Re: Which edition of Oracle9i supports function-based indexes?

SPAMBLOCK.Maxwell_Smart_at_ThePentagon.com.SPAMBLOCK (Brian Tkatch) wrote in message news:<3c55c156.1778088704_at_news.alt.net>...
> On 28 Jan 2002 11:52:24 -0800, randy.shoup_at_tumbleweed.com (Randy
> Shoup) wrote:
>
> >In Oracle 8i, the function-based index feature is only available with
> >Enterprise Edition.
> >
> >I wonder if this is also true in Oracle 9i, or whether this feature is
> >also available in Standard Edition.
> >
> >I searched around on this newsgroup and on the Oracle site without
> >much success. Unfortunately, I don't have an Oracle 9i Standard
> >Edition handy to check ('select * from v$option').
> >
> >Thanks,
> >-- Randy
>
>
> Oracle9i Database New Features
> Release 1 (9.0.1)
> Part Number A90120-02
> Appendix: A, Oracle8i Options and Features
>
> It says:
>
> Oracle9i Features and Options by Edition is located in the Oracle9i
> Release 1 README.
>
> I don't see the README file, but you may have it.
>

Thanks for this tip. This README file is in the Oracle installation directory:

   $ORACLE_HOME/doc/readmes/README_rdbms.htm

Unfortunately, this README for 9.0.1.1 NT was ambiguous on this particular point. Section 3.0 claims:

"
Some features which were previously available in Oracle8i Enterprise Edition and Oracle8i Personal Edition are now also available in Oracle9i Standard Edition. In Oracle9i Release 9.0.1 these include Advanced Queuing and Proxy Authentication. In a future release, Oracle Corporation intends to make the encryption toolkit, analytic functions, sample scan, plan stability, and function-based indexes also available in the Standard Edition.
"

which led me to believe that FBIs are not supported in 9i SE.

However, the table in Section 44.2 listing all the features contains the following row:

Area                            Data Warehousing and VLDB 
Feature                         Function-based indexes 
Oracle9i Standard Edition       *Y* (italicized)
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition     Y 
Oracle9i Personal Edition       Y 

which, of course, states that FBIs *are* supported in 9i SE.

So I bit the bullet, installed the thing (9.0.1.1 NT), and tried to create a FBI. And lo and behold! FBIs *are* supported in 9i SE.

One important difference from 8i is that there appears to no longer be a row for 'Function-based indexes' in V$OPTION, in either 9i EE or 9i SE. I guess this implies that this is no longer optional functionality, but basic functionality.

So I am encouraged. I hope this helps others.

• Randy