Database Control Overview

This chapter describes the functionality and administration of Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control (Database Control), the Web-based interface and primary tool for managing an Oracle database. Using Database Control, you can perform administrative tasks such as creating schema objects (tables, views, indexes, and so on), managing user security, managing database memory and storage, backing up and recovering your database, and importing and exporting data. You can also view performance and status information about your database.

After you have installed the Oracle Database software, created or upgraded a database, and configured the network, you can use Database Control to manage your database. Database Control also provides an interface for both performance advisors and Oracle utilities such as SQL*Loader and Recovery Manager (RMAN).

Oracle also offers separately licensed Oracle Enterprise Manager management packs, management plug-ins, and other products that you can purchase to enhance the capabilities of Oracle Enterprise Manager in specific environments.

Understanding the Enterprise Manager Directories

When you install Oracle Database, you also install Database Control by default. As a result, the Oracle Database installation procedure installs a set of Enterprise Manager directories and files into the $ORACLE_HOME directory.

In particular, the emctl commands required to control Database Control are installed into the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

The Management Agent and Management Service support files are installed in two locations in an installation of Oracle Database:

Files that are common and shared among all instances of the database are stored in the following directory:
- $ORACLE_HOME/sysman
  
  For example, the administration files, which define the supported target types and the scripts used to perform Management Agent configuration tasks are stored in the $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/admin directory
Files that are unique to each instance of the database are stored in the following directory:
- $ORACLE_HOME/hostname_dbuniquename/ (for a single-instance database)
- $ORACLE_HOME/nodename_dbuniquename/ (for an Oracle Real Applications Cluster (Oracle RAC) database)
  Note:
  In Oracle Database 10g, files that are unique to each instance of the database are stored in following directory of the Oracle Database 10g home:
  - $ORACLE_HOME/hostname_sid/ (for a single-instance database)
  - $ORACLE_HOME/nodename_sid/ (for an Oracle RAC database)

Throughout the rest of this chapter, $ORACLE_HOME/hostname_dbuniquename/ and $ORACLE_HOME/nodename_dbuniquename may be used interchangeably. (For release 10g of the database, the directories are $ORACLE_HOME/hostname_sid/ and $ORACLE_HOME/nodename_sid/.) Both paths refer to the same concept: the Enterprise Manager directory for the specific database instance. The difference is that $ORACLE_HOME/hostname_dbuniquename/ is used for single-instance databases, while $ORACLE_HOME/nodename_dbuniquename/ is used for cluster (Oracle RAC) databases. In cluster databases, nodename refers to the public name of the node, as specified during Cluster Ready Services (CRS) configuration for cluster environments.

For example, if the database host name is mgmt1.example.com and the system identifier for the database name is db11, the log files for the Management Agent and Management Service for that instance are installed in the following directory:

$ORACLE_HOME/mgmt1.example.com_db11/sysman/log/

If a hostname_dbuniquename directory does not exist in the Oracle home directory, then Database Control was never configured for the database instance. Note that in Oracle Database Release 10g, the directory is hostname_sid.

In addition, the files required to deploy the Database Control as a J2EE application are installed into the $ORACLE_HOME/oc4j/j2ee/ directory structure. Database Control is a J2EE application that is deployed using the standalone version of Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J). The OC4J_DBConsole directory contains the template files that are used to create database-specific deployment directories for each Database Control instance deployed in the Oracle home.

The installation and configuration files are stored in the $ORACLE_HOME directory in the following sub-directories:

cfgtoollogs/dbua
cfgtoollogs/rconfig
cfgtoollogs/dbca
cfgtoollogs/emca

Figure 10-1 summarizes the location of the important Enterprise Manager directories in a typical Oracle home directory for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 or later. Note that references to hostname_dbuniquename are for single-instance databases; cluster databases have paths of the form nodename_dbuniquename.

Figure 10-1 Directory Structure in the Management Service Home for Release 11g or Later

Description of "Figure 10-1 Directory Structure in the Management Service Home for Release 11g or Later"

Similarly, Figure 10-2 displays the directory structure of Enterprise Manager directories in the Oracle home directory for Oracle Database Release 10g.

Figure 10-2 Directory Structure in the Management Home for Release 10g

Description of "Figure 10-2 Directory Structure in the Management Home for Release 10g"