What's New in the Oracle Database 10g Administrator's Guide?

This section describes new features of Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) and provides pointers to additional information. New features information from previous releases is retained to help users upgrading to the current release.

For a summary of all new features for Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1), see Oracle Database New Features. This section describes the new features discussed in the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features

These are the features introduced in the current release.

• Server manageability features are introduced in "Server Manageability".

• Automatic system task maintenance is discussed in Chapter 23, " Managing Automatic System Tasks Using the Maintenance Window".

• Bigfile tablespaces

  Oracle Database lets you create single-file tablespaces, called bigfile tablespaces, which can contain up to 2³² or 4G blocks. The benefits of bigfile tablespaces are the following:

  • They significantly enhance the storage capacity of an Oracle Database.

  • They reduce the number of datafiles needed for an ultra large database.

  • They simplify database management by providing datafile transparency.

  See"Supporting Bigfile Tablespaces During Database Creation" and "Bigfile Tablespaces".

• Multiple default temporary tablespace support for SQL operations

  You can create a temporary tablespace group that can be specifically assigned to users in the same way that a single temporary tablespace is assigned. A tablespace group can also be specified as the default temporary tablespace for the database.

  See "Multiple Temporary Tablespaces: Using Tablespace Groups".

• Rename tablespace

  The RENAME TO clause of the ALTER TABLESPACE statement enables you to rename tablespaces.

  See "Renaming Tablespaces".

• Cross-platform transportable tablespaces

  Tablespaces can be transported from one platform to another. The RMAN CONVERT command is used to do the conversion.

  See "Transporting Tablespaces Between Databases: A Procedure and Example".

• SYSAUX tablespace

  Oracle Database creates an auxiliary system tablespace called SYSAUX at database creation. This tablespace can be used by various Oracle Database features and products, rather than saving their data in separate tablespaces or in the SYSTEM tablespace.

  See "Creating the SYSAUX Tablespace" and "Managing the SYSAUX Tablespace".

• Automatic Storage Management

  Automatic Storage Management provides a logical volume manager integrated with Oracle Database, eliminating the need for you to purchase a third-party product. Oracle Database creates Oracle-managed files within user-defined disk groups that provide redundancy and striping.

  See Chapter 12, " Using Automatic Storage Management".

• Drop database

  The new DROP DATABASE statement lets you delete a database and all of its files that are listed in the control file.

  See "Dropping a Database".

• Oracle Flashback Transaction Query

  This feature introduces the FLASHBACK_TRANSACTION_QUERY view, which lets you examine changes to the database at the transaction level. As a result, you can diagnose problems, perform analysis, and audit transactions.

  See "Auditing Table Changes Using Flashback Transaction Query".

• Oracle Flashback Version Query

  Using undo data stored in the database, you can now view multiple changes to one or more rows, along with the metadata for the changes.

  See "Flashback Features and Undo Space".

• Oracle Flashback Table

  A new FLASHBACK TABLE statement lets you quickly recover a table to a point in time in the past without restoring a backup.

  See "Recovering Tables Using the Flashback Table Feature".

• Oracle Flashback Drop

  Oracle Database now provides a way to restore accidentally dropped tables. When tables are dropped, they are placed into a recycle bin from which they can later be recovered.

  See "Using Flashback Drop and Managing the Recycle Bin".

• Enhanced online redefinition

  New procedures have been added to the DBMS_REDEFINITION package that automate the cloning of dependent objects such as indexes, triggers, privileges, and constraints. Some restrictions have been lifted, allowing more types of tables to be redefined.

  See "Redefining Tables Online ".

• Automatic statistics collection

  You no longer need to specify the MONITORING keyword in the CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE statement to enable the automatic collecting of statistics for a table. Statistics are now collected automatically as controlled by the STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter. Automatic statistics collection is the default.

  See "Automatically Collecting Statistics on Tables".

• Scheduler

  Oracle Database provides advanced scheduling capabilities through the database Scheduler.

  See Part VI, " Database Resource Management and Task Scheduling".

• Database Resource Manager enhancement

  The following are enhancements to the Database Resource Manager:

  • Adaptive consumer group mapping

    You can configure the Database Resource Manager to automatically assign consumer groups to sessions by providing mappings between session attributes and consumer groups.

    See "Automatically Assigning Resource Consumer Groups to Sessions"

  • New plan directives

    New resource plan directives let you set idle timeouts, cancel long-running SQL statements, terminate long-running sessions, and restore sessions to their original consumer group at the end of a top call.

    See "Specifying Resource Plan Directives ".

  • New policies

    Two new resource manager policies have also been added: the RATIO CPU allocation policy and the RUN_TO_COMPLETION scheduling policy.

• New initialization parameter RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT

  The RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT initialization parameter lets you enable resumable space allocation and set a timeout period across all sessions.

  See "Enabling and Disabling Resumable Space Allocation".

• Application services

  Tuning by "service and SQL" augments tuning by "session and SQL" in the majority of systems where all sessions are anonymous and shared.

  See "Defining Application Services for Oracle Database 10g " and Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for more information.

• Simplified recovery through resetlogs

  The format for archive log file naming, as specified by the ARCHIVE_LOG_FORMAT initialization parameter, now includes the resetlogs ID, which allows for easier recovery of a database from a previous backup.

  See "Specifying Archive Destinations".

• Automated shared server configuration and simplified shared server configuration parameters.

  You no longer need to preconfigure initialization parameters for shared server. Parameters can be configured dynamically, and most parameters are now limiting parameters to control resources. The recommended method for enabling shared server now is by setting SHARED_SERVERS initialization parameter, rather than the DISPATCHERS initialization parameter.

  See "Configuring Oracle Database for Shared Server".

• Consolidation of session-specific trace output

  For shared server sessions, the trcsess command-line utility consolidates in one place the trace pertaining to a user session.

  See "Reading the Trace File for Shared Server Sessions".

• Block remote access to restricted instances

  Remote access to a restricted instance through an Oracle Net listener is blocked.

  See "Restricting Access to an Instance at Startup".

• Dynamic SGA enhancements

  The JAVA_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter is now dynamic. There is a new STREAMS_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter, which is also dynamic. A new view, V$SGAINFO, provides a consolidated and concise summary of SGA information.

  See "Managing the System Global Area (SGA) ".

• Irreversible database compatibility

  In previous releases you were allowed to lower the compatibility setting for your database. Now, when you advance the compatibility of the database with the COMPATIBLE initialization parameter, you can no longer start the database using a lower compatibility setting, except by doing a point-in-time recovery to a time before the compatibility was advanced.

  See "The COMPATIBLE Initialization Parameter and Irreversible Compatibility".

• Flash recovery area

  You can create a flash recovery area in your database where Oracle Database can store and manage files related to backup and recovery.

  See "Specifying a Flash Recovery Area".

• Sorted hash clusters

  Sorted hash clusters are new data structures that allow faster retrieval of data for applications where data is consumed in the order in which it was inserted.

  See "Creating a Sorted Hash Cluster".

• Copying Files Using the Database Server

  You do not have to use the operating system to copy database files. You can use the DBMS_FILE_TRANSFER package to copy files.

  See "Copying Files Using the Database Server"

• Deprecation of MAXTRANS physical attribute parameter

  The MAXTRANS physical attribute parameter for database objects has been deprecated. Oracle Database now automatically allows up to 255 concurrent update transactions for any data block, depending on the available space in the block.

  See "Specifying the INITRANS Parameter".

• Deprecation of use of rollback segments (manual undo management mode)

  Manual undo management mode has been deprecated and is no longer documented in this book. Use an undo tablespace and automatic undo management instead.

  See Chapter 10, " Managing the Undo Tablespace".

• Deprecation of the UNDO_SUPPRESS_ERRORS initialization parameter

  When operating in automatic undo management mode, the database now ignored any manual undo management mode SQL statements instead of returning error messages.

  See "Overview of Automatic Undo Management".

• Deprecation of the PARALLEL_AUTOMATIC_TUNING initialization parameter

  Oracle Database provides defaults for the parallel execution initialization parameters that are adequate and tuned for most situations. The PARALLEL_AUTOMATIC_TUNING initialization parameter is now redundant and has been deprecated.

• Removal of LogMiner chapter

  The chapter on LogMiner has been moved to Oracle Database Utilities

• Removal of job queues chapter on using the DBMS_JOB package

  Using the DBMS_JOB package to submit jobs has been replaced by Scheduler functionality.

  See Part VI, " Database Resource Management and Task Scheduling".