Oracle enhancements improve connectivity between databases.
Connectivity features of Oracle Net
Describe Oracle enhancements that improve connectivity between distributed databases.
As Oracle networking has evolved, we have seen a constant evolution in the new features provided in Net. In Oracle, we now see advanced features in areas of multiplexing, replication, and connection to non-Oracle databases.
The next lesson introduces the enhancements that improve manageability of network/database tasks.
An Oracle database is represented to clients as a service, which means that the database performs work on behalf of clients.
A database can have one or more services associated with it. Figure 2 shows two databases, each with its own database service for intranet clients.
One service, sales.us.example.com, enables salespersons to access the sales database. Another service, finance.us.example.com, enables financial analysts to access the finance database.
Figure 2. - Two Servers: 1) sales1 --> dispatcher1, 2) sales2 --> dispatcher2, dispatcher3
Feature
Description
Multiplexing-Multiplexing
Multiplexing is a new feature that you can use for either a Multi-Threaded Server (MTS) or OPS. This feature saves operating system resources in environments with many database users.
Replication of large objects (LOBs)
Prior to Oracle, LOB data could not be replicated. Now, you can replicate all but the BFILE type of LOB columns.
Connecting to non-Oracle databases
You can configure Net to access non-Oracle databases by creating an Oracle Agent that can connect to the non-Oracle database service.
Network Database versus Relational Database
A network database provides a unique functionality not typically found in relational databases: many-to-many relationships. While relational databases rely on tables and predefined relationships (usually one-to-one or one-to-many), network databases use a more flexible structure called a *network model*, where records can have multiple parent and child records. This allows for more complex and dynamic data relationships. In a network database, relationships are represented as direct connections (pointers) between records, enabling the database to efficiently manage and traverse intricate data hierarchies and associations, which might be more cumbersome to implement in a relational database using foreign keys and join operations. This structure can lead to faster access in scenarios where many-to-many relationships are frequent and traversing these relationships is critical.
