OCP Fundamental II Chapter 2 - Configuring Oracle Net on the Server

OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals II Study Guide
by Doug Stuns and Matthew Weishan

Chap. 2
Review Questions (Ansewers provided at the end)

1. Which file must be present on the Oracle server to start the Oracle listener?
A. listener.ora
B. lsnrctl.ora
C. sqlnet.ora
D. tnsnames.ora
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2. What are the possible ways in which the listener may connect a user to an Oracle9i instance? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Prespawned connection
B. Redirect connection
C. Bequeath connection
D. Multipass connection
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3. What is the default name of the Oracle listener?
A. lsnrctl
B. Listen
C. sqlnet
D. tnslistener
E. None of the above
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4. What is the maximum number of databases a listener processes?
A. 1 database
B. 2 databases
C. 10 databases
D. 25 databases
E. None of the above
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5. What is the maximum number of listener.ora files that should exist on a server?
A. One
B. Two
C. Four
D. Eight
E. None of the above
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6. Which of the following does this phrase characterize?
“…records all events that occur on a network, even when an error does not happen.”
A. Oracle Net Manager
B. Network tracing
C. Network logging
D. None of the above
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7. When automatic registration of services is used, you will not see the service listed in which of the following files?
A. sqlnet.ora
B. tnsnames.ora
C. listener.ora
D. None of the above

8. Which of the following are not default listener.ora settings? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Listener name = LISTENER
B. Port = 1521
C. Protocol = IPX
D. Protocol = TCP/IP
E. Listener name = lsnrctl
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9. Which of the following is the command-line interface used to administer the listener?
A. LISTENER
B. lismgr
C. TCPCTL
D. lsnrctl
E. None of the above
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10. Which Oracle Net Manager icon should you choose to manage listeners?
A. Services
B. Listener Names
C. Profile
D. Listeners
E. None of the above
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11. Which parameter sets the number of seconds a server process waits to get a valid client request?
A. connect_waittime_listener_name
B. connect_wait_listener_name
C. timeout_listener_name
D. connect_timeout_listener_name
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12. Which of the following is the trace level that will produce the largest amount of information?
A. ADMIN
B. USER
C. ALL
D. SUPPORT
E. None of the above
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13. What is the maximum number of listeners that can be configured for a server?
A. One
B. Two
C. Four
D. Eight
E. None of the above
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14. There is a listener called LISTENER. Which of the following is the correct way to start this listener?
A. lsnrctl startup listener
B. lsnrctl start
C. listener start
D. listener start listener
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15. There is a listener called listenerA. Which of the following is the correct command to start this listener?
A. lsnrctl startup listenerA
B. lsnrctl start
C. listener start
D. listener startup
E. lsnrctl start listenerA
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16. Modifications have been made to the listener.ora file from Oracle Net Manager. When will these modifications take effect?
A. Immediately
B. After exiting the Oracle Net Manager
C. Upon saving the listener.ora file
D. After executing lsnrctl refresh
E. None of the above
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17. There is a listener called listener1 that you want to edit using the lsnrctl utility. What command would you use to target the listener as the current listener for editing?
A. set current_listener listener1
B. accept current_listener listener1
C. reload listener listener1
D. refresh listener listener1
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18. Modifications have been made using the lsnrctl facility. What must be set to ON in order to make the changes permanent?
A. save_configuration
B. save_listener.ora
C. save_config_on_stop
D. configuration_save
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19. The administrator or DBA wants to make a backup of the listener file after making changes using lsnrctl. Which command must be implemented to make this backup from the lsnrctl facility?
A. create_backup
B. save_config_on_stop
C. save_config
D. save_backup
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20. What is the port number to use when you are configuring the listener for Oracle9i JVM on TCP/IP with SSL?
A. 1521
B. 2482
C. 2481
D. 1526
E. None of the above
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Answers
1. A.
The listener is the process that manages incoming connection requests. The listener.ora file is used to configure the listener. The sqlnet.ora file is an optional client- and server-side file. The tnsnames.ora file is used for doing local naming resolution. There is no such file as lsnrctl.ora.

2. B, C.
The listener can handle a connection request in one of two ways: it can spawn a process and bequeath (pass) control to that process, or it can redirect the process to a dedicated process or dispatcher when using Oracle Shared Server.

3. E.
When creating a listener with the Oracle Net Manager, the Assistant recommends LISTENER as the default name. When you are starting and stopping the listener via the command line tool, the tool assumes the name of the listener is LISTENER if no listener name is supplied.

4. E.
There is no physical limit to the number of services a listener can listen for.

5. A.
Although a listener can listen for an unlimited number of services, only one listener.ora file is used. If multiple listeners are configured, there will still be only one listener.

6. B.
Network tracing is what records all events on the network even if there is no error involved. Tracing should be used sparingly and only as a last resort in the case of network problems. Logging will log only significant events such as listener startup and connection requests.

7. C.
When services are dynamically registered with the listener, their information is not present in the listener.ora file.

8. C, E.
A default listener has a name of LISTENER and listens on Port 1521 for TCP/IP connections.

9. D.
LISTENER is the default name of the Oracle listener. There is no such utility as lismgr. TCPCTL was actually an old utility used to start and stop the SQL*NET version 1 listener. The lsnrctl command is used to manage the listener.

10. D.
Become familiar with the Oracle Net Manager interface. Listeners is the correct choice. Profile is used for sqlnet.ora administration. The other choices are not valid menu options.

11. D.
When a user makes a connection request, the listener passes control to some server process or dispatcher. Once the user is attached to this process, all negotiations and interaction with the database pass through this process. If the user supplies an invalid user ID or password, the process waits for a period of time for a valid response. If the user does not contact the server process with a valid response in the allotted time, the server process terminates, and the user must contact the listener so that the listener can again spawn a process or redirect the client to an existing dispatcher. This period of time that the process waits is specified by the connect_timeout_listener_name parameter. This parameter is specified in seconds.

12. D.
The highest level of tracing available is the SUPPORT level. This is the level that would be used to trace packet traffic information.

13. E.
There is no maximum number of listeners that can be configured per server.

14. B.
The default listener name is LISTENER. Since this is the default, simply enter lsnrctl start. The name LISTENER is assumed to be the listener to start in this case.

15. E.
Oracle expects the listener to be called LISTENER by default. The name of the facility to start the listener is lsnrctl. Using lsnrctl start will start the default listener. To start a listener with another name, enter lsnrctl start listener_name.

16. E.
Anytime modifications are made to the listener file using the Oracle Net Manager, either manually or by using lsnrctl, the listener must be reloaded for the modifications to take effect. To perform this reload, get to a command line and enter lsnrctl reload. You could also stop and start the listener, which will have the same effect. Since lsnrctl reload is not one of the choices, none of the above is the correct answer.

17. A.
If you want to administer any listener besides the default listener when using lsnrctl, you must target that listener. set commands are used to change lsnrctl session settings. So, set current_listener listener1 would be the correct command.

18. C.
Changes made to the listener.ora file in the lsnrctl facility can be made permanent. To make changes permanent, set the save_ config_on_stop option to ON.

19. C.
The DBA can make a backup of the existing listener.ora file after making modifications to it using lsnrctl. The backup will be named listener.bak. This is done with the save_config option.

20. B.
Port 2482 is the port to use when you want to configure Oracle Net for HTTP and IIOP connections over TCP/IP with SSL. Port 2481 is used when TCP/IP is used for HTTP and IIOP connections.