Release 2 (9.2)
Part Number A96524-01
 Home |
 Book List |
 Contents |
 Index |
 Master Index |
 Feedback |
| Oracle9i Database Concepts Release 2 (9.2) Part Number A96524-01 |
|
When defining a trigger, you can specify the trigger timing--whether the trigger action is to be executed before or after the triggering statement.
AFTER triggers execute the trigger action after the triggering statement is executed.
BEFORE and AFTER apply to both statement and row triggers.
See Also: trigger
See: Oracle architecture
Optionally, filled online redo files can be archived before being reused, creating an archived redo log. Archived (offline) redo log files constitute the archived redo log.
See Also: redo log
Background processes consolidate functions that would otherwise be handled by multiple Oracle programs running for each user process. The background processes asynchronously perform I/O and monitor other Oracle processes to provide increased parallelism for better performance and reliability.
Oracle creates a set of background processes for each instance.
See Also: instance, process, Oracle process, user process
When defining a trigger, you can specify the trigger timing--whether the trigger action is to be executed before or after the triggering statement.
BEFORE triggers execute the trigger action before the triggering statement is executed.
BEFORE and AFTER apply to both statement and row triggers.
See Also: trigger
The database buffer cache is the portion of the SGA that holds copies of data blocks read from data files. All user processes concurrently connected to the instance share access to the database buffer cache.
See Also: system global area (SGA)
The length of string is measured in bytes.
The length of string is measured in characters.
A CHECK integrity constraint on a column or set of columns requires that a specified condition be true or unknown for every row of the table. If a DML statement results in the condition of the CHECK constraint evaluating to false, then the statement is rolled back.
In client/server architecture, the front-end database application, which interacts with a user through the keyboard, display, and pointing device such as a mouse. The client portion has no data access responsibilities. It concentrates on requesting, processing, and presenting data managed by the server portion.
See Also: client/server architecture, server
Software architecture based on a separation of processing between two CPUs, one acting as the client in the transaction, requesting and receiving services, and the other as the server that provides services in a transaction.
Optional structure for storing table data. Clusters are groups of one or more tables physically stored together because they share common columns and are often used together. Because related rows are physically stored together, disk access time improves.
Vertical space in a database table that represents a particular domain of data. A column has a column name and a specific datatype. For example, in a table of employee information, all of the employees' dates of hire would constitute one column.
Make permanent changes to data (inserts, updates, deletes) in the database. Before changes are committed, both the old and new data exist so that changes can be stored or the data can be restored to its prior state.
See Also: roll back
Simultaneous access of the same data by many users. A multiuser database management system must provide adequate concurrency controls, so that data cannot be updated or changed improperly, compromising data integrity.
See Also: data consistency
Communication pathway between a user process and an Oracle instance.
See Also: session, user process
A file that records the physical structure of a database and contains the database name, the names and locations of associated databases and online redo log files, the time stamp of the database creation, the current log sequence number, and checkpoint information.
See Also: physical structures, redo log
Collection of data that is treated as a unit. The purpose of a database is to store and retrieve related information.
One of several types of memory structures that stores information within the system global area. Database buffers store the most recently used blocks of data.
See Also: system global area (SGA)
Memory structure in the system global area that stores the most recently used blocks of data.
See Also: system global area (SGA)
A named schema object that describes a path from one database to another. Database links are implicitly used when a reference is made to a global object name in a distributed database.
An Oracle background process that writes the contents of buffers to data files. The DBWn processes are responsible for writing modified (dirty) buffers in the database buffer cache to disk.
See Also: buffer cache
Smallest logical unit of data storage in an Oracle database. Also called logical blocks, Oracle blocks, or pages. One data block corresponds to a specific number of bytes of physical database space on disk.
In a multiuser environment, where many users can access data at the same time (concurrency), data consistency means that each user sees a consistent view of the data, including visible changes made by the user's own transactions and transactions of other users.
See Also: concurrency
The central set of tables and views that are used as a read-only reference about a particular database. A data dictionary stores such information as:
A data dictionary is created when a database is created and is automatically updated when the structure of the database is updated.
Business rules that dictate the standards for acceptable data. These rules are applied to a database by using integrity constraints and triggers to prevent the entry of invalid information into tables.
See Also: integrity constraint, trigger
A physical operating system file on disk that was created by Oracle and contains data structures such as tables and indexes. A data file can only belong to one database.
See Also: index, physical structures
Each nonclustered table has a data segment. All of the table's data is stored in the extents of its data segment. For a partitioned table, each partition has a data segment.
Each cluster has a data segment. The data of every table in the cluster is stored in the cluster's data segment.
See Also: cluster, extent, segment
Database time zone.
A database server configuration in which a server process handles requests for a single user process.
See Also: shared server
Optional background processes, present only when a shared server configuration is used. At least one dispatcher process is created for every communication protocol in use (D000, . . ., Dnnn). Each dispatcher process is responsible for routing requests from connected user processes to available shared server processes and returning the responses back to the appropriate user processes.
See Also: shared server
Software architecture that uses more than one computer to divide the processing for a set of related jobs. Distributed processing reduces the processing load on a single computer.
Data definition language. Includes statements like CREATE/ALTER TABLE/INDEX, which define or change data structure.
Data manipulation language. Includes statements like INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, which change data in tables.
The degree of parallelism of an operation.
An Oracle system management tool that provides an integrated solution for centrally managing your heterogeneous environment. It combines a graphical console, Oracle Management Servers, Oracle Intelligent Agents, common services, and administrative tools for managing Oracle products.
Second level of logical database storage. An extent is a specific number of contiguous data blocks allocated for storing a specific type of information.
See Also: data block, segment
Uses Oracle's multiversion read-consistency capabilities to restore data by applying undo as needed. You can view and repair historical data, and you can perform queries on the database as of a certain wall clock time or user-specified system commit number (SCN).
Integrity constraint that requires each value in a column or set of columns to match a value in a related table's UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY.
FOREIGN KEY integrity constraints also define referential integrity actions that dictate what Oracle should do with dependent data if the data it references is altered.
See Also: integrity constraint, primary key
Optional structure associated with tables and clusters. You can create indexes on one or more columns of a table to speed SQL statement execution on that table.
See Also: cluster
Each index has an index segment that stores all of its data. For a partitioned index, each partition has an index segment.
An object that registers a new indexing scheme by specifying the set of supported operators and routines that manage a domain index.
A system global area (SGA) and the Oracle background processes constitute an Oracle instance. Every time a database is started, a system global area is allocated and Oracle background processes are started. The SGA is deallocated when the instance shuts down.
See Also: background process, system global area (SGA)
See: data integrity
Declarative method of defining a rule for a column of a table. Integrity constraints enforce the business rules associated with a database and prevent the entry of invalid information into tables.
Column or set of columns included in the definition of certain types of integrity constraints. Keys describe the relationships between the different tables and columns of a relational database.
See Also: integrity constraint, foreign key, primary key
Optional area in the system global area that provides large memory allocations for Oracle backup and restore operations, I/O server processes, and session memory for the shared server and Oracle XA.
See Also: system global area (SGA), process, shared server, Oracle XA
A tool that lets administrators use SQL to read, analyze, and interpret log files. It can view any redo log file, online or archived. The Oracle Enterprise Manager application Oracle9i LogMiner Viewer adds a GUI-based interface.
The log writer process (LGWR) is responsible for redo log buffer management--writing the redo log buffer to a redo log file on disk. LGWR writes all redo entries that have been copied into the buffer since the last time it wrote.
See Also: redo log
Logical structures of an Oracle database include tablespaces, schema objects, data blocks, extents, and segments. Because the physical and logical structures are separate, the physical storage of data can be managed without affecting the access to logical storage structures.
See Also: physical structures
A materialized view provides indirect access to table data by storing the results of a query in a separate schema object.
See Also: view
Data integrity constraint that requires a column of a table contain no null values.
See Also: NULL value
Absence of a value in a column of a row. Nulls indicate missing, unknown, or inapplicable data. A null should not be used to imply any other value, such as zero.
An object type consists of two parts: a spec and a body. The type body always depends on its type spec.
See: archived redo log
The online redo log is a set of two or more online redo log files that record all changes made to the database, including both uncommitted and committed changes. Redo entries are temporarily stored in redo log buffers of the system global area, and the background process LGWR writes the redo entries sequentially to an online redo log file.
See Also: redo log, system global area (SGA), background process, log writer process (LGWR)
In memory management, the term operator refers to a data flow operator, such as a sort, hash join, or bitmap merge.
Memory and process structures used by an Oracle server to manage a database.
See Also: database, process, server
Oracle processes run the Oracle server code. They include server processes and background processes.
See Also: process, server process, background process, user process
The Oracle XA library is an external interface that allows global transactions to be coordinated by a transaction manager other than the Oracle server.
A smaller and more manageable piece of a table or index.
Physical database structures of an Oracle database include data files, redo log files, and control files.
See Also: logical structures
Oracle's procedural language extension to SQL. PL/SQL enables you to mix SQL statements with procedural constructs. With PL/SQL, you can define and execute PL/SQL program units such as procedures, functions, and packages.
See Also: SQL
The column or set of columns included in the definition of a table's PRIMARY KEY constraint. A primary key's values uniquely identify the rows in a table. Only one primary key can be defined for each table.
See Also: PRIMARY KEY constraint
Integrity constraint that disallows duplicate values and nulls in a column or set of columns.
See Also: integrity constraint
Priority inversion occurs when a high priority job is executed with lower amount of resources than a low priority job. Thus the expected priority is "inverted."
Each process in an Oracle instance performs a specific job. By dividing the work of Oracle and database applications into several processes, multiple users and applications can connect to a single database instance simultaneously.
See Also: Oracle process, user process
A memory buffer that contains data and control information for a server process. A PGA is created by Oracle when a server process is started. The information in a PGA depends on the Oracle configuration.
A self-contained DML against a table. A query block can be a top-level DML or a subquery.
See Also: DML
In a multiuser environment, Oracle's read consistency ensures that
See Also: concurrency, data consistency
Option with Oracle9i Enterprise Edition that allows multiple concurrent instances to share a single physical database.
See Also: instance
An Oracle utility that manages backup and recovery operations, creates backups of database files (datafiles, control files, and archived redo log files), and restores or recovers a database from backups.
A set of files that protect altered database data in memory that has not been written to the datafiles. The redo log can consist of two parts: the online redo log and the archived redo log.
See Also: online redo log, archived redo log
Memory structure in the system global area that stores redo entries--a log of changes made to the database. The redo entries stored in the redo log buffers are written to an online redo log file, which is used if database recovery is necessary.
See Also: system global area (SGA)
A rule defined on a key (a column or set of columns) in one table that guarantees that the values in that key match the values in a key in a related table (the referenced value).
Referential integrity also includes the rules that dictate what types of data manipulation are allowed on referenced values and how these actions affect dependent values.
See Also: key
Undo any changes to data that have been performed by SQL statements within an uncommitted transaction. After a transaction has been committed, it cannot be rolled back.
Oracle uses rollback segments to store old values. The redo log contains a record of changes.
See Also: commit, transaction, rollback segment
Logical database structure created by the database administrator to temporarily store undo information. Rollback segments store old data changed by SQL statements in a transaction until it is committed.
See Also: commit, logical structures, segment
Set of attributes or values pertaining to one entity or record in a table. A row is a collection of column information corresponding to a single record.
A globally unique identifier for a row in a database. It is created at the time the row is inserted into a table, and destroyed when it is removed from a table.
Collection of database objects, including logical structures such as tables, views, sequences, stored procedures, synonyms, indexes, clusters, and database links. A schema has the name of the user who controls it.
See Also: logical structures
Current session time zone.
Third level of logical database storage. A segment is a set of extents, each of which has been allocated for a specific data structure, and all of which are stored in the same tablespace.
See Also: extent, data block
A sequence generates a serial list of unique numbers for numeric columns of a database's tables.
In a client/server architecture, the computer that runs Oracle software and handles the functions required for concurrent, shared data access. The server receives and processes the SQL and PL/SQL statements that originate from client applications.
See Also: client, client/server architecture
Server processes handle requests from connected user processes. A server process is in charge of communicating with the user process and interacting with Oracle to carry out requests of the associated user process.
See Also: process, user process
Specific connection of a user to an Oracle instance through a user process. A session lasts from the time the user connects until the time the user disconnects or exits the database application.
See Also: connection, instance, user process
Portion of the system global area that contains shared memory constructs such as shared SQL areas. A shared SQL area is required to process every unique SQL statement submitted to a database.
See Also: system global area (SGA), SQL
A database server configuration that allows many user processes to share a small number of server processes, minimizing the number of server processes and maximizing the use of available system resources.
See Also: dedicated server
Structured Query Language, a nonprocedural language to access data. Users describe in SQL what they want done, and the SQL language compiler automatically generates a procedure to navigate the database and perform the desired task.
Oracle tool used to execute SQL statements against an Oracle database. Oracle SQL includes many extensions to the ANSI/ISO standard SQL language.
In the hierarchy of user-defined datatypes, a subtype is always a dependent on its supertype.
See: subtype
An alias for a table, view, sequence, or program unit.
A group of shared memory structures that contain data and control information for one Oracle database instance. If multiple users are concurrently connected to the same instance, then the data in the instance's SGA is shared among the users. Consequently, the SGA is sometimes referred to as the shared global area.
See Also: instance
Basic unit of data storage in an Oracle database. Table data is stored in rows and columns.
A database storage unit that groups related logical structures together.
See Also: logical structures
Temporary segments are created by Oracle when a SQL statement needs a temporary work area to complete execution. When the statement finishes execution, the temporary segment's extents are returned to the system for future use.
Logical unit of work that contains one or more SQL statements. All statements in a transaction are committed or rolled back together.
Stored database procedure automatically invoked whenever a table or view is modified, for example by INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operations.
A way of representing all the characters in all the languages in the world. Characters are defined as a sequence of codepoints, a base codepoint followed by any number of surrogates. There are 64K codepoints.
A column of type NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, or NCLOB in Oracle9i or later. It is guaranteed to be able to hold unicode.
A data integrity constraint requiring that every value in a column or set of columns (key) be unique--that is, no two rows of a table have duplicate values in a specified column or set of columns.
See Also: integrity constraint, key
The name by which a user is known to the Oracle server and to other users. Every user name is associated with a password, and both must be entered to connect to an Oracle database.
User processes execute the application or Oracle tool code.
See Also: process, Oracle process
Coordinated Universal Time, previously called Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT.
A view is a custom-tailored presentation of the data in one or more tables. A view can also be thought of as a "stored query." Views do not actually contain or store data; they derive their data from the tables on which they are based.
Like tables, views can be queried, updated, inserted into, and deleted from, with some restrictions. All operations performed on a view affect the base tables of the view.
|
 Copyright © 1996, 2002 Oracle Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |
|
