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This chapter introduces Oracle ConText Option and discusses the various administration tasks that you may need to perform for the system.

The topics covered in this chapter are:

What is ConText Option?

ConText Option is an Oracle server option which enables text queries to be performed through SQL and PL/SQL from most Oracle interfaces.

By installing ConText Option with an Oracle server, client tools such as SQL*Plus, Oracle Forms, and Pro*C are able to retrieve and manipulate text in an Oracle database. Most tools which can call an Oracle stored procedure can perform text queries and other text operations.

ConText Option manages textual data in concert with traditional datatypes in an Oracle database. When text is inserted, updated, or deleted, ConText Option automatically manages the change.

ConText Option Features

ConText Option provides advanced indexing, analysis, retrieval, and viewing functionality that can be integrated into any text applications that use the Oracle7 server. The list of features include:

For more information about text retrieval, linguistic analysis, highlighting, and document viewing, see Oracle ConText Option Application Developer's Guide

ConText Option and the Oracle Server

The ConText Option process model uses the Oracle server model with the addition of one or more ConText server processes and a queue for handling text operations.

ConText Option can be used in both dedicated server (one server process for each user process) and multi-threaded server environments (dispatcher, shared server, and background processes).

For more information about the Oracle server model, see Oracle7 Server Concepts.

Figure 1. Example of the ConText Option Process Model

Figure 1 shows ConText servers and the Text Request Queue working in concert with an Oracle server process in a dedicated server environment.

In the standard Oracle server model, when a user process connects to the database, it spawns a dedicated server process which handles all incoming requests from the user process.

With ConText Option, if a request comes in that includes a text operation, the text operation portion of the request is sent to the Text Request Queue for processing by the next available ConText server processes.

For example, a query is submitted for both structured data and text. The query is picked up by the Oracle server process via the Request Queue. The Oracle server process divides up the query, sends the text query portion to the Text Request Queue, and processes the structured data portion.

The first available ConText server picks up the text query from the Text Request Queue and processes it. The results from the text query are combined with the results from the structured data query and returned to the user process as a single set of results.

Overview of Administration Tasks

The following diagram illustrates the different administration tasks for the Oracle ConText Option and identifies whether the task can be performed through the GUI administration tool or the command-line.

Figure 2. ConText Option Administration Tasks

Administration is divided into three areas:

The tasks in the three areas may be performed by a single user or may be divided between different users/responsibilities.

ConText Option Administration

ConText Option administration includes the following tasks:

For more information about each of these tasks, see "Administering ConText Option (Chapter 2)."

Who Performs ConText Option Administration?

ConText Option administration tasks are always performed by the ConText Option administrator, who may be the system and/or database administrator or a separate user.

Text Setup and Management

In addition, text setup and management may also include loading text, as well as updating and deleting text.

For more information about each of the text setup and management tasks, see "Setting Up and Managing Text (Chapter 5)."

Who Performs Text Setup and Management?

Text setup and management may be performed by the ConText Option administrator because they require access to system and database resources.

For example, loading text into the database requires access to the appropriate tables.

In addition, creating indexes requires ConText servers to be running with the appropriate designation and only ConText Option administrators can manage ConText servers.

However, some tasks, such as defining policies and preferences, may be performed by application developers because the options used to create a index have an effect on how an application retrieves text.

Text setup and management includes the following tasks:

Linguistics Services Setup

Linguistics Services administration includes the following tasks:

Note: The preference and policy setup tasks for the Linguistic Services are discussed in Part II of this manual, "Text Setup and Management".

Custom setting configurations can only be defined in the GUI administration tool and, as such, are not discussed in this manual.

For more information about creating custom setting configurations, see the Help system provided with the administration tool.

For more information about the Linguistic Services, see Oracle ConText Option Application Developer's Guide

Who Performs Linguistic Services Setup

Linguistic Services setup may be performed by the ConText Option administrator or by the application developer.

For example, the ConText Option administrator may be responsible for setting up all of the preferences and policies in the system, including policies that are used for theme indexing or requesting the Linguistic Services for documents.

On the other hand, application developers may be responsible for creating custom setting configurations as part of the process of creating linguistic output for use in applications.

Administration Methods

ConText Option provides two different methods of administration:

Most of the administration tasks can be accomplished using either method; however, some tasks can only be accomplished using one or the other method.

For example, custom setting configurations for the ConText Option Linguistic Services can only be created/modified in the administration tool. As a result, if you want to use custom settings for the Linguistic Services, you must use both the administration tool and the command-line to administer ConText Option.

Command-line

Command-line administration includes:

For example, the command-line for the server machine on which ConText Option is installed must be used to start ConText servers and access the administration utilities provided with ConText Option.

All remaining ConText Option administration tasks, such as shutting down ConText servers, managing queues, and creating indexes, can be performed in SQL*Plus or PL/SQL, either on the server machine or on any other machine that has SQL*Plus and PL/SQL and is connected to the server machine through SQL*Net.

Administration Tool

The administration tool is a client-based application that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for administering ConText servers, text, and the Linguistic Services.

The administration tool is distributed with the Oracle ConText Option Workbench, which can be installed on any PC running Microsoft Windws NT or Windows 95.


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