximum number of files per database (depends on block size):

2 K blocks

20,000 files

4 K blocks

40,000 files

8 K blocks

65,536 files

Maximum file size for a FAT file

4 GB

Maximum file size in NTFS

16 Exabytes (EB)

Maximum database size

65,536 * 64 GB equals approximately 4 Petabytes (PB)

Shadow Process Memory:

Release 8.0.5

233 KB

Release 8.0.4

254 KB

Type	Size
Maximum block size	16,384 bytes (K)
Maximum blocks per file	4,194,304 million blocks
Maximum possible file size with 16 K blocks	64 Gigabytes (GB) (4,194,304 * 16 K) / 1024 / 1024 = 64 GB
Maximum number of files per database (depends on block size):
2 K blocks	20,000 files
4 K blocks	40,000 files
8 K blocks	65,536 files
Maximum file size for a FAT file	4 GB
Maximum file size in NTFS	16 Exabytes (EB)
Maximum database size	65,536 * 64 GB equals approximately 4 Petabytes (PB)
Shadow Process Memory:
Release 8.0.5	233 KB
Release 8.0.4	254 KB

Calculating Index Size

Use the size guidelines in the following table to calculate the space required by an index using the equations given in Oracle8 Administrator's Guide.

Type Size

Fixed header size

113 bytes

Variable transaction header

24*INITRANS value for the index

Entry header

5 bytes

Type	Size
Fixed header size	113 bytes
Variable transaction header	24*INITRANS value for the index
Entry header	5 bytes

Setting Resource Costs

You can limit user access to database resources by assigning costs to each resource. Define resource costs through user profiles. Oracle limits database usage and instance resources to whatever is defined in the user's profile. Follow the information and recommendations in the chapter "Managing Users and Resources" of Oracle8 Administrator's Guide to set resource costs on Windows NT.