Recommended Postinstallation Tasks

Oracle recommends that you perform the tasks in the following sections after completing an installation:

Setting Language and Locale Preferences for Client Connections

Configure client applications connecting to an Oracle Database according to your locale preferences and your I/O device character set.

You must configure client applications connecting to an Oracle Database according to your locale preferences and your I/O device character set. If your applications do not have their own specific methods to configure locale preferences, then the method you use to configure an Oracle database client connection depends on the access API you use to connect to the database. Check your application documentation, before you configure locale preferences for your applications.

For applications that connect to Oracle Databases using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) use NLS_LANG and other client settings with names that start with NLS_ to set the locale conventions and client character set for Oracle Database sessions. It is important that you set the character set part of the NLS_LANG value properly. The character set you set must correspond to the character set used by your I/O devices, which in case of Microsoft Windows is either the ANSI Code Page (for GUI applications), such as WE8MSWIN1252, or the OEM Code Page (for Console mode applications), such as US8PC437. By doing this, the OCI API is notified about the character set of data that it receives from the application. OCI can then convert this data correctly to and from the database character set.

NLS_LANG and the other NLS settings can be specified either as environment variables or as Windows Registry settings. Environment variable values take precedence over Registry values.

Oracle Universal Installer sets a default value for the NLS_LANG setting in Registry when it creates a new Oracle home. The NLS_LANG value is based on the language of the Windows user interface, which is the language of Windows menu items and dialog box labels.

Caution:

Failure to set the client character set correctly can cause data loss.

Java applications that connect to Oracle Databases by using Oracle JDBC do not use NLS_LANG. Instead, Oracle JDBC maps the default locale of the Java VM in which the application runs to the Oracle Database language and territory settings. Oracle JDBC then configures the connected database session using these settings. Because Java works internally in Unicode, the client character set is always set to Unicode. Unless an application explicitly changes it, the default locale of the Java VM is set based on the locale of the user operating system on which the Java VM runs. Check your Java VM documentation for information about configuring the Java VM default locale.

Note:

In 3-tier architecture deployments, application servers that are database clients can have settings in their configuration files that specify the NLS_LANG value or the Java VM locale. Check the documentation accompanying these servers.

See Also:

Configuring Instant Client Light

To configure Instant Client Light, you must make it the default instead of Instant Client.

To configure Instant Client Light:
  1. In the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_CLIENT_HOME directory, either rename or delete the oraociei12.dll file.

    The oraociei12.dll file is the main binary for Instant Client.

  2. From the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_CLIENT_HOME\install\instantclient\light directory, copy the oraociicus12.dll file to the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_CLIENT_HOME directory. .

    The oraociicus12.dll file is the binary for Instant Client Light.

  3. Ensure that the PATH environment variable points to the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_CLIENT_HOME directory.

    Note:

    If the Instant Client PATH is not set, then the applications attempt to load the regular Instant Client libraries first. If the applications cannot find these, then they attempt to load the Instant Client Light library next.

Connecting Oracle Database Client to an Oracle Database

After you run Oracle Universal Installer to install Oracle Database Client, you must use Net Configuration Assistant (NetCA) to configure Oracle Database Client to connect to an Oracle database.

At the end of the installation, Oracle Universal Installer prompts you to configure the database connection. If you bypassed that option, or if you need to change the database connection later on, use the following procedure if you installed the Administrator, Runtime, or Custom installation types.
To connect Oracle Database Client to an Oracle Database:
  1. From the Start menu, choose Oracle - HOME_NAME, then Configuration and Migration Tools, then Net Configuration Assistant.
  2. In the Welcome window, select Local Net Service Name configuration and click Next.
  3. In the Net Service Name Configuration window, select Add and click Next.
  4. In the Service Name window, enter the name of the Oracle database to which you want to connect and click Next.
  5. In the Select Protocols window, select the protocol you want and click Next.
  6. In the Protocol window, depending on the protocol you selected, enter the appropriate information and click Next.
  7. In the Net Test window, select whether you want to test the connection, and click Next.
  8. In the Net Service Name window, enter a name for the net service and click Next.
  9. Answer the remaining prompts, which allow you to configure another net service name, and then click Finish to complete the configuration.

    Net Configuration Assistant creates the tnsnames.ora file in the following location:

    ORACLE_HOME\network\admin\tnsnames.ora

Connecting Instant Client or Instant Client Light to an Oracle Database

Before you can connect Instant Client or Instant Client Light to an Oracle Database, ensure that the PATH environment variable specifies the directory that contains the Instant Client libraries.

Specifying a Connection by Using the Easy Connect Naming Method

You can specify a connection address to an Oracle Database directly from a client application, without having to configure a tnsnames setting for the Instant Client.

This method is convenient in that you do not have to create and manage a tnsnames.ora file. However, your application users must specify the host name and port number when they want to log in to your application.

For example, suppose you are running SQL*Plus on the client computer and want to connect to the sales_us database, which is located on a server whose host name is shobeen and port number is 1521. If you launch SQL*Plus from the command line, then log in as follows:

sqlplus system/admin@//shobeen:1521/sales_us

Similarly, in your application code, you can use Oracle Call Interface net naming methods to create the Instant Client-to-Oracle Database connection. For example, the following formats in the OCIServerAttach() call specify the connection information:

  • Specify a SQL connect URL string using the following format:

    //host[:port][/service_name]

    For example:

    //shobeen:1521/sales_us

  • Alternatively, specify the SQL connect information as an Oracle Net keyword-value pair. For example:

    “(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp) (HOST=shobeen) (PORT=1521))

    (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=sales_us)))”

Specifying a Connection by Configuring a tnsnames.ora File

By default, when you install an Instant Client, Oracle Universal Installer does not include a sample tnsnames.ora file nor the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant utility normally used to create it.

However, if you want to shield users from having to specify actual host names and port numbers, you may want to consider using a tnsnames.ora file to set the Instant Client-to-Oracle Database connection.
You can create the tnsnames.ora file manually by copying and modifying a version of this file from another Oracle installation, or you can use Oracle Net Configuration Assistant to create and manage it for you.
To install Oracle Net Configuration Assistant:
  1. Run Oracle Universal Installer.
  2. Select the Custom installation type.
  3. In the Available Product Components list, select Oracle Network Utilities and click Next.
  4. In the Summary window, click Install, then click Exit and Yes to exit Oracle Universal Installer.

    Then, on each client computer, configure either of the following settings:

    • Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to specify the location of the tnsnames.ora file and specify a service name from that file.

    • Place the tnsnames.ora file in the ORACLE_HOME\network\admin directory, and ensure that the ORACLE_HOME environment has been set to this Oracle home.

Related Topics

Specifying a Connection by Using an Empty Connect String and the LOCAL Variable

Describes how to specify a connection to an empty connect string and set the LOCAL environment variable.

You can set the connect string to an empty connect string (""), and then set the LOCAL environment variable to one of the following values:

  • A direct address

  • Oracle Net keyword-value pair

  • A tnsnames.ora entry and TNS_ADMIN is set to the location of tnsnames.ora

  • A tnsnames.ora entry and the following:

    • tnsnames.ora file located in ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

    • The ORACLE_HOME environment variable set to this Oracle home

      This method allows your applications to specify internally a connection string if the application code uses an empty connection string. The benefit of an empty connect string is that the application does not need to specify the tnsnames.ora entry. Instead, when a user invokes the application, the location of the database is determined by a script or the environment, depending on where you have set the LOCAL environment variable. The disadvantage of using empty strings is that you must configure this additional information for your application to connect to the database.

Related Topics

Setting Up User Accounts

Learn how to setup user accounts.

Changing the Oracle Home User Password

Oracle Home User Control is a command-line utility that allows an administrator to update the password for an Oracle Home User.

This tool updates the password for Windows services in the Oracle home. The input password must match the password for the Windows User Account used as the Oracle Home User. So, first use Windows operating system tools to change the Windows password and then use this tool to update the Windows services in the Oracle home to use the same password.

Note:

You must have Administrator privileges to run this Oracle Home User Control utility.

Syntax Overview:

The following is the command syntax:

orahomeuserctl list | updpwd [-user username] [-host hostname1, hostname2, . . .] [-log logfilename]

where:

  • orahomeuserctl is used to display the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle home or to update the Oracle Home User password.

  • list displays the Oracle Home User name associated with the current Oracle home.

  • updpwd prompts for the new password and updates the password for the named Oracle Service User. The following are the options for updpwd:

    • -user username

      This option determines the Oracle Home User name. If this option is not present, then the user name associated with the current Oracle home is used. If the named user, be it the username or user of the current Oracle home, is an MSA or Windows Built-in account, then an error message is displayed and the command is terminated.

    • -host hostname1, hostname2,. . .

      When this option is present, the utility updates the passwords for all services belonging to the named Oracle Home User on the specified hosts. Otherwise, the Oracle Home User Control utility updates the passwords for all the services belonging to the named Oracle Home User on a specified host with single instance installation, or updates the passwords for all services belonging to the named Oracle Home User on all the specified hosts.

      When the update completes, the utility displays the number of successful updates and any services that failed to update with the new password.

    • -log logfilename

      This option adds the password update operation results to a log file for every service name receiving the new password. By default, the log files are located in the ORACLE_HOME\log directory. If logfilename specifies only a file name, then the log is stored in the named file in the default directory. However, if the logfilename contains a path, then that path is used without modification.

Using Oracle9i Language and Definition Files with Oracle Database 12c

Changes are made to the content of some of the language and territory definition files in Oracle Database 10g and later releases.

Changes are made to the content of some of the language and territory definition files in Oracle Database 10g and later releases. These updates are necessary to correct the legacy definitions that no longer meet the local conventions in some of the languages and territories that Oracle Database supports.
Oracle Database 12c customers must review their existing application code to ensure that the correct cultural conventions, which were introduced and defined in Oracle Database 10g, are being used.
For customers who are not able to make the necessary code changes to support their applications, Oracle Database offers Oracle9i locale definition files with this release of Oracle Database. If the Oracle Database server installation has been configured to use the Oracle9i files, then you must enable this functionality in each client installation as well.
To enable this functionality, perform the following steps:
  1. Run the cr9idata.pl script, which by default is in the following location:

    ORACLE_HOME\nls\data\old

    If the installation type you chose does not include this directory, you can find the cr9idata.pl script in the same directory path in a default Oracle Database Client installation.

  2. Set the ORA_NLS10 environment variable to point to the directory ORACLE_HOME\nls\data\9idata, into which cr9idata.pl copies the new language and territory definition files. ORA_NLS10 must have this value each time the affected client programs are started. Therefore, set the variable permanently in a startup script or, on the Microsoft Windows platform, set it in the Windows Registry.