Oracle with multiple CPUs

Hi, I apologize if these questions seem basic...

We currently have an Oracle test/development database running on a single processor Windows NT Server. We have a new machine coming soon which is a dual processor NT box, but is expandable to up to 4 CPUs. I am hoping to move the database to this new machine and I am trying to assess what I will need to do in order for oracle to take advantage of the additional processor. I have 3 specific questions:

1. Will I need to change/set any of the init.ora parameters?
2. Currently none of my tables were created using any specified degree of parallelism. If I migrate the data to the new instance as is (without any degree of parallelism) and don't change the application code at all to send parallel hints, will I still see some benefit from the additional processor?
3. Can I use parallel hints in SQL, even if the underlying tables were not created with any parallel clause?

Thanks in advance for any tips,

Gavin

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Before you buy. Received on Mon Sep 11 2000 - 14:43:03 CDT