10
Oracle Names Parameters (names.ora)

This chapter provides a complete listing of the names.ora file configuration parameters.

This chapter contains these topics:

• Overview of Oracle Names Server Configuration File
• Oracle Names Parameters

Overview of Oracle Names Server Configuration File

Oracle Names server configuration, stored in the names.ora file, consists of the following elements:

• Name of the Oracle Names server
• Protocol addresses that it is accepting connection requests on
• Location of administrative region information
• Domain information
• Control parameters

By default, names.ora is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin directory on UNIX operating systems and the ORACLE_HOME\network\admin directory on Windows NT. names.ora can also be stored the following locations:

• The directory specified by the TNS_ADMIN environment variable or registry value
• On UNIX operating systems, the global configuration directory. For example, on the Solaris Operating System, this directory is /var/opt/oracle.

  See Also: Oracle operating system-specific documentation

Figure 10-1 shows a names.ora file for an Oracle Names server named namesvr2.us.acme.com.

Figure 10-1 Example names.ora File

NAMES.SERVER_NAME=namesvr2.us.acme.com
NAMES.ADDRESSES=
 (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=namesvr2-server)(PORT=1575)) 
NAMES.ADMIN_REGION=
 (REGION=
  (DESCRIPTION=
    (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales-server)(PORT=1521)) 
    (CONNECT_DATA=
      (SERVICE_NAME=sales.us.acme.com))
  (USERID=system)
    (PASSWORD=manager)
    (NAME=local_region)
  (REFRESH=86400)
  (RETRY=60)
  (EXPIRE=600))
NAMES.DOMAIN_HINTS=
  (HINT_DESC=
   (HINT_LIST=
     (HINT= 
      (NAME=namesvr1)
      (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=namesvr1-server)(PORT=1575))
NAMES.DOMAINS=
 (DOMAIN=
 (NAME=us.acme.com)
     (MIN_TTL=86400))

Oracle Names Parameters

This section lists and describes the names.ora file parameters.

NAMES.ADDRESSES

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.ADDRESSES to list the protocol addresses on which the Oracle Names server listens. Any valid ADDRESS or ADDRESS_LIST is allowed.

Syntax

NAMES.ADDRESSES= 
 [(ADDRESS_LIST=]
   (ADDRESS=...)
   (ADDRESS=...)[)]

Default

NAMES.ADDRESSES= 
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=namesvr-server)(PORT=1575))

Example

NAMES.ADDRESSES=
  (ADDRESS_LIST=
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=namesrv2-server)(PORT=1575)) 
  (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=namesrv2-server)(PORT=1375)))

NAMES.ADMIN_REGION

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.ADMIN_REGION to specify the data source for an administrative region.

Syntax

NAMES.ADMIN_REGION= 
 (REGION=
  (DESCRIPTION=
    (ADDRESS=...)
    (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME|SID=service_name|sid)))
  (USERID=user)
  (PASSWORD=password)
  (REFRESH=seconds)
  (RETRY=seconds)
  (EXPIRE=seconds)
  (VERSION=version)
  (TYPE=ldap|ldif)
    (HOST=directory_host)
    (PORT=port)
    (TIMEOUT=time)
    (SUBTREE_LIST=
      (SUBTREE=(BASE=base_DN)[(SCOPE=sub|one)))

Subparameters

REGION supports the following subparameters:

NAMES.ADMIN_REGION=
 (REGION=
  (DESCRIPTION=
    (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sales-server)(PORT=1575))
    (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=sales.us.acme.com)))
  (USERID=system)
  (PASSWORD=manager)
  (REFRESH=172800)
  (RETRY=2700)
  (EXPIRE=8700)
  (VERSION=34619392))

NAMES.AUTHORITY_REQUIRED=true

NAMES.AUTO_REFRESH_EXPIRE=1200000

NAMES.AUTO_REFRESH_RETRY=180

NAMES.CACHE_CHECKPOINT_FILE=c:\oracle\network\names\cacheck.ora

NAMES.CACHE_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL=24

NAMES.CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_FILE=c:\oracle\network\names\configck.ora

NAMES.CONNECT_TIMEOUT=8

NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS= 
 (FORWARDER_LIST=
   (NAME=onames_server)
   (ADDRESS=...))

Example

NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS= 
 (FORWARDER_LIST=
  (FORWARDER=
    (NAME=rootserv1.com)
    (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=root-server)(PORT=4200))))

NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS_ONLY

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS_ONLY to specify how the Oracle Names server forwards queries.

When you set the parameter to true, the Oracle Names server forwards queries only to those Oracle Names servers listed as default forwarders with the NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS parameter. When you set the parameter to false, the Oracle Names server calls the Oracle Names servers listed as default forwarders before other Oracle Names servers found in the cache.

Default

false

Example

NAMES.DEFAULT_FORWARDERS_ONLY=c:\oracle\network\names\domainck.ora

NAMES.DOMAIN_CHECKPOINT_FILE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.DOMAIN_CHECKPOINT_FILE to specify the name and path of the file used for checkpoint authoritative domain data.

Default

The $ORACLE_HOME/network/names/ckpdom.ora file on UNIX operating systems and the ORACLE_HOME\network\names\ckpdom.ora file on Windows NT

Example

NAMES.DOMAIN_CHECKPOINT_FILE=c:\oracle\network\names\domainck.ora

NAMES.DOMAINS

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.DOMAINS to provide a list of domains in the local region of the Oracle Names server, as well as the default time to live (TTL) in seconds for data in those domains.

Syntax

NAMES.DOMAINS=
 (DOMAIN_LIST=
 (DOMAIN=
  (NAME=domain)
  (MIN_TTL=ttl))

Subparameters

NAMES.DOMAINS supports the following subparameters:

Example

In the following example, NAMES.DOMAINS contains a listing for the root (value of null), com, acme.com, and hq.oracle.com domains. All the domain precedent to hq.acme.com must be defined in order to define hq.acme.com.

NAMES.DOMAINS=
 (DOMAIN_LIST=
 (DOMAIN=
  (NAME=)
  (MIN_TTL=86400))
 (DOMAIN=
  (NAME=com)
  (MIN_TTL=86400))
 (DOMAIN=
  (NAME=acme.com)
  (MIN_TTL=86400))
 (DOMAIN=
  (NAME=hq.acme.com)
  (MIN_TTL=86400)))

NAMES.DOMAIN_HINTS

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.DOMAINS_HINTS in one of two ways:

• Identify the protocol address of an Oracle Names server in the root administrative region for delegated administrative regions
• Identify the name of the domain and at least one protocol address of an Oracle Names server in that domain for optimizing forwarded requests to remote administrative regions

Subparameters

NAMES.DOMAINS_HINTS supports the following subparameters:

(HINT_LIST=
 (HINT=(NAME=onames_server)(ADDRESS=...)))

(DOMAIN_LIST=
 (DOMAIN=domain))

Usage Notes

Examples

In the following example, NAMES.DOMAIN_HINTS contains a domain hint for Oracle Names server rootsvr.com that is located in the root domain of the remote administrative region. The DOMAIN parameter is left null, meaning that the hint is for the root domain.

NAMES.DOMAIN_HINTS=
 (HINT_DESC=
   (HINT_LIST=
    (HINT=
      (NAME=rootsvr.com)
      (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=root-server)(PORT=1575))))
   (DOMAIN_LIST=
    (DOMAIN=)))

The following example shows a hint to query two domains, the root domain and the us.acme.com domain, for Oracle Names servers rootsvr.com and namesvr.us.acme.com.

NAMES.DOMAIN_HINTS=
 (HINT_DESC=
   (HINT_LIST=
    (HINT=
     (NAME=rootsvr.com)
     (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=root-server)(PORT=1575)))
    (HINT=
     (NAME=namesrv.us.acme.com)
     (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=hr-server)(PORT=1575))))
   (DOMAIN_LIST=
    (DOMAIN=)
    (DOMAIN=us.acme.com)))

NAMES.FORWARDING_AVAILABLE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.FORWARDING_AVAILABLE to specify how the Oracle Names server forwards client requests.

When you set the parameter to on, the Oracle Names server forwards client requests to remote Oracle Names server. When you set the parameter to off, clients outside the local domain without access to the network are unable to resolve names.

Default

on

Values

on | off

Example

NAMES.FORWARDING_AVAILABLE=off

NAMES.FORWARDING_DESIRED

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.FORWARDING_DESIRE to specify how the Oracle Names server handles requests for remote Oracle Names servers.

When you set the parameter to true, the Oracle Names server provides protocol address of remote Oracle Names server to clients. This way, clients are redirected to the appropriate Oracle Names server. When you set the parameter to false, the Oracle Names server connects to the remote Oracle Names server on behalf of clients.

Default

true

Values

true | false

Example

NAMES.FORWARDING_DESIRED=true

NAMES.KEEP_DB_OPEN

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.KEEP_DB_OPEN to specify whether to attempt to keep the connection to the region database open between operations.

When you set the parameter to true, the connection is left open after each load, reload, or reload-check. When you set the parameter to false, the connection is closed after each load, reload, or reload-check.

Default

true

Values

true | false

Example

NAMES.KEEP_DB_OPEN=false

NAMES.LOG_DIRECTORY

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.LOG_DIRECTORY to specify the destination directory where the log file for Oracle Names server operational events are written

Default

The $ORACLE_HOME/network/log directory on UNIX operating systems and the ORACLE_HOME\network\log directory on Windows NT

Example

NAMES.LOG_DIRECTORY=c:\oracle\network\names

NAMES.LOG_FILE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.LOG_FILE to indicate the name of the output file to which Oracle Names server operational events are written. The file name extension is always .log. Do not enter an extension for this parameter.

Default

names

Example

NAMES.LOG_FILE=onames

NAMES.LOG_STATS_INTERVAL

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.LOG_STATS_INERVAL to specify the number of seconds between full statistical dumps in the log file.

Default

0 (disabled)

Minimum Value

10 seconds

Maximum Value

none

Example

NAMES.LOG_STATS_INTERVAL=12

NAMES.LOG_UNIQUE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.LOG_UNIQUE to indicate whether or not log files are given unique names.

When you set the parameter to on, a process identifier is appended to the name of each log file generated, allowing multiple log files to coexist. For example, log files named namespid.log are created if the default log file name, names.log, is used.

Default

false

Values

true | false

Example

NAMES.LOG_UNIQUE=true

NAMES.MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS to specify the number of connections that the Oracle Names server can have open at any given time. The value is generated as the value 10 or the sum of one connection for listening, 5 for clients, plus one for each remote domain defined in the local administrative region, whichever is greater.

The calculated value is acceptable for most installations.

Default

Calculated based on entered data.

Minimum Value

2

Maximum Value

64

Example

NAMES.MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS=52

NAMES.MAX_REFORWARDS

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.MAX_REFORWARDS to specify the maximum number of times the Oracle Names server attempts to forward an operation.

Default

2

Minimum Value

1

Maximum Value

15

Example

NAMES.MAX_REFORWARDS=2

NAMES.MESSAGE_POOL_START_SIZE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.MESSAGE_POOL_START_SIZE to specify the initial number of messages allocated in the Oracle Names server message pool that are used for incoming or outgoing forwarded messages.

Default

10

Minimum Value

3

Maximum Value

256

Example

NAMES.MESSAGE_POOL_START_SIZE=10

NAMES.NO_MODIFY_REQUESTS

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.NO_MODIFY_REQUESTS to allow or disallow operations that modify data in the Oracle Names server region.

When the parameter NAMES.NO_MODIFY_REQUESTS is set to true, the Oracle Names server refuses any operations that modify data in its region. When the parameter NAMES.NO_MODIFY_REQUESTS is set to false, the Oracle Names server accepts operations that modify data in its region.

Default

false

Values

true | false

Example

NAMES.NO_MODIFY_REQUESTS=true

NAMES.NO_REGION_DATABASE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.NO_REGION_DATABASE to enable or disable the Oracle Names server from loading data from a region database.

When you set the parameter to true, the Oracle Names server does not load data from a region database. Instead, it loads data from its checkpoint files. When you set the parameter to false, the Oracle Names server loads data from a region database.

Default

false

Values

true | false

Example

NAMES.NO_REGION_DATABASE=true

NAMES.PASSWORD

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.PASSWORD to set an encrypted password for an Oracle Names server, so that certain privileged operations, such as STOP, RESTART and RELOAD, used from the Oracle Names Control utility are secure.

If this parameter is set with Oracle Net Manager, then the password is encrypted. A clear-text password can be made manually. If the password is clear-text, ensure that the NAMESCTL.INTERNAL_ENCRYPT_PASSWORD parameter in the sqlnet.ora file is set to false.

Default

None

Example

NAMES.PASSWORD=625926683431aa55

NAMES.RESET_STATS_INTERVAL

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.RESET_STATS_INTERVAL to specify the number of seconds during which the statistics collected by the Oracle Names servers should accumulate. At the frequency specified, they are reset to 0. The default value of 0 means never reset statistics.

Default

0 (never reset)

Minimum Value

10

Maximum Value

None

Example

NAMES.RESET_STATS_INTERVAL=15

NAMES.SAVE_CONFIG_ON_STOP

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.SAVE_CONFIG_ON_STOP to specify whether or not runtime configuration changes are saved into the names.ora file.

When you set the parameter to true, the Oracle Names Control utility saves runtime configuration changes to names.ora file. Any parameters which were modified through Oracle Names Control utility SET operations replace prior names.ora settings. When you set the parameter to false, the Oracle Names Control utility does not save runtime configuration changes to the names.ora file.

Default

false

Example

NAMES.SAVE_CONFIG_ON_STOP=false

NAMES.SERVER_NAME

Use the NAMES.SERVER_NAME parameter to uniquely identify an Oracle Names server by a name. All configuration references to a particular Oracle Names server use this name.

Default

ONAMES_onames_server

Example

NAMES.SERVER_NAME=namesrv1.us.acme.com

NAMES.TOPOLOGY_CHECKPOINT_FILE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TOPOLOGY_CHECKPOINT_FILE to specify the name and path of the file used for checkpoint topology data. This file defines the domains in the administrative region and the Oracle Names servers authoritative for each domain. Specifically, topology data consists of:

• Domains, defined as a list of Oracle Names servers names with NS.SMD record types that are authoritative for the domain
• Oracle Names servers, specified with a A.SMD record type and listening protocol addresses

Default

The $ORACLE_HOME/network/names/ckptop.ora file on UNIX operating systems and the ORACLE_HOME\network\names\ckptop.ora on Windows NT

Example

NAMES.TOPOLOGY_CHECKPOINT_FILE=c:\oracle\network\names\topck.ora

NAMES.TRACE_DIRECTORY

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_DIRECTORY to specify the destination directory of the output trace files from Oracle Names trace sessions.

Default

The $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace directory on UNIX operating systems and the ORACLE_HOME/network/trace directory on Windows NT

Example

NAMES.TRACE_DIRECTORY=/oracle/network/admin/trace

NAMES.TRACE_FILE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_FILE to specify the name of the output trace files for Oracle Names trace sessions. The file name extension is always .trc.

Default

names

Example

NAMES.TRACE_FILE=onames

NAMES.TRACE_FUNC

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_FUNC to enable the internal mechanism to control tracing by a function name.

Default

false

Example

NAMES.TRACE_FUNC=false

NAMES.TRACE_LEVEL

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_LEVEL to turn Oracle Names tracing on, at a specific level, or off.

Default

off

Values

• off for no trace output
• user for user trace information
• admin for administration trace information
• support for Oracle Support Services trace information

Example

NAMES.TRACE_LEVEL=admin

NAMES.TRACE_TIMESTAMP

Purpose

When NAMES.TRACE_LEVEL is set to a specific tracing level, you can use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_TIMESTAMP to add a time stamp in the form of dd-mon-yyyy hh:mi:ss:mil to every trace event in the trace file for Oracle Names.

Default

true

Values

yes or true | no or false

Example

NAMES.TRACE_TIMESTAMP=true

NAMES.TRACE_UNIQUE

Purpose

Use the parameter NAMES.TRACE_UNIQUE to specify whether or not a unique trace file is created for each Oracle Names trace session. When the value is set to on, a process identifier is appended to the name of each trace file, enabling several files to coexist. For example, trace files named namespid.trc are created if default trace file name names.trc is used. When the value is set to off, data from a new trace session overwrites the existing file.

Default

on

Values

on | off

Example

NAMES.TRACE_UNIQUE=on