Oracle Net Services provide enterprise-wide connectivity in distributed, heterogeneous computing environments. They ease the complexity of network configuration and management, maximize performance, and improve network diagnostic capabilities.
Oracle Net (also known as "SQL*Net") is responsible for establishing and maintaining connections between client applications and Oracle Database. Features include simple connection syntax, load balancing, connection fail-over, network tuning, network encryption, performance management, and in-built diagnostics.
Oracle drivers and client libraries implement the Oracle Net protocol.
An Oracle Net Listener serves as the initial entry point to Oracle Database for connections. Listeners act as the broker for application connections, handing off requests to an Oracle Database server. Once a connection is established, the application and server communicate directly with one another. A listener is included in a database installation. Listeners can also be installed separately.
Oracle Connection Manager is an optional software component that resides on its own computer, separate from applications or Oracle Database. It is a connection proxy solution, bringing connection intelligence, security, pooling, and multiplexing capabilities to existing and new database applications. It is aware of database services, and supports service-specific rule lists. It also allows network level protocol conversion.
User interface tools and command-line utilities can be used to configure, manage, administer, and monitor Oracle Net Services. Tools include Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, Oracle Net Manager, and command-line control utilities.
Centralized Configuration Provider Naming
Token Authentication
Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3
Easy Connect String support for LDAP and LDAPS
Easy Connect ADDRESS_LIST based grouping
System wallets for One-way TLS
Default Database SDU increase to 64 KB
Improved Oracle Network error messages
Connection performance improvements
Concise logging
Migration of Oracle CMAN Sessions with High Availability
REST APIs for Oracle CMAN Administration, Proxy Protocol, Enhanced Rule List, and Bandwidth Management
Reverse Connection Support Using CMAN Tunnels
Oracle Network Log File Segmentation
Easy Connect Plus
Auto-Detection of Support for Out-of-Band Breaks, Colocation Tag of Client Routing