Oracle Network Products Troubleshooting Guide

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Client Status Monitor

Providing Troubleshooting Information
How to Run the Client Status Monitor
Graphical Mode for UNIX
Graphical Mode for MS Windows
Client Status Monitor in Command Line Mode

The Client Status Monitor is a useful tool to tell you about the configuration of the client machine. The Client Status Monitor has two main functions:

to provide troubleshooting information

If you run into any problems making connections to Oracle services from your client, you can use the Client Status Monitor to give you information to troubleshoot the problem.

The Client Status Monitor can generate a form suitable for faxing to Oracle Customer Support. It includes all the information about your client that the Client Status Monitor displays.

to provide access to the SQLNET.ORA Editor

The Client Status Monitor gives you access to the SQLNET.ORA Editor, a tool that enables you to edit selected optional parameters in the SQLNET.ORA file for your client.

Providing Troubleshooting Information

Connection problems may be caused by a number of things. Perhaps a needed Oracle product is not installed. Perhaps the necessary configuration files are missing, or are not in the correct directories. Perhaps your environment variables are incorrectly set. You can choose to look at the following aspects of your environment:

environment Information (not available in MS Windows version of Client Status Monitor)

installed Oracle products

paths and names of all SQL*Net configuration files

environment variables

general SQL*Net properties

General properties include what version of SQL*Net (TNS) you are running, and the names and paths of some critical files. The level of tracing currently turned on is also shown. You can change the trace level by editing the SQLNET.ORA file.

Protocol Adapters available

Client-server connections are made using SQL*Net over a transport layer protocol. A protocol adapter is needed as an interface between the protocol and SQL*Net. The Client Status Monitor enables you to see what protocol adapters are available.

Secure Network Services installed and selected

Secure Network Services enables several encryption, checksumming, and authentication services. The Client Status Monitor enables you to see what security services are installed and selected on the client.

name resolution services installed and their priority

There are several different ways that a service's name can be resolved to its network address. You can see what name-address resolution alternatives are available to the client, and also see in what order they are used.

service name resolution

The Client Status Monitor enables you to see the address of the service name you are trying to reach. It also enables you to attempt a connection to that service and to trace the connection attempt.

Contacting Oracle Customer Support

The Client Status Monitor includes a form suitable for faxing to Oracle Customer Support. If you cannot resolve your problem yourself, the fax report form provides information generated by the Client Status Monitor in a convenient format to send to Oracle Customer Support. Sending the fax report form can speed the resolution of your problem by providing answers to many of the support analyst's questions before they are even asked.

Editing Individual SQLNET.ORA Files

The Client Status Monitor enables you to access the SQLNET.ORA Editor to change some of the optional parameters in the SQLNET.ORA file. You might want to do this to change the trace level or the name and location of the trace file, to change the TNSPING trace level, or to make other changes. The Client Status Monitor's SQLNET.ORA Editor is an efficient way to make changes that affect only the individual client in whose SQLNET.ORA file the changes are made.

Note: There may be more than one SQLNET.ORA file available, a system-level and a user-level file. If both are available, the values for the variables in the user-level file take priority over those in the system-level file.

How to Run the Client Status Monitor

The Client Status Monitor is installed on every client as part of SQL*Net release 2.3. The details of the installation may vary from platform to platform. For further information, see the Oracle operating system-specific manual for your platform.

On most machines, start the Client Status Monitor by entering the following at the command line of your client machine:

csm

On clients running MS Windows, start the Client Status Monitor by double-clicking on the Client Status Monitor icon.

The Client Status Monitor can be run in command line mode or with a graphical user interface. There is one graphical user interface available for UNIX workstations and another for machines running MS Windows. These interfaces offer similar functionality, but their organization is slightly different.

The rest of this chapter describes the Client Status Monitor from the point of view of each of the three interfaces:

graphical mode for UNIX

graphical mode for MS Windows

command line mode

Graphical Mode for UNIX

You can reach all the features of the Client Status Monitor through the main window.

Main Window

In graphical mode, the main window of the Client Status Monitor looks like that shown in Figure 4 - 1. From this window you can select the information or operations you wish.

Figure 4 - 1. Client Status Monitor - Main Window

Most of the windows display information about your system and are read-only.

Getting Help

Select the Help menu to get help at any time. From this menu you can choose to display the man page for the Client Status Monitor, or you can bring up the Help page. The Help page can stay open on your screen while you are using the Client Status Monitor, and it includes hypertext links that make it easy to find information about the various functions of the tool.

Client Status Monitor Menu Bar

The following sections describe the choices in the Client Status Monitor Menu Bar.

File Menu

There are two choices in this menu.

Print Report -- You can choose to print a page to fax to Oracle Customer Support that will assist the support analysts in helping you solve your connectivity problems. The Fax Report includes several categories of information about your system. You can see the information displayed by selecting the other menu items in the Status Monitor Window.

Note: Before printing the Fax Report to send to Oracle Customer Support, be sure that the Support Information has been entered.

Quit -- You can choose to close the Client Status Monitor by choosing Quit.

Support Info Menu

From this menu, you can display an editable window called CSI Editor (Customer Support Information Editor). Use this window to provide identifying information to give to Oracle Customer Support. An example is shown in Figure 4 - 2. In most cases, the system administrator who installs SQL*Net on the client machine will have provided this information. If no information appears in this window, your system administrator should be able to provide it.

Figure 4 - 2. Identifying Information for Oracle Customer Support

Enter the following information in the appropriate fields.

From

Name of person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Phone

Phone number of the person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Fax Number

Fax number of the person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Customer Support ID

Identifying number that authorizes you to get help from Oracle Customer Support

Subject

Optional field in which to explain the problem

Comment

Optional field for additional information

To save the information in this window, select OK.

To print the Fax Report, which includes the information in this window as well as all the client information from the Client Status Monitor, select Print Report.

To cancel your entries on this window, select Cancel.

Environment Menu

This menu enables you to display information about your environment. All the windows you can select are read-only and cannot be edited.

Installed Products

Figure 4 - 3

Figure 4 - 3. Installed Products Window

SQL*Net Configuration Files

Figure 4 - 4

Figure 4 - 4. SQL*Net Configuration Files

Select one of the files and select View to display it. In this window, select the Print button to print the file to your default printer. Select OK to close the window.

UNIX Variables

Figure 4 - 5

Figure 4 - 5. Environmental Variables

Tools Menu

From this menu you can choose to resolve a service name and test a connection from the client to a server, and you can edit either the user-level or the system-level SQLNET.ORA file. The values for the parameters in the user SQLNET.ORA file override the values in the system SQLNET.ORA file. Note that you may not have write permission for the system-level SQLNET.ORA file.

Test Connection

Select this choice to display a window in which you can resolve a service name to its network address, and from which you can attempt a connection to that service. An example is shown in Figure 4 - 6.

Figure 4 - 6. Resolve Service Name

To use this window, enter the service name of the database you wish to reach, and select the Resolve button. The names resolution method appears in the Source field, and the address appears in the Resolved To field.

Note: The names resolution method should match the first method shown in the names resolution path field in the Name Resolution Services window.

You can see if a connection is possible to this service by running the TNSPING utility. To do so, select the Connect button. A connection will be attempted.

If you have selected a TNSPING trace level, the connection attempt will be traced. You can view the trace file by selecting the View button.

Note: You cannot turn on tracing and set the TNSPING trace level on this screen. Use the SQLNET.ORA Editor to set the trace level.

If you are missing required files, a message telling you so appears at the bottom of the window. An example of this is shown in Figure 4 - 6.

SQLNET.ORA Editor

From the Tools menu you can open the SQLNET.ORA Editor, from which you can edit many of the optional parameters in the SQLNET.ORA file. You can edit the user or the system file. Parameters in the user SQLNET.ORA file override those in the system SQLNET.ORA file.

The SQLNET.ORA files contain parameters that affect the behavior of the client. If created by Oracle Network Manager, the SQLNET.ORA file has values that are the same for all clients of a particular client profile, or client type. Once the SQLNET.ORA files are distributed to individual clients, however, they can be modified to reflect individual needs. The SQLNET.ORA Editor provides a convenient way to do this.

Note: Not all parameters in SQLNET.ORA can be modified using this editor. Specifically, not all parameters related to Authentication in Secure Network Services are available to this tool in this release. Also, you cannot use this tool to set preferred Names Servers.

The main SQLNET.ORA Editor window looks like that shown in Figure 4 - 7.

Figure 4 - 7. SQLNET.ORA Editor

Each of the buttons in the SQLNET.ORA Editor window brings up a window in which you can edit a number of parameters.

Attention: Be careful when using this tool. Many client parameters work in conjunction with server parameters which you cannot see with this tool. Do not change any parameters unless you are sure of the result.

There are three buttons at the bottom of each of the SQLNET.ORA Editor windows.

Select OK to save your changes into the SQLNET.ORA file.

Select CANCEL to lose your changes and leave the window.

Select HELP to get online information about the parameters in the window.

General

Select General to display a window in which you can edit a variety of optional parameters for the client.

Client LOG File Name

You can change the existing name for the log file in this field. In most operating systems, the log filename is automatically appended with the suffix .LOG. You do not need to enter that suffix in the field.

Client LOG Directory

You can change the existing directory to which the client log file is written in this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Client Registration

Enter an identifier for the client machine. This identifier will be passed to the listener with any connection request and included in the Audit Trail. The identifier can be any alphanumeric string up to 128 characters. A typical identifier might be a department name.

Default Domain

The default domain is the domain to which most client connection requests are directed. In a hierarchical name space, the default domain should be the domain in which the most frequently contacted servers reside.

You can toggle the following features ON and OFF by selecting the buttons next to their names.

Automatic IPC

Select this button if you want the client to try an IPC (internal) connection before trying other protocols. The default is for Automatic IPC to be ON.

Use Dedicated Server

Select this button if you want to make a connection to a dedicated server rather than to use a multi-threaded server.

DISABLE Out of Band Breaks (OOB)

Select this button if you want to disable out-of-band breaks.

For further information about these optional parameters, refer to the appropriate sections in Understanding SQL*Net.

Tracing

Select Tracing to display a window in which you can modify the parameters that affect tracing on the client. This window is shown in Figure 4 - 8.

Figure 4 - 8. Tracing Parameters

Client Trace Level

Select a trace level from the scrolling list. Unless you are troubleshooting a particular problem, the trace level should be OFF. Other choices are USER, for a moderately detailed trace report, and ADMIN, for more extensive trace information.

Note: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility on can impact performance.

Client Trace File Name

Change the existing name for the trace file in this field. In most operating systems, the trace filename is automatically appended with the suffix .TRC. You do not need to enter that suffix in the field.

Client Trace Directory

Change the existing directory to which the client trace file is written in this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

TNSPING Trace Level

Trace the behavior of the TNSPING utility by selecting a trace level from the scrolling list. Unless you are troubleshooting a particular problem, the trace level should be OFF. Other choices are USER, for a moderately detailed trace report, and ADMIN, for more extensive trace information.

Note: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility on can impact performance.

TNSPING Trace Directory

Override the default location of the TNSPING trace file using this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Encryption

Select Encryption to change any of the Secure Network Services encryption parameters for the client. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 9.

Figure 4 - 9. Client Encryption Parameters

Client Seed

Enter a new random number to act as a seed for encryption of client messages in this field. Enter a string of between 16 and 70 random characters.

Client Level

Change the level of encryption the client requests using this field. Choices in the pop-up list are Accepted, Rejected, Requested, and Required. (Whether encryption is implemented in a client-server connection is determined by the level requested by both the client and the server.)

Client Type

Select the type of encryption from the choices available in the pop-up list. (Do not select a type unless it has been installed. Even if a type appears in the list, it may not be installed in your system.)

Checksumming

elect Checksumming to change any of the Secure Network Services checksum parameters for the client. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 10.

Figure 4 - 10. Client Checksum Parameters

Client Level

Choose the client's requested level of checksumming from the pop-up list. Choices are Accepted, Rejected, Requested, and Required. (Whether checksumming is implemented in a client-server connection is determined by the level requested by both the client and the server.)

Client Type

Select the type of checksumming from the choices available in the pop-up list. In this release, only MD5 is available. (Do not select a type unless it has been installed.)

Authentication

Select Authentication to change the authentication service the client requests. Do not select a service that has not been installed. Select one or more authentication services from the pop-up list. If more than one is selected, the first one that is also on the server's list is the one that is used. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 11.

Figure 4 - 11. Client Authentication Parameter

Note: If you select CYBERSAFE or KERBEROS5, you may need to modify other parameters that are not accessible from the SQLNET.ORA Editor. Both these authentication adapters require other parameters to be set. If they are not already set in the SQLNET.ORA file, you must set them through Oracle Network Manager, or by using a text editor.

Name Resolution

Select Name Resolution to change the preferred method for resolving service names to addresses. The order in which the name resolution services appear in this list determines the order in which they are tried. For example, if you select ONAMES and then TNSNAMES, the client will request name resolution from Oracle Names rather than the SQL*Net configuration file TNSNAMES.ORA. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 12.

Figure 4 - 12. Name Resolution Parameter

Client Status Monitor Read-Only Display Windows

Below the Menu Bar in the Client Status Monitor is an array of six buttons. Each button brings up a window that displays the current values for parameters in the SQLNET.ORA file.

Note: These windows are read-only. To change any of the values, use the SQLNET.ORA Editor.

General

Select this button to display some of the client SQL*Net properties set in the SQLNET.ORA file. An example is shown in Figure 4 - 13.

Figure 4 - 13. General Client Properties

To view any of the files listed in this window, select the file and select View. A scrollable window displaying the file appears. To print the file, select Print from the display window.

Network Protocol Adapters

Select this button to display the Oracle protocol adapters available on your client machine. Figure 4 - 14 shows an example of this window. The window is read-only.

Figure 4 - 14. Oracle Protocol Adapters

Checksumming Services

Select this button to display the Checksumming adapters available in Secure Network Services, and to show the specific services selected. Figure 4 - 15 shows an example of this window.

Figure 4 - 15. Checksumming Services

The fields in this window display the following information:

In the first field, all checksumming adapters available in Secure Network Services are listed.

In the Client Level field, the level of checksumming requested is listed.

In the Client Type field, the client's preference, if any, for a checksumming service is listed.

Encryption Services

Select this button to display the encryption services available in Secure Network Services, and the specific services selected. Figure 4 - 16 shows an example of this window.

Figure 4 - 16. Client Encryption Parameters

In the first field, all encryption services available in Secure Network Services are listed.

In the Client Seed field, the random number used as a starting point for the encryption algorithm is shown.

In the Client Level field, the level of encryption requested is listed.

In the Client Type field, the client's preference, if any, for encryption services is listed.

The client and the server to which it connects must have compatible encryption and checksum requirements. For example, if the client requires encryption and the server refuses encryption, the connection request will be rejected. Similarly, if the client has only RC4_40 encryption selected, and the server has only DES40, the connection request will fail.

Authentication Services

Select this button to display the authentication services that are part of Secure Network Services, and to show which ones are selected by the client. Figure 4 - 17 shows an example of this window.

Figure 4 - 17. Client Authentication

In the first field, all Authentication Adapters available in Secure Network Services are listed.

In the Authentication Selected field, all Authentication Adapters selected by the client are shown.

For further information about Secure Network Services, see the Secure Network Services Administrator's Guide. For information about setting the Secure Network Services parameters using Oracle Network Manager, see Chapter 5 in the Oracle Network Manager Administrator's Guide.

Name Resolution Services

Select this button to display the name resolution services available on your client. The name resolution services are used in the order listed in the Name Resolution Path field. For example, of the services listed in the example shown in Figure 4 - 18, the TNSNAMES.ORA file is the first method used to resolve a service name to an address, and Oracle Names is the second. If they are installed, native naming adapters such as NIS or DCE/CDS would be listed too.

Figure 4 - 18. Name Resolution Services

Graphical Mode for MS Windows

When you click on the Client Status Monitor icon, a window like that shown in Figure 4 - 19 appears:

Figure 4 - 19. Initial Client Status Monitor Window

This window includes a menu bar from which you can access other windows, as described in the following section, and a page that displays the names and paths to important client files.

Client Status Monitor Menu Bar

The following sections described the choices on the Menu Bar.

File Menu

This menu has three choices:

Print Setup --Displays a window in which you can set defaults for printing from the Client Status Monitor.

Generate Report -- Displays a window from which you can choose to view, save to file, or print a report about the client. See the section "Generate Report" later in this chapter.

Exit -- Select Exit to close the Client Status Monitor.

Tools Menu

This menu provides access to two tools:

SQLNET.ORA Editor -- Displays the SQLNET.ORA Editor, from which you can edit many of the optional parameters in the SQLNET.ORA configuration file. For detailed information, see "SQLNET.ORA Editor" later in this chapter.

Test Connection -- Displays a window from which you can resolve a service name of an Oracle database service, and trace a connection attempt. See the section "Test a Connection" later in this chapter.

View Menu

This menu has three choices which influence the appearance of the Client Status Monitor window:

Toolbar -- Hide or Display the icon tool bar. Default is for the Tool Bar to be displayed.

Secure Network Services Details --Hide or display the folder tabs for Secure Network Services (encryption, checksumming, and authentication). Default is that they be hidden.

Native Naming Details --Hide or display the folder tab for name resolution services. Default is that it be hidden.

Help Menu

This menu has three choices:

Index -- Displays the Table of Contents of the Help file. From the Table of Contents you can navigate to help on various topics pertaining to the Client Status Monitor.

Using Help -- Displays a file that explains how to use Microsoft Help.

About Client Status Monitor -- Displays a window with information about this release of the Client Status Monitor.

Icon Tool Bar

Immediately below the Menu Bar is a set of icons. You can use these icons as alternatives to selecting items from the Menu Bar.

Note: You can choose whether or not to display the icons by selecting Toolbar from the View menu.

Figure 4 - 20. Toolbar

The icons and their functions are as follows:

Show/Hide SNS Pages

Equivalent to selecting Secure Network Services Details from the View menu

Show/Hide Naming page

Equivalent to selecting Native Naming Details from the View menu

Test Connection

Equivalent to selecting Test Connection from the Tools menu

Generate Report

Equivalent to selecting Generate Report from the File menu

SQLNET.ORA Editor

Equivalent to selecting SQLNET.ORA Editor from the Tools menu

Help

Equivalent to selecting Index from the Help menu

The following sections describe the Test Connection, Generate Report, and SQLNET.ORA Editor options in detail.

Test Connection

Selecting this icon or menu item displays a window in which you can resolve a service name to its network address, and from which you can trace an attempted connection to that service. An example is shown in Figure 4 - 21.

Figure 4 - 21. Test Connection Window

To use this window, enter the service name of the database you wish to reach, and select Resolve Service. The names resolution method will appear in the Resolved From field, and the address will appear in the Resolved To field.

Note: The names resolution method should match the first one shown in the names resolution path field in the Name Resolution Services window.

You can see if a connection is possible to this service by selecting Test Connection. If you select Trace Attempt you can view the trace file that results.

Note: You cannot turn on tracing and set the trace level from this window. Use the SQLNET.ORA Editor to set the trace level.

If a trace and log file are created, you can view them by selecting View, and you can print them from the Viewer window.

Generate Report

Selecting this icon or menu item displays a windowshown in Figure 4 - 22., in which you can choose to display, save to file, or print a detailed report of the status of your client.

Figure 4 - 23. Report Window

If you select Display, a Viewer window displays all the information that appears separately in the read-only client information pages.

If you select File, a window appears in which you can select a file name and location. The default name is CLSTATUS.RPT, and the default location is the CSM directory.

Note that if you select File, copies of the client configuration, log and trace files are included in the file by default. You may choose not to include them by deselecting them in the Generate Report window.

If you select Printer, a window like that shown in Figure 4 - 24 appears.

Figure 4 - 24. Initial Print Page

Note that if you select Printer, copies of the client configuration, log and trace files are printed by default. You may choose not to print them by deselecting them in the Generate Report window.

Figure 4 - 25

Figure 4 - 25. Print with Fax Header Sheet

Enter the following information in the appropriate empty fields.

Person to contact within Oracle Customer Support, if known

Fax Number

Fax number of the branch of Oracle Customer Support for your area

From

Name of person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Support ID

Identifying number that authorizes you to get help from Oracle Customer Support

Phone Number

Phone number of the person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Fax Number

Fax number of the person at your location who is the liaison with Oracle Customer Support

Comment

Optional field in which to explain the problem

To print the report, which includes the information in this window as well as all the client information from the Client Status Monitor, select OK.

To close this window, select Cancel.

SQLNET.ORA Editor

You can open the SQLNET.ORA Editor on an MS Windows machine directly by double-clicking in the SQLNET.ORA Editor icon. You can also access the SQLNET.ORA Editor from the Client Status Monitor. Either way, when you open the SQLNET.ORA Editor you are asked whether you want to edit the system level SQLNET.ORA file, the local (user level) SQLNET.ORA file, or another SQLNET.ORA file. If you select Other, a window appears in which you select the location of the file you want to edit.

Values in the local (user) SQLNET.ORA file override those in the system SQLNET.ORA file.

Note: You might not have write permission for the system SQLNET.ORA file.

Like the Client Status Monitor, the SQLNET.ORA Editor has a number of pages, which are displayed when you select their folder tabs.

There are four buttons at the bottom of the SQLNET.ORA Editor window:

Select OK to save your changes to the SQLNET.ORA file.

Select CANCEL to lose your changes and leave the window.

The APPLY button is not usable. If you want to apply your entries, select OK.

Select HELP to get online information about the SQLNET.ORA Editor.

General Page

The first page that displays is the General Page, as shown in Figure 4 - 26.

Figure 4 - 26. SQLNET.ORA Editor General Page

Client LOG File Name

Change the existing name for the log file in this field. In most operating systems, the log filename is automatically appended with the suffix .LOG. You do not need to enter that suffix in the field.

Client LOG Directory

Change the existing directory to which the client log file is written in this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Client Registration

Default Domain

Enter a default domain in this field. The default domain is the domain to which most client connection requests are directed. In a hierarchical name space, the default domain should be the domain in which the most frequently contacted servers reside.

You can toggle the following features ON and OFF by selecting the buttons next to their names.

Automatic IPC

Select this button if you want the client to try an IPC (internal) connection before trying other protocols. The default is for Automatic IPC to be ON.

Use Dedicated Server

Select this button if you want to make a connection to a dedicated server rather than to use a multi-threaded server.

DISABLE Out of Band Breaks (OOB)

Select this button if you want to disable out-of-band breaks.

For further information about these optional parameters, please refer to the appropriate sections in Understanding SQL*Net.

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

Tracing

Select Tracing to display the page in which you can modify the parameters that affect tracing on the client. The page looks like that shown in Figure 4 - 27.

Figure 4 - 27. SQLNET.ORA Editor Tracing Page

Client Trace Unique

Select this box to toggle the value of this parameter to ON. When set to ON, this parameter will give each client trace file a different identifying number so that repeated traces do not overwrite one another.

Client Trace Level

NOTE: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility on can impact performance.

Client Trace File Name

Change the existing name for the trace file in this field. In most operating systems, the trace file name is automatically appended with the suffix .TRC. You do not need to enter that suffix in the field.

Client Trace Directory

Change the existing directory to which the client trace file is written in this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

TNSPING Trace Level

Ttrace the behavior of the TNSPING utility by selecting a trace level from the scrolling list. Unless you are troubleshooting a particular problem, the trace level should be OFF. Other choices are USER, for a moderately detailed trace report, and ADMIN, for more extensive trace information.

Note: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility ON can impact performance.

TNSPING Trace Directory

Change the location of the TNSPING trace file from the platform-specific default by entering the desired location in this field. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

Encryption

Select Encryption to change any of the Secure Network Services encryption parameters for the client. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 28.

Figure 4 - 28. SQLNET.ORA Editor Encryption Page

Client Seed

Enter a new random number to act as a seed for encryption of client messages. Enter a string of between 16 and 70 random characters.

Client Level

Change the level of encryption the client requests. Choices in the pop-up list are Accepted, Rejected, Requested, and Required. (Whether encryption is implemented in a client-server connection is determined by the level requested by both the client and the server.)

Client Type

Select the type of encryption desired from the choices in the Available list box on the left. (Do not select a type unless it has been installed. Even if a type appears in the list, it may not be installed in your system.) You can select more than one type. Remove a type from the Client Type list box by selecting it and selecting Remove.

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

Checksumming

Select Checksumming to change any of the Secure Network Services checksum parameters for the client. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 29.

Figure 4 - 29. SQLNET.ORA Editor Checksumming Page

Client Level

Change the client's requested level of checksumming. Choices in the pop-up list are Accepted, Rejected, Requested, and Required. (Whether checksumming is implemented in a client-server connection is determined by the level requested by both the client and the server.)

Client Type

Select the type of checksumming from the choices available in the Available list box. In this release, only MD5 is available. (Do not select a type unless it has been installed.)

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

Authentication

Select Authentication to change the authentication service the client requests. Do not select a service that has not been installed. Select one or more authentication services from the Available list box. If more than one is selected, the first one that is also on the server's list is the one that is used. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 30.

Figure 4 - 30. SQLNET.ORA Editor Authentication Page

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

Name Resolution

Select Name Resolution to change the preferred method for resolving service names to addresses. The order in which the name resolution services appear in th Ordering of Path list determines the order in which they are tried. For example, if you select ONAMES and then TNSNAMES, the client will first request names resolution from Oracle Names rather than the SQL*Net configuration file TNSNAMES.ORA. An example of this window is shown in Figure 4 - 12.

Figure 4 - 31. SQLNET.ORA Editor Name Resolution Page

To change the order of the names services selected in the Ordering of Names list box, select the service at the top of the list and select Remove, then select it from the Available list and select Add. It will reappear in the Ordering of Path list at the bottom.

Press OK to apply your changes; press Cancel to cancel them.

The default, if no selections are made, is for TNSNAMES to be tried first.

Client Information Pages

Beneath the Menu Bar and Tool Bar, information about the client is displayed. Related sets of information appear on different pages, which you access by selecting the folder tabs. These pages are read-only. If you want to change any of the values on these pages, use the SQLNET.ORA Editor or Oracle Network Manager to do so.

General Page

The General page, which is shown in Figure 4 - 19, lists the names and paths of several important client files. You can see any of the files by selecting View, and you can print any file by selecting Print from the Viewer window that appears. For example, Figure 4 - 32 shows the Viewer window for a SQLNET.ORA file.

Figure 4 - 32. Viewer Window for a SQLNET.ORA File

The General page also shows any client registration information that appears in the SQLNET.ORA file, and shows the current trace level.

Note: The trace level and client registration shown on the General page are those in the local (user) SQLNET.ORA file, if one is available. The values in the local SQLNET.ORA file override the values in the system SQLNET.ORA file.

Protocol Adapters

If you select the Protocol Adapters folder tab, the window shown in Figure 4 - 33 appears. This page displays all Oracle protocol adapters installed on the client machine. It also shows the location and version of the DLLs used by the protocol adapter you highlight.

Figure 4 - 33. Protocol Adapter Page

Checksumming Services

The Checksumming page, shown in Figure 4 - 34, displays the checksum services installed and selected.

Figure 4 - 34. Checksumming Page

Authentication Services

The Authentication page, shown in Figure 4 - 35, displays the authentication services installed and selected.

Figure 4 - 35. Authentication Page

The highlighted service is described briefly, and the DLL used by the highlighted service is displayed.

Encryption Services

The Encryption page, shown in Figure 4 - 36, shows the encryption services installed and selected.

Figure 4 - 36. Encryption Page

The highlighted service is described briefly in the Description area.

Name Resolution Services

The Name Resolution page, shown in Figure 4 - 37, displays the default order of the name resolution services installed on the client, and, in the second column, the order in which they are used. (The order is determined by a parameter in the SQLNET.ORA file.)

Figure 4 - 37. Name Resolution Page

The highlighted service is described in the Description area.

Client Status Monitor in Command Line Mode

To enter the Client Status Monitor in command line mode, enter CSM. The prompt changes to Status Monitor> to show that the Client Status Monitor has started.

Note: Command line mode is not appropriate to use on machines running MS Windows. Use the graphical interface for Windows, described earlier.

Overview

To get an overview of the commands available, at the status monitor prompt enter HELP:

status monitor> help

The following display appears:

SHOW ALL                   SHOW NAME_RESOLUTION_SERVICES  SHOW GENERAL
SHOW INSTALLED_PRODUCTS    SHOW NETWORK_PROTOCOL_ADAPTERS SHOW CSI_INFORMATION
SHOW SYSTEM_SQLNET_OPTIONS SHOW SECURE_NETWORK_SERVICES   SHOW FILE_PATHS
SHOW USER_SQLNET_OPTIONS   SHOW UNIXENV                   SHOW MAN_PAGE
 
SET USE_DEDICATED_SERVER   SET TRACE_DIRECTORY_CLIENT     SET DISABLE_OOB
SET TRACE_FILE_CLIENT      SET SQLNET.CLIENT_REGISTRATION SET AUTOMATIC_IPC
SET TNSPING.TRACE_LEVEL    SET TNSPING.TRACE_DIRECTORY    SET TRACE_LEVEL_CLIENT
 
SET CSI_ID                 SET CSI_PHONE                  SET CSI_FAX
SET CSI_FROM               SET CSI_SUBJECT                SET CSI_COMMENT
 
RESOLVE_SERVICE_NAME       ATTEMPT_CONNECT                PRINT_REPORT
HELP                       QUIT

These commands enable you to show or set the same information as you can using the graphical version of the tool.

Note: Within the Client Status Monitor, case is not significant. For example, you can enter either HELP or help.

For example, if you want to display the general information for your client, enter the following:

Status Monitor> SHOW GENERAL

A display like the following appears on your screen:

       *** General ***
 
TNS for Unix: Version 2.1.6.1.0 Production
system config file =>  
user config file   =>  
log file           => /home/jshaw/sqlnet.log 
client trace file  => 
registration       => 
client tracelevel  => OFF

To set parameters, enter the value you wish to set following the command name.

For example, to set the name of the contact for Oracle Customer Support to be JShaw, enter the following:

Status Monitor> SET CSI_CONTACT JSHAW

If you want to edit the SQLNET.ORA file to turn tracing ON, enter the following:

Status Monitor> SET TRACE_LEVEL_CLIENT ADMIN

Using Client Status Monitor for Individual Commands

From the command line, you can open the Client Status Monitor and issue a command on the same line. For example, you can open the Client Status Monitor and ask for a display of general information about the client by entering the following command at the operating system prompt:

> CSM SHOW GENERAL

After the Client Status Monitor has carried out the command, the operating system prompt returns.

Display the Client Environment

To display information about your environment, you can use the following commands:

Status Monitor> SHOW INSTALLED_PRODUCTS

The Client Status Monitor displays a list of all the Oracle products on this machine.

Status Monitor> SHOW FILE_PATHS

The Client Status Monitor displays the paths of the SQL*Net configuration files on the client machine.

Status Monitor> SHOW UNIXENV

The Client Status Monitor displays the environment variables for your operating system.

Status Monitor> SHOW NAME_RESOLUTION_SERVICES

The Client Status Monitor displays the name resolution services available to the client, and shows the order in which they are used.

Status Monitor> SHOW NETWORK_PROTOCOL_ADAPTERS

The Client Status Monitor displays the protocol adapters installed on the client.

Status Monitor> SHOW SECURE_NETWORK_SERVICES

The Client Status Monitor displays the security services available to the client. These services include encryption, checksumming, and authentication.

Status Monitor> SHOW ALL

The Client Status Monitor displays all the the information available through the individual commands listed in this section.

Contact Oracle Customer Support

The Client Status Monitor can print a fax sheet containing information for you to provide to Oracle Customer Support. Most of the information on the fax page is similar to the result of the SHOW ALL command. However, you must provide identifying information for Oracle Customer Support. To do this in character mode, enter the following commands:

Status Monitor> SET CSI_ID customer_ID

Status Monitor> SET CSI_PHONE phone_number_of_local_contact

Status Monitor> SET CSI_FAX fax_number_of_local_contact

Status Monitor> SET CSI_CONTACT name_of_local_contact

After providing the identifying information, print the fax page by entering the following command:

Status Monitor> PRINT_FAXPAGE

Edit SQLNET.ORA

In command line mode you can change some parameters in the user level SQLNET.ORA file. The commands to use and the values available to use with them follow:

Status Monitor> SET USE_DEDICATED_SERVER ON|OFF

Use this command to make a connection to a dedicated server rather than to use a multi-threaded server.

Status Monitor> SET DISABLE_OOB ON|OFF

Use this command to disable (or enable) out-of-band breaks. The default is for out-of-band breaks to be enabled.

Status Monitor> SET TRACE_LEVEL_CLIENT OFF|USER|ADMIN

Unless you are troubleshooting a particular problem, the trace level should be OFF. Other choices are USER, for a moderately detailed trace report, and ADMIN, for more extensive trace information.

Note: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility set to USER or ADMIN can impact performance.

Status Monitor> SET TRACE_FILE_CLIENT file_name

You can change the name for the trace file with this command. In most operating systems, the trace file name is automatically appended with the suffix .TRC. You do not need to enter that suffix in the field.

Status Monitor> SET TRACE_DIRECTORY_CLIENT directory_path

You can change the directory to which the client trace file is written with this command. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Status Monitor> SET TNSPING.TRACE_LEVEL OFF|USER|ADMIN

Unless you are troubleshooting a particular problem, the trace level should be OFF. Other choices are USER, for a moderately detailed trace report, and ADMIN, for more extensive trace information.

Note: After troubleshooting your connection problem, turn trace level back to OFF. Leaving the trace facility set to USER or ADMIN can impact performance.

Status Monitor> SET TNSPING.TRACE_DIRECTORY directory_path

You can change the directory to which the TNSPING trace file is written with this command. Be sure that you have write permission to the directory you select.

Status Monitor> SET AUTOMATIC_IPC ON|OFF

Use this command to change whether or not the client should use an IPC connection before trying other protocols. The default is for IPC to be set to ON

Status Monitor> SET SQLNET.CLIENT_REGISTRATION unique_identifier

This command sets a unique identifier for this client machine. This identifier will be passed to the listener with any connection request and will be included in the Audit Trail. The identifier can be any alphanumeric string up to 128 characters long.

Resolve Service Name

You can find out the address to which a service name is resolved by entering the following command:

Status Monitor> RESOLVE_SERVICE_NAME service_name

The Client Status Monitor displays the address.

The Client Status Monitor will also attempt a connection using the TNSPING utility if you enter the following command:

Status Monitor> ATTEMPT_CONNECT service_name

The TNSPING utility will return a message stating whether the connection attempt was successful, and how long it took.

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