Re: Running Oracle on NT

hi,

Oracle on NT only supports a single ORACLE_HOME directory in Oracle7, though this is likely to change with an Oracle8 release.

When installing multiple releases of Oracle on NT, all the versions will share a single ORACLE_HOME directory structure. Within common directories (e.g. ORACLE_HOME/bin), files from different releases are distinguished by a version number within the file name (e.g. ORACLE72.EXE, ORACLE73.EXE, PLUS72.EXE, PLUS73.EXE, etc.). You cannot distinguish between patch releases (e.g. ORACLE73.EXE from 7.3.2.2 would overlay ORACLE73.EXE from 7.3.2.1). ORACLE_HOME is defined in the registry as:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ORACLE/ORACLE_HOME What this means is that all software must be installed to the same ORACLE_HOME. In general, we support having 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 products all running at the same time in the same ORACLE_HOME, with the following caveats:

• The first two digits must be unique in the version numbers. So, you can install 7.1 and 7.2 and 7.3, but you cannot install 7.3.2 and 7.3.3 in the same home, since 7.3.3 would overwrite 7.3.2. Likewise, 7.3.2.3 would overwrite 7.3.2.2.
• Certain products may or may not support this concept. For instance, SQL*Net DLLs are named the same across versions, so installing SQL*Net V2.3 would overwrite SQL*Net V2.2 or V2.1. The Required Support Files, Utilities, and the RDBMS do not suffer from this problem.
• Configuration is not automatic when installing multiple versions. For instance, the starter database always has a SID of ORCL in all three versions. If you install the starter database three times, only the last one will still work. You need to manually create other databases after installation.
• In the case of an RSF 7.2-based client application and a 7.3-based application, the newer version of SQL*Net should be installed, i.e. V2.3 in this example.
• The same principle applies to the RDBMS. In general, always install the latest SQL*Net available can and it should work with older versions of the RDBMS. So, if you wanted to install RDBMS 7.3 and 7.2, install V2.3 of SQL*Net as opposed to V2.2. In Oracle8, SQL*Net is named differently from Oracle7, so having Oracle8 run in the same ORACLE_HOME as Oracle7 is fully supported, since there is no interaction and no naming conflicts between the v7 and v8 software.

UNIX supports multiple ORACLE_HOMEs as well as multiple ORACLE_SIDs, so it is easier to maintain and use multiple versions and SIDs on one machine.

Elena Zaballa wrote:

> Does anyone know if it's possible to run more than one Oracle 805 database
> at the same time (through different instances) from the same NT Server?

--

Regards,

Tommy Cusan
MIS - DBA Tech. Support

Oracle Indonesia
Sentral Senayan I Office Tower, 9th Floor Jl. Asia Afrika no.8 - Jakarta 10270
Phone : +62 21 572 3222
Fax : +62 21 572 3350 / 60 Received on Tue May 11 1999 - 22:11:46 CDT