WA1277 Introduction to Oracle9i: PL/SQL This course includes hands-on workshops with many exercises. In order for you to be able to complete the exercises it will be necessary for your workshop environment to meet the minimum requirements stated below. There are different configurations from which you may choose to work and the requirements for each configuration differ. Standalone workstation. Client/server configuration. Web-based access Please bear in mind that installations which exceed the minimum hardware requirements will often result in better performance. Standalone Workstation System Requirements If you choose to perform the workshops from a standalone workstation, the software requirements for your system are as follows: Any edition of the Oracle database, including the Personal Edition, is acceptable and must be installed on your system. All editions of Oracle include the SQL*Plus product, which is also required. While the latest version of the database is slightly preferred, this course book may also be used with older versions of the database. Access to an ID within the Oracle database with CONNECT and RESOURCE roles granted. These roles will provide the user with a minimum set of rights to work with their own private set of data. Generally a sample ID named SCOTT with a password of TIGER is automatically created during installation of an Oracle database and this may be used if desired. Any operating system which supports the above-mentioned Oracle products is acceptable. Even though the system is working standalone, a network protocol such as TCP/IP must be installed within the operating system and working correctly. This is a requirement for the operation of the Oracle database. Exact hardware requirements can change from one release of Oracle to another and will especially vary depending upon the Oracle edition you have installed, but generally the following hardware requirements should be adequate. However, you might check the release notes included with your copy of the Oracle software to confirm these minimum requirements: 128MB+ of RAM. 500MB+ of available disk space prior to installation of the Oracle software products. CD-ROM as a load device for installation of the software. Client/Server System Requirements If you choose to perform the workshops from a client workstation connected to a database server, the following requirements exist for the server: Any edition of the Oracle database installed on your server system. While the latest version of the database is slightly preferred, this course book may also be used with older versions of the database. Access to an ID within the Oracle database with CONNECT and RESOURCE roles granted. Physical space usage by the database ID to create and manipulate our sample database will be very small. 1MB of database quota will be more than sufficient for all exercises. The following hardware and software requirements exist for your client workstation: 128MB+ of RAM. 100MB+ of available disk space. CD-ROM as a load device for installation of the software. A network protocol such as TCP/IP must be installed and the workstation must be able to connect to the database server. Installation of Oracle SQL*Plus. Access to the Oracle database on your server via the Oracle Net product. Access to the database via Oracle Net is done with a valid host string (also known as a database service name). By default, database service names are defined in a file named TNSnames.ORA, stored on the workstation, although many other configurations are also possible. Your database administrator can provide you with a valid TNSnames.ORA file for your workstation and they can also inform you of the appropriate service name for your database. Web-Based Access System Requirements If you choose to perform the workshops from a client workstation connected to a database server, the following requirements exist for the server: If one has access to a database which supports Oracle iSQL*Plus then the client system need only have a web browser installed. With such a configuration, the database may be accessed via the Internet or an Intranet using the Oracle iSQL*Plus facility. One will still need a valid database service name along with an ID and password. There may be some limitations imposed by the installation on performing certain administrator tasks via web-based access. Workshop System Administrator Or Database Administrator Note If you are using a shared database and it is necessary for you to create database IDs for the students, we have included an Oracle SQL*Plus script to assist you. This script will prompt you for certain parameters and will create the IDs within your database. You may execute this script from SQL*Plus using the following command: SQL> @ SiderisClassIDs; This script will allow you to create any number of IDs, perhaps with the prefix of STUDENT. In this way, you can easily create several IDs such as STUDENT1, STUDENT2, etc.