SQL*Plus User's Guide for Windows Platforms

Customizing Windows 3.1 Operating System Parameters

Modifying the ORACLE.INI File
ORACLE.INI Parameter Descriptions

Modifying the ORACLE.INI File

When you use the Oracle Installer for Windows to install any Oracle Windows product, it creates the following section in your WIN.INI file:

ORA_CONFIG=C:\ORAWIN\ORACLE.INI or
ORA_CONFIG=C:\WINDOWS\oracle.ini

In addition, the Oracle Installer creates an Oracle-specific file called ORACLE.INI in your WINDOWS directory. ORACLE.INI contains configuration parameters and initial settings for the Oracle Windows products that you install.

ORACLE.INI parameters control such things as the name of the Oracle home directory, the location of the product preference file, and the location of the help files. If you use SQL*Net for Windows, the ORACLE.INI parameters also determine the driver to be used for network communications and the values that SQL*Net should use for its operating parameters. See your SQL*Net documentation for descriptions of ORACLE.INI parameters that affect the performance of SQL*Net.

When to Set ORACLE.INI Parameters

When you installed SQL*Plus for Windows, the Oracle Installer automatically set certain parameters in your ORACLE.INI file. The default values for these parameters are listed in this Appendix. Other parameters must be set manually and are so noted in the parameter descriptions.

If you change the default value of a parameter or add a parameter to your ORACLE.INI file, the changes will take effect whenever SQL*Plus executes a procedure that uses one of these parameters. For example, if you copy the SQLUS.MSB file to another directory and reset PRO18, the parameter that specifies the location of SQLUS.MSB to that directory, SQL*Plus will look for the file in the new directory the next time this file is needed.

How to Set ORACLE.INI Parameters

To set ORACLE.INI parameters, use a text editor such as Notepad to change or add the parameters in the default ORACLE.INI file. For example, you could add the following line to your ORACLE.INI file to set the SQLNET parameter:
SQLNET DBNAME Mktg_SRV=X:Server1

Note If you define a parameter two or more times in the ORACLE.INI file, only the first value is used.

Specifying Another ORACLE.INI File

You can also specify a different ORACLE.INI file by changing the Oracle entry in the WIN.INI file located in your WINDOWS directory. For example, you could change the following line in WIN.INI:

ORA_CONFIG=C:\WINDOWS\ORACLE.INI

ORA_CONFIG=C:\WINDOWS\MYORACLE.INI

ORACLE.INI Parameter Descriptions

The following list describes the ORACLE.INI parameters and their default values. Acceptable parameter name abbreviations appear in parentheses.

LOCAL (LOC)

Windows Default: not set automatically

Legal Values: any valid SQL*Net driver prefix

This parameter specifies the SQL*Net driver and SQL*Net parameters (complete database string) to use when no communications driver is specified upon loading SQL*Plus. This parameter enables the DBA to define a "default" network connection. When the user logs on without specifying any network parameters, Oracle7 uses the LOCAL connection. Thus, the distributed database is made invisible to the user.

You can reset this parameter on the command line at any time.

Additional Information For information about the driver prefixes and SQL*Net parameters that are valid for Windows, see the Installation Guide or Getting Started for your SQL*Net driver.

NLS_LANG

Default: AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE81508859P1

Legal Values: See the accompanying Release Notes for a current list of available values.

The NLS_LANG parameter sets the language in which message files appear. The syntax for NLS_LANG is as follows:

NLS_LANG=language_territory.char_set

where:

language

specifies the language and its conventions for displaying messages and day and month names.

territory

specifies the territory and its conventions for calculating week and day numbers.

char set

specifies the character set used for the UPPER, LOWER, and INITCAP functions, and the type of sort used by an ORDER BY query. This argument also controls the character set used for displaying messages.

ORACLE_HOME

Default: \ORAWIN on the drive where you boot your PC

Legal Values: any directory on any drive

This parameter specifies the home directory in which Windows Oracle products are installed.

PRO18

Default: \ORAWIN\PRO18

Legal Values: any directory on any drive

This parameter specifies the location of the SQLUS.MSB message file. The SQLUS.MSB file is used by any precompiled Oracle Product. (This release of SQL*Plus is not precompiled.)

Note SQLUS.MSB is the name of the American English file. If you are not using the American English version of the Required Support Files, the name of this file may vary.

The first three characters of this parameter, PRO, stand for the precompiler, such as Pro*C, Pro*COBOL, and PRO*FORTRAN. The remaining characters correspond to the current version of the SQLUS.MSB message file. Other Oracle database tools and subsequent releases of the Required Support Files use a different version of this message file.

PLUS33

Default: \ORAWIN\PLUS33

Legal Values: any directory on any drive

This parameter specifies the location of the SQL*Plus files, including the help scripts and the GLOGIN.SQL file. In addition to searching the directory specified by the PLUS33, SQL*Plus will also search the current directory for SQL*Plus files.

The first four characters of this parameter, PLUS, stand for SQL*Plus. The remaining characters correspond to the current version of SQL*Plus. Subsequent releases of SQL*Plus may use a different parameter to specify the SQL*Plus directory to enable you to keep multiple versions of SQL*Plus on your PC.

RDBMSXX

Default: \ORAWIN\RDBMSXX

Legal Values: any directory on any drive

This parameter specifies the location of three message files: LCDUS.MSB, ORAUS.MSB, and SOSDUS.MSB.

Note LCDUS.MSB, ORAUS.MSB, and SOSDUS.MSB are the names of the American English files. If you are not using the American English version of the Required Support Files, your file names may vary.

The first five characters of this parameter, RDBMS, stand for the Oracle RDBMS. The remaining characters correspond to the current version of the RDBMS message files. Other Oracle database tools and subsequent releases of the Required Support Files may use different versions of these message files.

REMOTE (REM)

Default: not set automatically

Legal Values: any valid SQL*Net driver prefix and parameters

This parameter specifies the default and remote SQL*Net driver to use when connecting via a local database. The parameter can include the default SQL*Net parameters (complete database string). For example:

where P: is the network prefix for Named Pipes. Piper is the database name.

If a user logs on and specifies a connection with an explicit driver prefix matching the one specified in REMOTE, but specifies no SQL*Net parameters, the parameters specified in REMOTE are used. This parameter enables the DBA to define a "normal" network connection for which the SQL*Net user need not specify connection parameters.

You can reset this parameter on the command line at any time.

SQLNET

Default: not set automatically

Legal Values: any valid network alias/network prefix combination

This parameter allows you to set a unique alias for each server on your network or distributed network. By setting multiple aliases you can refer to connect strings by simple names or mnemonic conventions; you need not remember the complete connect string for each one. The following is the general syntax for SQLNET:

SQLNET DBNAME server_alias=connect_string

To use the server specified in SQLNET, you must enter the alias. For example, if you had set

SQLNET DBNAME Mktg_SRV=X:Server1

you would access the database from within SQL*DBA by typing:

SQLDBA> CONNECT SCOTT/TIGER@Mktg_SRV;

You can include multiple SQLNET parameters in the ORACLE.INI file to define multiple network aliases.

SQLPATH

Default: \ORAWIN\DBS

Legal Values: any directory on any drive

This parameter specifies the location of SQL scripts. In addition to searching the directory specified by the SQLPATH parameter, SQL*Plus will also search the current directory for SQL scripts.

Note SQL*Plus uses the PLUS33 parameter to specify the location of the GLOGIN.SQL script. Refer to "PLUS33" earlier in this Appendix for more information.

When you set the SQLPATH parameter, note that directories can be concatenated with a semicolon (;). For example:

SQLPATH=C:\ORAWIN\DATA;C:\ORAWIN\DBS>

USERNAME (USER)

Default: not set automatically

Legal Values: any valid OPS$ username (without the OPS$ prefix)

This parameter specifies the variable part of a User ID that begins with the fixed character string 'OPS$'. (See your database documentation for more information on OPS$ accounts.) For example, if OPS$EUGENE is a valid User ID, a possible USERNAME would be:

USERNAME=EUGENE

Since a User ID cannot be more than 30 characters long, the username part of an OPS$ User ID may not be more than 26 characters long.

Oracle7 assigns the User ID specified by USERNAME to anyone who logs on without providing a User ID. In other words, anyone who presses Enter in response to a User ID prompt will be able to log on. You can use this facility to free a user or a class of users from having to log on and remember passwords.

The User ID specified by USERNAME must be a valid User ID defined in the usual way with the GRANT statement; for example:

SQL>GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE TO OPS$EUGENE IDENTIFIED BY WELCOME;

A user who logs on without specifying a username or password receives whatever privileges were granted to the OPS$ username.

You can define several classes of OPS$ users by specifying different USERNAMEs in different ORACLE.INI files. Specify each ORACLE.INI file with a SET ORACLE.INI command line option in a batch file written for use by each class of user.

New User IDs can be created at any time, and are effective immediately.

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