Net8 Release Notes
Release 3 (8.1.7.0.0)

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Copyright (C) Oracle Corporation 2000
 
Contributing Authors: 
Pierre Baudin, David Chen, Toby Close, Harvey Eneman, Stanley Guan,
Peter Povinec, Rob Shapiro, Debbie Steiner, Jose Wong, and Norman Woo

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Installation

3.0 Deprecated Parameters

4.0 Net8 Known Problems

5.0 Net8 Install Known Problems

6.0 Documentation Errata

***************************************************************************************** 

1.0 Introduction
================

This README file supplements information found in the following documents:
A76933-01 - Net8 Administrator's Guide, Release 8.1.6
A85457-01 - Oracle8i Documentation Addendum

Net8 is the foundation of Oracle's family of networking products, 
providing the industry's most comprehensive, enterprise wide data 
access solution for the heterogeneous distributed computing 
environments. It enables both client/server and server/server 
communications across any network. 

Net8 offers the following benefits:

     Network scalability and performance 
     Network load balancing 
     Integrated administration with graphical configuration tools 
     Configuration flexibility 
     Protocol interdependence 
     Comprehensive platform support 
     Multiple protocol support on a single computer 
     Comprehensive tracing and diagnostics

2.0 Installation
=================

A Net8 8.1.7 listener is required for an Oracle8i 8.1.7 database.  
Previous versions of the listener are not supported for use with 
an Oracle8i 8.1.7 database.  However, it is possible to use a 
Net8 8.1.7 listener with previous releases of the Oracle8 database. 

See the installation guide for your operating system for more 
information about client and server installations.

3.0 Obsolete and Deprecated Net8 Parameters
===========================================

Oracle Corporation recommends that the following parameters 
not be used anymore:

names.ora Parameters
--------------------
The following parameters will not be recognized any more. 
Domain and topology checkpoint file parameters have been 
replaced by the NAMES.REGION_CHECKPOINT_FILE parameter.

1. NAMES.USE_PLUG_AND_PLAY 
2. NAMES.DOMAIN_CHECKPOINT_FILE
3. NAMES.TOPOLOGY_CHECKPOINT_FILE


Multi-Threaded Server (MTS) Parameters
--------------------------------------
The following two parameters are not supported:

1. MTS_RATE_LOG_SIZE 
2. MTS_RATE_SCALE

The following three parameters are deprecated and may not be supported
in future releases:

1. MTS_SERVICE
2. MTS_LISTENER_ADDRESS
3. MTS_MULTIPLE_LISTENERS

The SERVICE and LISTENER attributes in the MTS_DISPATCHERS parameter should 
be used to set the service name and listener for MTS dispatchers instead. 

4.0 Net8 Known Problems
=======================

Directory Naming
----------------
1. Directory naming supports the following directories:
   - Oracle Internet Directory
   - Microsoft's Active Directory
   - Novell Directory Services (NDS) version 8

2. Net8 directory naming is not supported by JDBC Thin Drivers. See
the following URL for patch updates:

http://www.oracle.com/java/jdbc/

Net8 Limitations
----------------
1. Unlike Net8 release 8.0, the listener is not configured by default to
allow the use of host naming. To configure the listener to allow the 
use of host naming, refer to Chapter 6, "Configuring Naming Methods,"
in the Net8 Administrator's Guide. 

2. A pre-existing tnsnames.ora file may rely upon certain entries
in the sqlnet.ora file, such as the NAMES.DEFAULT_DOMAIN parameter.
If tnsnames.ora file entries rely on sqlnet.ora file entries, you must
use the pre-existing sqlnet.ora file.

3. The Trace Assistant does not interpret all Oracle8 and Oracle8i 
messages in trace files. 

4. The TRCROUTE utility, which enables administrators to discover what 
route a connection takes from a client to a server, does not work if 
there is more than one hop to the server (as is the case with 
Oracle Connection Manager).

5. Net8 OPEN, which enables developers to applications that interface with Net8, is not being shipped in this release. 

6. Oracle Connection Manager does not support the LU6.2 protocol.

7. On Solaris, SPX protocol support can be installed, but it has not
not been certified by Oracle Corporation. This protocol support uses
the same libraries that were used in release 8.0. 

8. On Solaris, the LU6.2 protocol is not working.

9. The commands SET LOG_FILE and SET TRC_FILE enable the log and 
trace files, respectively, to which the listener program writes, 
to be modified dynamically while the listener program is running. 
The listener program can be configured to append and/or overwrite 
logging and tracing information to any operating system file that 
can be written by the Oracle owner, such as an alert file or a 
database file, and thereby corrupt an Oracle database and potentially
introduce malicious code into the operating system.

A new parameter, ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_listener_name, has 
been introduced into listener.ora to enable a database administrator
to restrict run-time administration of the listener. 
Setting ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_listener_name=on prevents 
the vulnerability from being exploited by disabling the run-time 
modification of parameters in listener.ora. That is, the listener
will refuse to accept SET commands that alter its parameters and 
attempting to issue a SET command will result in the generation of 
an error message. To change any of the parameters in listener.ora, 
including ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_listener_name itself, the 
listener.ora file needs to be edited manually and its parameters
need to be reloaded manually (with the Listener Control utility's 
RELOAD command) for the new changes to take effect without 
explicitly stopping and restarting the listener. 
Operating system access to the protected Oracle account 
owner directories and files is required to edit listener.ora. 
Note that the Oracle account owner directories and files must be 
protected in the operating system by setting the access control 
permissions on them.

ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_listener_name=off is the default value when the 
listener is installed in order to maintain current customer 
environments and backward compatibility. There is no change in the 
run-time behavior of the listener program or in syntax of the 
SET commands in this mode of operation. Oracle Corporation recommends
establishing the listener password in this mode of operation.

[Bug Reference: 1361722]

10. In this release, all Oracle Advanced Security encryption algorithms 
and encryption key lengths are available for use by 
Oracle customers worldwide.

Net8 Assistant and Net8 Configuration Assistant Limitations
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. When configuring directory access with the Net8 Configuration
Assistant, it is not possible to specify administrative contexts
that use multi-byte characters. 
[Reference Bug 1102675].

2. The Net8 Assistant does not display all entries 
stored in a tnsnames.ora file or in a LDAP-compliant directory
server. Only entries that are net service names display. A
net service names must contain a complete connect descriptor, 
including description, address, and connect data information. 

The following example shows a net service name called 
"sales" that contains listener address information and
connection information to a database named "sales.us.acme.com". 
This information displays in Net8 Assistant.

sales= 
(DESCRIPTION= 
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales-server)(PORT=1521))
  (CONNECT_DATA=
    (SERVICE_NAME=sales.us.acme.com))

Some entries are created by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant
that only contain address information. The following example shows 
an entry which is not a net service name, but rather a named address. 
The named address of "sales" only contains listener address 
information. This named address does not display in Net8 Assistant, 
but can still be used to resolve the "sales" alias to a list of
listener addresses. Named addresses are used mainly to alias non-default
local listeners or remote listeners. 

sales= 
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales1-server)(PORT=1521))
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales2-server)(PORT=1521))

See Also: Chapter 7, "Configuring the Listener," in the Net8 
Administrator's Guide for further information about configuring a 
listener that uses a non-default address.

3. The Connection Type for a database service or a net service name
entry stored in a directory cannot be altered with the Net8 
Assistant. The Connection Type will always be set to 
Database Default. 
[Bug Reference: 1111589]

4. Net8 Assistant displays release 8.1.6 instead of release 8.1.7 in
the About Net8 Assistant dialog box in Greek and Russian languages. 

5. Before deleting a listener's configuration using either Net8
Assistant or Net8 Configuration Assistant, ensure the listener
is stopped. 

6. In addition to deleting an Oracle Names server from the 
Oracle Names Servers folder in the Net8 Assistant, you must manually 
delete Oracle Names server entries in the names.ora files and the 
ckp*.ora files.

5.0 Net8 Install Known Problems
===============================
The Oracle Universal Installer expects the libraries for the
LU6.2 protocol to be in the /opt/SUNWappc directory. If the libraries
are in a different directory, create a link
from that directory to /opt/SUNWappc. 

For example, if the libraries are located in 
/opt/SUNWlu62, then a link to /opt/SUNWappc
can be created with the following syntax:
 
ln -s /opt/SUNWlu62 /opt/SUNWappc 

 
6.0 Documentation Errata
==================================================================
The Net8 Administrator's Guide contains the following undocumented 
features and errors:

1. The integrity and encryption algorithms values for the following
sqlnet.ora file parameters reflect release 8.1.6 functionality: 

SQLNET_CRYPTO_CHECKSUM_TYPE_SERVER
SQLNET_CRYPTO_CHECKSUM_TYPE_CLIENT
SQLNET.ENCRYPTION_TYPES_SERVER
SQLNET.ENCRYPTION_TYPES_CLIENT

See Also: Oracle Advanced Administrator's Guide for release 8.1.7 
changes to these parameters.
 
3. Oracle Connection Manager's remote administration feature is not 
comprehensively described.

Remote administration enables a remote CMCTL session to control an 
Oracle Connection Manager that resides on another computer. 
Remote access configuration is required on both the 
Oracle Connection Manager computer that you want to administer 
and the remote computer that you plan to run CMCTL. 

To configure remote access to a local computer that runs 
Oracle Connection Manager:
a. Configure a cman.ora file with the following parameters:

CMAN -         Specifies listening addresses for the Oracle Connection Manager 
               gateway process, CMGW
CMAN_ADMIN -   Specifies listening addresses for the 
               Oracle Connection Manager administrative process, CMADMIN
CMAN_PROFILE - Specifies parameter specific to the Oracle Connection Manager.
               In particular, REMOTE_ADMIN=yes must be set to allow a 
               remote CMCTL session access.

A sample cman.ora file follows:
 cman=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sun1)(PORT=1630))
 CMAN_ADMIN=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sun1)(PORT=1830))
 CMAN_PROFILE=
  (PARAMETER_LIST=
   (REMOTE_ADMIN=yes)
   ...
   )
 
See Appendix C, "Configuration Parameters," in the Net8 Administrator's Guide for complete descriptions of these parameters.
b. Start the CMGW process. From the operating system, enter either of the 
following commands:
CMCTL START cm
CMCTL START [cman]

To configure another computer
to administer Oracle Connection Manager remotely:
a. Ensure Oracle Connection Manager is installed.
b. Configure a cman.ora file with the same values for the 
CMAN and CMAN_ADMIN parameters as you did for local 
Oracle Connection Manager computer. 

 CMAN=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sun1)(PORT=1630))
 CMAN_ADMIN=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sun1)(PORT=1830))

You can use any of the CMCTL commands, except START commands, to remotely administer 
Oracle Connection Manager.

See Appendix A, "Control Utilities," in the Net8 Administrator's Guide
for a description of the commands available with CMCTL.

4. The ENVS parameter is not described.
The ENVS parameter enables you to specify environment variables in
the SID_DESC section of the listener.ora file. For example:

SID_LIST_listener_name=
 (SID_LIST=
  (SID_DESC=
   (SID_NAME=plsextproc)
   (ORACLE_HOME=/oracle81)
   (PROGRAM=extproc)))
   (ENVS=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/sw0/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/lib:/sw0/a
pp/oracle/product/8.1.7/ctx/lib))) 

In release 8.1, the value for environment variables must not be
enclosed in single quotes, for example, (ENVS='VISUAL=vi').
Single quotes were supported in release 8.0.
If migrating from release 8.0 to release 8.1, use either double
quotes or no quotes.

Multiple environment variables must be separated by commas.

For Windows NT, the ENVS parameter is not supported in this release.
Any process spawned by the listener will simply inherit the listener's 
environment. The ENVS setting in the listener.ora file is ignored.  
[Bug Reference: 1082940]

2. Disregard the following entry in the index:

   NET_CONFIG_METHOD parameter, C-79 

