Oracle Net 原理

Oracle Net enables connections from traditional client/server applications to Oracle Database servers. Oracle Net is a software component that resides on both the client and the database server.

Oracle Net is a software layer that resides on the client and on the Oracle Database server. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining the connection between the client application and server, as well as exchanging messages between them, using industry-standard protocols.

Oracle Net has two software components:Oracle Net Foundation Layer and Oracle Protocol Support

Applications communicate with Oracle Net foundation layer to establish and maintain connections. The Oracle Net foundation layer uses Oracle protocol support that communicates with an industry-standard network protocol to communicate with the Oracle Database server.

（一）Oracle Net Stack Communication for Client/Server Applications

This communication architecture is based on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. In the OSI model, communication between separate computers occurs in a stack-like fashion with information passing from one node to the other through several layers of code, including:

1. About the Client Communication Stack

1.1 Client Application Layer

During a session with the database, the client uses Oracle Call Interface (OCI) to interact with the database server. OCI is a software component that provides an interface between the application and SQL.

1.2 Presentation Layer

Character set differences can occur if the client and database server run on different operating systems. The presentation layer resolves any differences. It is optimized for each connection to perform conversion when required.

The presentation layer used by client/server applications is Two-Task Common (TTC). TTC provides character set and data type conversion between different character sets or formats on the client and database server. At the time of initial connection, TTC is responsible for evaluating differences in internal data and character set representations and determining whether conversions are required for the two computers to communicate.

1.3 Oracle Net Foundation Layer

The Oracle Net foundation layer is responsible for establishing and maintaining the connection between the client application and database server, as well as exchanging messages between them. The Oracle Net foundation layer can perform these tasks because of Transparent Network Substrate (TNS) technology. TNS provides a single, common interface for all industry-standard OSI transport and network layer protocols. TNS enables peer-to-peer application connectivity, where two or more computers can communicate with each other directly, without the need for any intermediary devices.

On the client side, the Oracle Net foundation layer receives client application requests and resolves all generic computer-level connectivity issues, such as:

1. The location of the database server or destination
2. How many protocols are involved in the connection
3. How to handle interrupts between client and database server based on the capabilities of each

On the server side, the Oracle Net foundation layer performs the same tasks as it does on the client side. It also works with the listener to receive incoming connection requests.

In addition to establishing and maintaining connections, the Oracle Net foundation layer communicates with naming methods to resolve names and uses security services to ensure secure connections.

1.4 Oracle Protocol Support Layer

Oracle protocol support layer is positioned at the lowest layer of the Oracle Net foundation layer. It is responsible for mapping TNS functionality to industry-standard protocols used in the client/server connection. This layer supports the following network protocols:

1. TCP/IP

Oracle Net supports IP in two versions: IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6).

1. TCP/IP with SSL

The TCP/IP with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol enables an Oracle application on a client to communicate with remote databases through TCP/IP and SSL. SSL stores authentication data, such as certificates and private keys, in an Oracle Wallet. When the client initiates a connection to the database server, SSL performs a handshake between the two using the certificate. During the handshake, the following processes occur:

1. The client and database server negotiate a cipher suite made up a set of authentication, encryption, and data integrity types to apply to the messages they exchange.
2. Depending on its configuration, the database server sends its certificate to the client in a message encrypted with the client's public key. The database server may also send a request for the client's certificate in the same message. The client decrypts this message by using its own private key, then verifies that the database server's certificate bears the certificate authority's signature.
3. If required, the client may send the user's certificate to the database server. The certificate ensures that the user's information is correct and that the public key actually belongs to that user.

The database checks the user certificate to verify that it bears the signature of the certificate authority.

1. Named Pipes

Named Pipes is specifically designed for Microsoft Windows LAN environments. The Named Pipes protocol is a high-level interface providing interprocess communications between clients and database servers using distributed applications. One server-side process creates a named pipe, and the client-side process opens it by name. What one side writes, the other can read.

If a remote Oracle database is running on a host system that supports network communication using Named Pipes, then Oracle Net enables applications on a client to communicate with the Oracle database using Named Pipes.

1. Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP)

The Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) is an industry-standard wire protocol between InfiniBand network peers. When used over an InfiniBand network, SDP reduces TCP/IP overhead by eliminating intermediate replication of data and transferring most of the messaging burden away from the CPU and onto the network hardware.

1. Exadirect

The Exadirect protocol is an innovative创新的 protocol for low overhead database access. Use the new transport to improve latency and throughput by leveraging Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) in an InfiniBand environment.

Exadirect protocol uses TCP for control communication and IB RC transport for data.

The Exadirect protocol adapter is supported only on Oracle Linux in this release.

1. About the Server Communication Stack

The server communication stack uses the same layers as the client stack with the exception that the database uses Oracle Program Interface (OPI). For each statement sent from OCI, OPI provides a response. For example, an OCI request to fetch 25 rows would elicit an OPI response to return the 25 rows after they have been fetched.

（二）Using Oracle Net Stack Communication for Java Applications

The Oracle Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Drivers provide Java applications access to an Oracle database. Oracle offers two JDBC drivers.

1. JDBC OCI Driver is a type 2 JDBC driver which is used by client/server Java applications. The JDBC OCI driver uses a communication stack similar to a standard client/server communication stack. The JDBC OCI driver converts JDBC invocations to calls to OCI which are then sent over Oracle Net to the Oracle database server.
2. JDBC Thin Driver is a type 4 driver which is used by Java applets. The JDBC Thin Driver establishes a direct connection to the Oracle database server over Java sockets. The JDBC Thin driver uses a Java implementation of the Oracle Net foundation layer called JavaNet and a Java implementation of TTC called JavaTTC to access the database.

The following figure shows the stack communication layers used by JDBC drivers.