Talk:Oracle Database/Archive 1

relational database rewrite
I am trying to rewrite relational database and am soliciting opinions. I am particularly interested in bringing in the practical and popular definitions of the term to counter the current article's domination by the "theoretical" crowd. Ideogram 11:11, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

"Mid-range"?
"Oracle and IBM tend to battle for the mid-range market". While this is true, I would say they also battle for the high-end market - indeed, Oracle, DB/2, and Teradata are pretty much the entire high-end market...unless I'm missing something in the definition here. Afabbro 04:30, 27 May 2007 (UTC)


 * "mid-range" is a loose phrase with no clear definition - I would suggest it is unsuitable for an encyclopedia. Whimsley 19:06, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Mushy introduction
Yes, "Oracle database" can just be a general term for "a database held on one of Oracle's RDBMS products", but this is an encyclopedia. We should stick to defining "Oracle database" as being the RDBMS application and qualify other uses in an appropriate manner. The intro seems pretty hopelessly mushy right now, and I can't think what it must be like for people who don't already have a clear understanding between the different meanings "database" can have.

For that matter, we could do with moving this to a less ambiguous name, but one step at a time. Chris Cunningham 12:28, 13 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I've now reworked the intro to address these concerns. Chris Cunningham 11:38, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Let's move the page
This talk page seems to have pretty low activity, but I want to go ahead and move this article from Oracle database to something closer to the actual product name, either Oracle RDBMS or simply Oracle Database (with the 2nd word capitalized), preferably the former. I don't see how a database of any brand would refer to the software that manipulates it, rather than the actual entity on disk. From what I can tell, the base product name is simply Oracle, released by SDL who later renamed themselves to Oracle Corporation. I see they have other Oracle _____ products, so Oracle RDBMS seems like the best name to use to refer to this specific product. Mentioning the literal database entity at the beginning of the introduction is confusing.

If you see this comment before I act, please give your opinion. I'm in between class right now, so I'll probably do it later tonight (EST time) or tomorrow. --DJ Phazer 14:50, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm all for this. That Oracle have traditionally blurred the lines between their product names and their generic definitions should not affect us: we should try to define articles as best we can. We don't need a generic article on "Oracle databases", we need one on the Oracle RDBMS product. I'd definitely go with being as specific as we can. Chris Cunningham 15:13, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Oops... well I moved it, as you can see, but I realize, especially because of what they call it on [www.oracle.com], that the official name is Oracle Database, with a capital D. (I swear I've hit the nail squarely this time!) And now I can't move it to that because the redirect page has a history. Requesting assistance! In the mean time, we/I can still clean up the article.
 * The amusing part is that a great majority of other articles link to Oracle RDBMS rather than the other two. I have concluded that the official name is simply Oracle Database, while it can also be referred to as the "Oracle RDBMS" or "Oracle database system" or some variation, as long as you use the word the, referring to the system in this way as a noun, and not a name. --DJ Phazer 19:51, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Heh. Well, per WP:NAME, if it's most commonly referred to as "Oracle RDBMS" then that's where it goes. I work for a company who rename all their products every twelve months, so I feel the pain. The important thing is the the article definitively refers to the product and not random instances of the product or various other concepts. (For what it's worth, if a redirect is getting in the way of a page move and it's not contested you can replace the offending redirect page with   and an admin will come along and delete it to make way for the move. Just for future reference.) Chris Cunningham 10:02, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I have moved the page for the last time. The page title is now the official current name of the product. All other names are either alternatives or previous names. I believe I'm being correct; add your opinion if you like. Now, time for cleanup! --DJ Phazer 02:38, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

user objects and objects in OO Programming
I'm new to wikipedia, so go easy on me :)

in the fourth paragraph under "Physical and logical structuring" there is a link from user objects to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_%28computer_science%29. As far as I know, database user objects are different from OO Programming objects. Should this link be here, or is it misleading? 75.26.36.92 00:27, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Fix typo?
"1979: Larry Ellison and friends founded..."

According to entry Oracle_Corporation, it was in 1977. The name change in the same year doesn't make sense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.96.133.16 (talk) 12:24, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Cut 'imprecision' of the intro?

 * An Oracle database, strictly speaking, consists of a collection of data managed by an Oracle database management system or DBMS. The term "Oracle database" sometimes refers - imprecisely - to the DBMS software itself. The title of this article - and parts of the article content - perpetuate this error.

I suggest that 'imprecisely' be changed to 'implicitly', and the rest of the intro reworded accordingly, for the following reasons. Comments? -- Perey 18:44, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) The introduction as it stands is needlessly long and does a bad job of actually explaining what the article is about.
 * 2) Since an Oracle database is one managed by the Oracle DBMS, the former term implies a tie to the latter, and it is this implication that the 'error' in language draws upon. People know what you mean when you talk about an 'Oracle database' and describe features of the DBMS. An NPOV hardliner would probably say that calling this an 'error' is a subjective judgement &mdash; that we should merely describe the live usage, not complain about it.
 * 3) It's just bad form to state in the first paragraph that our article is rife with error!

<> muhahahahahaha


 * In 'Oracle speak' the word "database" refers to the physical files on the hard disk. The Oracle application when running is the "instance". Personally I think there should be no entry in wikipedia for Oracle_database, it should be moved to "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_(Computer_Software)" or such like. Simonjl

yeeah baby —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.165.132.154 (talk) 09:29, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Oracle Firsts?
I'm concerned about the list of Oracle "firsts" not being accurate. I've added a "citation needed" in a couple places. The first on Linux claim might be incorrect, since I'm finding references to IBM DB2 shipping slightly earlier. Similarly, the "shared everything" claim falls down with DB2 for z/OS and Parallel Sysplex data sharing, which appeared years before Oracle's implementation.

Could someone check these out more thoroughly?

-- The "first web database" things a bit suspect as well frankly. What does that even *mean*?. Where all those databases used on the web not webby enough? 203.59.162.212 06:46, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

-- The first proprietary database on Linux claim is incorrect. Informix SE came out on July 23, 1998: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3110   Oracle issued a press release saying that the company would support Linux, also in July 1998, but the actual release wasn't until later that year. http://lwn.net/1999/features/1998timeline/ 198.144.202.253 (talk) 20:41, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Contradictory definitions
The article gives two different definitions, in paragraphs that are quite close from one another:

iSQL*Plus, a web-browser-based interface to Oracle database DML

and

SQL*Plus, a CLI-based program that allows users to interact with Oracle database(s) via SQL and PL/SQL commands.

Can somebody clarify, please? --AVM (talk) 23:01, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Notice the "i" in front of SQL*Plus on the first one? iSQL*Plus != SQL*Plus. Jerazol (talk) 08:31, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Their purposes are almost identical; the main difference is just web interface vs. CLI. There are a few commands not available  in iSQL*Plus, such as the spool command, which spools output to a text file. I can see the potential for confusion since the article implies that iSQL*Plus is solely for DML, and SQL*Plus is for SQL and PL/SQL commands. MeekMark (talk) 12:33, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Feature restrictions in Standard Edition One?
The article states that Standard Edition One "has some additional feature-restrictions" but the link at [26] says "Standard Edition One is an affordable, full-featured database". So, are there any restrictions in One, and if so, which?

Also, IMHO, the description of the various editions should go into more detail. Any expert on the subject?

wr 87.139.81.19 (talk) 07:35, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Oracle logo.svg
The image Image:Oracle logo.svg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --00:51, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Supported Platforms
Still learning the guidelines re. copyrighted web sites. Oracle's information page has installation guides for a number of platforms for 10g. Could that be used to update the outdated list in this article? Thanks. Rxmz20 (talk) 14:39, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Just trying to add HOW-TOs
I did some completes (??) installation guide for the latest RDBMS version... why not giving some links on this page ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wwwdjtoniofr (talk • contribs) 20:44, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
 * WP:NOHOWTOJasper Deng (talk) 03:36, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

"...but one limited to 11 GB of user data a..."
Refering to Oracle Express Edition I believe that user data is limited to 4GB and not 11GB. See http://www.oracle.com/us/products/database/product-editions-066501.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.132.98.109 (talk) 19:36, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

SQL 2008:E021-03 / E131 problems
This piece of code shows that Oracle considers an empty string '' to be equivalent to null:

set serveroutput on

DECLARE v_name varchar2(30) not null := ' '; -- a single space is considered an empty string -- an actual empty string ('') is considered null and gives an error BEGIN DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Name is: ['||v_name||']'); v_name := 'EXAMPLE NAME'; DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Name is: ['||v_name||']'); v_name := ' '; DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Name is: ['||v_name||']'); END; — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.146.28.114 (talk) 09:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

The claim is made that: "Oracle is the world's first RDBMS
Surely, this is not the case. I am unsure which is the first but, amongst others, IBM System R and Logica Rapport were around before Oracle, I believe. Can someone clarify please? Geoff97 18:09, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)


 * Multics too claims to be the first RDBMS. We need a consensus.
 * "...(RSI) was founded in 1979 and released Oracle V.2 as the world's first relational database.".
 * "Multics Relational Data Store (MRDS)... is believed to be the first relational database management system ...".
 * Jay 07:29, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)

RSI was started in 1979. There are references to other RDBMSs before that date, which seems to eliminate Oracle as the first. The question is which was the first? See #10 here for a reference to RAPPORT-3 from Logica:  Geoff97 10:33, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)
 * RDBMS is a loosely coined term according to Relational database management system and there is no database that fully follows the rules of the relational model. Hence we can remove the "Oracle is the world's first RDBMS" statement from the page or make a modification to make it NPOV. Jay 16:42, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)

If you take the strict definition, then there are no RDBMSs, so Oracle wasn't the first. If you take a less strict view and ask what was the first near-RDBMS, that wasn't Oracle either, but we're not sure what was. So, in the statement "and introduced their product Oracle V2 as the first commercial relational database system" I propose to change "the first" to "an early" to make this NPOV. In the bulleted list of firsts towards the end I propose to remove the first RDBMS claim completely. Geoff97 17:49, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)
 * The discussion can be continued at Talk:Database management system. I've copied the contents to there. Jay 21:34, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)
 * This discussion was moved awhile ago; there's some good comments over there. Paul Raveling's comment in particular lines up with my understanding from many discussions with others in the industry - Oracle only ever claimed to be the first *commercial* product that could actually be bought.  I think the original text actually was accurate (first commercial) and the current text is actually inaccurate (an early commercial).  Should either (1) revert to original text or (2) remove the word commercial and just say it was an early RDBMS, which is accurate.  ArdentPerf (talk) 20:31, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

IP editor and commercial product placement
I've twice removed an external URL to one single commercial product that IP editor 96.242.234.34 has littered about Wikipedia. Editor has placed product advertisement links in Oracle Database, IBM DB2 database, various other database articles and even in remote sensing. I've left notes on the IP editor's talk page and IP editor has ignored an admonition to cease using Wikipedia to promote one product. Another editor had done similar last month. IP editor then added the reverted link and was reverted. One more revert by IP editor will result in an AIV report.Wzrd1 (talk) 15:32, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Needs a total rewrite
This article really needs a total rewrite. As a start, it really needs to start with a general overview of how all the components fit together, but in a more comprehensive and less technical manner. For instance, we really don't need to know the exact initialize parameters, though a discussion of what an init parameter is would be good.

I'll give this some thought as I'm thinking of doing something about this article. - Tbsdy lives (formerly Ta bu shi da yu) talk 12:24, 25 December 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, my initial thoughts are to structure the article in the following way:
 * Lead section
 * Architecture
 * Blocks, extents and segments
 * Tablespaces
 * Control files
 * Schema and data dictionary
 * Instance information
 * Memory structures
 * SGA
 * Buffer cache
 * Dictionary cache
 * Shared pool
 * Cursors
 * PGA
 * Process architecture
 * Dedicated vs Shared server
 * LGWR
 * DBWn
 * CKPT
 * SMON
 * PMON
 * ARCn
 * QMNn
 * Features
 * Concurrency features
 * RAC info
 * Administration
 * Automatic undo management
 * ASSM
 * ADDM and AWR
 * Oracle Enterprise Manager
 * Advisor framework
 * Oracle Managed Files and ASM
 * Content management
 * Application development (PL/SQL, OCI, Java frameworks, etc.)
 * What do people think? - Tbsdy lives (formerly Ta bu shi da yu) talk 13:54, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * A good technical overview would certainly help, and a picture would paint a thousand words. I have a few books on Oracle that may help - I think these will probably have a diagram showing how the components of the database fit together. Obviously we couldn't use one of these but presumably we could come up with an original version? I'm not sure how much of the above list could be covered in any detail without getting into Wikibooks territory, and there is also the issue of how much the article should focus on the current version of Oracle - I think we should avoid too much recentism and if possible give an overview of how the architecture and features have changed over the years, which if we keep it at a fairly high level probably isn't too much - I have books based on v7 and v8 which may help, and I believe recent technical manuals are all freely available online. A lot of the current content of the article doesn't belong - history of Oracle Corp, development suites, other databases, user groups, etc. - these are better covered elsewhere.--Michig (talk) 16:12, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I was wondering about those other sections... maybe we could still use them? For the architecture, I think that we could cover all the areas here without focussing too much on deprecated features - while I'm not that familiar with Oracle 11g, oracle 10g was where they really started adding the most advanced featureset that they are using today. But definitely interested in the sort of third party material you have there Michig! - Tbsdy lives (formerly Ta bu shi da yu) talk 22:47, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Something along the lines of the diagram here is what I had in mind - maybe it could be simplified a little?--Michig (talk) 17:18, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree, it is shockingly bad article. I was a oracle dba for a number of years, and its a real shame that wikipedia doesn't reflect what oracle databases are all about, particulalry since they hold the majority, in terms of market share. I also agree with Michig. I think several diagrams are essential to describe the relationship of memory to processes with the SGA. Their is also another diagram which was floating about years ago, in the oracle books, I think, which describes the relationship between datafiles, block, segments and tablespaces. Its virtually impossible using the current article to define how they are related to each other. Also I think their needs to be some focus on the move to automated work repositories introduced in 10g, and expanded heavily 11g, eg, automated storage management, automatic memory management. Aprt from that the breakdown is pretty decent, and would present a vast increase in article quality. scope_creep 16:10, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
 * From a search of Oracle.com, came up with this diagram which describes the breakdown of the logical to physical relationship. The diagrams on this page here explaining the relationship of blocks to datafiles would be beneficial as would a description ot the internal structure of some of these disk and memory structures. On top of that a single diagram, (I may be harping on here.), which shows the overall relationship of all components in the oracle instance, like this. I wouldn't mind knocking one up for Oracle 11g. scope_creep 16:22, 5 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I think this is still an issue, and the outline you've proposed is significantly better. This is not structured like a wikipedia article in it's current form. Splitting things into features, architecture, etc would be a vast improvement. "Physical and logical structures" as the first heading, it extremely strange from my view, and doesn't conform with any other database article I can find. Something like "Overview", then "History", then "Architecture" would seem to make more sense. You could have most of the same content, but within it's reasonable heading. q (talk) 14:15, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

If anyone can do a rewrite to make this more intelligible, please do but be aware that the RDBMS is no longer anywhere close to being as simple as portrayed in the suggestions above.

For example, the process model illustrated here is long out of date: By the time I retired from the Oracle Server Technologies Division the number of server processes had at least doubled from those shown here. Some notable missing process types are Streams coordinators and slaves. Within the kernel the most important processes are generally those for user sessions, with some special cases when using RAC. For the area that I worked in, RECO processes were often significant for two-phase-commit error recovery. There are some additional new processes that I won't mention because several were added in a major version of the product that might not be released yet. Also, at the time I retired a number of them seemed to be not yet documented.

About the comment at the top of the page saying that the page has too much jargon -- In all honesty, this seems VERY naive. This is a highly technical product, it's not possible to talk about it without using some of its subject-specific vocabulary. This page is in fact very mild in the degree of specialized language that it uses. Perhaps Wikipedia should have separate pages for different classes of readers.

Paul Raveling (talk) 06:47, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

On Microsoft Windows Server platforms, I think the "process model" is actually implemented as Windows threads (or certainly used to be), and therefore it is less easy to see PMON, SMON etc process architecture from the Windows Task manager (more detailed process monitoring tools will expose the process architecture).

193.35.250.233 (talk) 10:47, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Rename to Oracle database?
Wiki policy is strongly against capitalisation in names and titles. As "Oracle" is known (as a proper name) as "Oracle" rather than "Oracle Database", why should it be capitalised here? Wiki is very much against following "non-sentence" capitalisation for product names, no matter what the product owner calls it. Even terms that are generally treated as proper noun phrases or with strong dependencies on capitalisation (like Software as a Service, SaaS ) often lose their capitals here. Viam Ferream (talk) 09:50, 14 January 2016 (UTC)


 * There is also "Oracle Corporation", should we be referring to them as "oracle corporation"? Proper names are capitalized throughout Wikipedia, be it a name of a person or a name of a corporation. Something like software as a service isn't a proper name, as it's a description of how software is licensed, rather than a proper name.131.131.64.210 (talk) 12:20, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * What is the corporation called? I think it's "Oracle Corporation", in which case capitalising the name would be right - although there seem to be many editors who wouldn't even capitalise that.
 * My point here though is that the WP:COMMONNAME for the DB is "Oracle database", not "Oracle Database". So we both don't like Title Case for it and we can't justify it. Viam Ferream (talk) 13:11, 14 January 2016 (UTC)


 * This has sat here for a year. Anything more to add? Otherwise I'm going to rename it as Oracle database, per MOS, COMMONNAME (it's usually just called "Oracle") and in the lack of any source for a proper noun name of "Oracle Database". Andy Dingley (talk) 12:00, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Redo it all
This article has been totally destroyed. It's not at all in the style of an encyclopedia. I see no other option but to restart it from scratch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bohan (talk • contribs) 10:53, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

Article needs some trimming
Some sections go into and list details that don't seem appropiate for a Wikipedia article. For example, the "Physical and logical structures" section contains listings of various internal processes and C data structures. That entire section should be limited to a succinct overview of what the database uses (physical) or represents (logical). We'll leave the process listings to Oracle books.

"Deployment" and "Use" have some overlap and it's not made very clear why they both are around.

"Database options and features" looks a lot like it's just listing every feature in the database; again the encyclopedic value is not quite clear here. Perhaps just summarize some prominent features and source it with a feature list provided in a source.

-- Phiarc (talk) 17:16, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

"Oracle Instant Client": supported platforms
Oracle provides the free (as in at no cost) Oracle Instant Client middleware, that enables running Oracle DB clients on various platforms. Isn't that valuable information, worth being quoted in the article? --johayek (talk) 08:48, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

DBMS or RDBMS
Although I just reverted a set of changes marked as minor one suggest that RDBMS be changed to DBMS. It's also to be noted Oracle Corporation supplies/supplied or has stewardship of a number of databases including Oracle NoSQL Database. Any thoughts?. Djm-leighpark (talk) 17:11, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

RDBMS refers to a database using the relational model, whereas DBMS refers generally to database management systems regardless of the data model types supported by that software. Oracle was originally developed as a relational database management system, but subsequently added a wide variety of other data modeling approaches including Object-Relational (ORDBMS), Graph, Spatial, multi-dimensional (cube structures), key/value, and document. Ccraft us (talk) 18:08, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Also note the first sentence refers to Oracle as both "relational" (RDBMS) and "multi-model", which is a conflict in terms. Using the general term Database Management System (DBMS) eliminates that conflict. Ccraft us (talk) 21:04, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Regarding the other databases from Oracle, those include MySQL, Oracle NoSQL Database, and TimesTen. Ccraft us (talk) 03:15, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

lede Re-write
I just did a load of reversions to the lead on a technicality that they were marked as minor. But I will also comment is probably unsatisfactory. In my opinion the lede should be in general terms that make sense to a tweleve year old (or your average manager) and not going into technie details the technies can find in the body. And the lede should also be supported by the body. It's more important to say how it is an enterprise level database theat has evolved over time. Probably also need to mention Oracle Corporation also does other database management systems as well. But it's possibly necessary to gain consensus before doing a re-write. I havan't got time to even try at present.Djm-leighpark (talk) 17:26, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

I will re-submit the changes as a request for edit on the talk page, since I am an employee of Oracle. I will avoid anything that isn't (yet) supported in the body of the article, or possibly provide supporting detail to be placed in the body simultaneously with my suggestions for the lead section. Please reply with your advise if you have suggestions on a better approach. Ccraft us (talk) 03:51, 31 January 2019 (UTC)


 * I'd suggest preparing a new lede on the workpage I've just created. Unlikely the talk page which is essentially a log that is mostly appended to a workpage is an editable page.Djm-leighpark (talk) 08:42, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

Was version 2 SQL Based ?
The 1979 version 2 would generally be agreed to be an RDBMS, however was it SQL based? My hazy and possibly recollection from reading some decades ago is the intitial version(s) were not SQL based but simply used the OCI. Of course their may have been an SQL pre-processor. Referring to http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_history_oracle.htm ... and I might prefer to find an alternative reference with no disrespect to that author ... it was 1983 version 3 that first supported the execution of SQL statements and transactions.Djm-leighpark (talk) 07:09, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table : 978-1-59059-387-5 Chapter 1 may seem to imply SQL was used in version 2 ... but I am no means convinced that it can be read unambiguously.Djm-leighpark (talk) 17:05, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

Oracle version 2 was SQL based. Version 2 was released and desupported long before the World Wide Web, so it's difficult to locate online resources to prove this. It's entirely possible a library somewhere has a printed copy of the version 2 manuals, or Larry Ellison might have a copy in his personal collection. I would offer these links to show that Oracle Version 2 was SQL-based:


 * Virtual Exhibition in Informatics, Oracle V2
 * Oracle 18c Intro - Brief History of Oracle Database

Oracle was not the first Relational DBMS, but was the first made available as a commercial product and it used the SQL language. Ccraft us (talk) 11:18, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

Very Poorly Summarized
This article clearly shows a lot of dense technical info, but lacks any sort of popularly intelligible summary or overview at the top. The historical blurb following the title is interesting but sheds zero light on the actual use or function of Oracle system. All that the uninitiated (like me) can glean about the software comes from the first line of the Physical and Logical Structures paragraph:

"An Oracle database system—identified by an alphanumeric system identifier or SID—comprises at least one instance of the application, along with data storage. An instance—identified persistently by an instantiation number (or activation id: SYS.V_$DATABASE.ACTIVATION#)—comprises a set of operating-system processes and memory-structures that interact with the storage."

Ok, so it has a database and an application. Like an operating system. Or a video game. Or any other piece of software ever. The two hyphenated asides make one read the sentences about three times to glean even this much, and provide seemingly unimportant details abour naming schemes. From here, the article descends into unapologetic technobabble. The whole thing is so opaque to the common reader that it seems to be an orchestrated effort to conceal Oracle's purpose and function from the public.

Please, if you know what Oracle *is* from some more civilized source, write an Overview section which gives the lowdown on the subject. A paragraph would suffice. Even one sentence would more than double the article's value. I have created an account solely to draw attention to the embarrassing stare of this article.

Thanks, Oogalook

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Oogalook (talk • contribs) 14:52, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

Real application clusters

 * Real application clusters is oracle's clustering technology for databases and highly available applications. The database backend is available from multiple nodes which is further extended to have caches across all the other nodes using Cache fusion. Traditionally the database executes from a single box has disks where the necessary datafiles and redo logs are located. For Real Application Clusters as what its called as an expansion of the acronym RAC which is more well known among the Oracle DBA community is used for providing access to the data stored in this database across multiple physical boxes which could be servers from branded vendors or commodity hardware. RAC works on most platforms and Linux certainly being popular one can use this with Redhat (the EL series) or United linux. APAC has growth in the areas for Miracle linux and Asianux for Asian specific distributions.

This was the text in a separate article. I've removed it to here, and made the page a redirect to Oracle database. If you think that it belongs here, perhaps someone could insert it in the right place (I don't really have the know-how to judge). If you think that it deserves a separate article, then it could be Wikified and replaced. Mel Etitis ( &Mu;&epsilon;&lambda; &Epsilon;&tau;&eta;&tau;&eta;&sigmaf; ) 22:45, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Oracle based on University Ingres?
Is the Oracle codebase developed from "University Ingres" or not? I would imagine not, in which case that would be notable in the main argument, because the majority of its compettitors (CA-Ingres, Sybase, SQL Server etc) were. My doubts are really only raised because that on casual inspection Pro*C is remarkably like Ingres ESQL - so is Pro*c developed from ESQL or perhaps ESQL is some kind of industry 'standard' from somewhere? The ESQL page doesn't say where ESQL came from or to which DBMS systems it applies.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Slothie (talk • contribs) 17:47, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit Request - 1 on 30-Sept-2019: Rename paragraph "Releases and versions"
I'd like to rename paragraph-subheading1 "Releases and versions" as paragraph-heading "Evolution". This change will match the paragraph name "Evolution" that exists in Oracle Exadata wikipedia page.

Thanks to let me know. JFVerrier (talk) 08:54, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Request - 2 on 30-Sept-2019: Move paragraph "Evolution"
I'd like to move paragraph-heading "Evolution" (formerly renamed in Edit Request - 1 on 30-Sept-2019: Rename paragraph "Releases and versions") before paragraph-heading "Use". This change will match the TOC structure of Oracle Exadata wikipedia page.

Thanks to let me know.

JFVerrier (talk) 08:57, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Request - 3 on 30-Sept-2019: Replace lists of features separated by commas by lists
I'd like to replace lists of features separated by commas, by lists, in the table in paragraph-heading "Evolution" (formerly renamed in Edit Request - 1 on 30-Sept-2019: Rename paragraph "Releases and versions"), in column “Marquee Features”, as follows:

Concurrency control, data distribution, and scalability, ==> Concurrency control Data distribution Scalability Row-level locking, scalability, online backup and recovery, PL/SQL. First version available for Novell Netware 386. ==> Row-level locking Scalability Online backup and recovery PL/SQL. First version available for Novell Netware 386. PL/SQL stored procedures, Triggers, Distributed 2-phase commit, Shared Cursors, Cost Based Optimizer ==> PL/SQL stored procedures Triggers Distributed 2-phase commit Shared Cursors Cost Based Optimizer Shared Server, XA Transactions, Transparent Application Failover ==> Shared Server XA Transactions Transparent Application Failover Recovery Manager, Partitioning. First version available for Linux. ==> Recovery Manager Partitioning First version available for Linux Native internet protocols and Java, Virtual Private Database ==> Native internet protocols and Java Virtual Private Database Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle XML DB ==> Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Oracle XML DB Advanced Queuing, Data Mining, Streams, Logical Standby ==> Advanced Queuing Oracle Data Mining Streams Logical Standby Automated Database Management, Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor, Grid infrastructure, Oracle ASM, Flashback Database ==> Automated Database Management Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor Grid infrastructure Oracle ASM Flashback Database Real Application Testing, Database Vault, Online Indexing, Advanced Compression, Data Guard Fast-Start Failover, Transparent Data Encryption ==> Real Application Testing Database Vault Online Indexing Advanced Compression Data Guard Fast-Start Failover Transparent Data Encryption Active Data Guard, Secure Files, Exadata ==> Active Data Guard Secure Files Exadata Edition Based Redefinition, Data Redaction, Hybrid Columnar Compression, Cluster File System, Golden Gate Replication, Database Appliance ==> Edition Based Redefinition Data Redaction Hybrid Columnar Compression Cluster File System Golden Gate Replication Database Appliance Multitenant architecture, In-Memory Column Store, Native JSON, SQL Pattern Matching, Database Cloud Service ==> Multitenant architecture In-Memory Column Store (Column-oriented DBMS) Native JSON (JSON) SQL Pattern Matching Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Database Cloud Service Native Sharding, Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, Exadata Cloud Service, Cloud at Customer ==> Native Sharding Exadata Cloud Service Cloud at Customer Polymorphic Table Functions, Active Directory Integration ==> Online Database Encryption In-Memory Indexes for Key-Value Lookups Approximate Aggregations Polymorphic Table Functions Active Directory Integration Active Data Guard DML Redirection, Automatic Index Creation, Real-Time Statistics Maintenance, SQL Queries on Object Stores, In-Memory for IoT Data Streams, and many more. ==> In-Memory for IoT Streaming Automatic Index Creation Real-Time Statistics Maintenance SQL Queries on Object Stores Issue DML on Active Data Guard Thanks to let me know.

JFVerrier (talk) 09:38, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Request - 4 on 30-Sept-2019: Rename paragraph "Oracle Database Deployment"
I'd like to rename paragraph-heading "Oracle Database Deployment" as paragraph-heading " Oracle Database Use Cases".

Thanks to let me know.

JFVerrier (talk) 09:59, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Request on Sep 29 2019
Information to be added or removed:

Add the following paragraph to the introduction at the top of the page: One of the important goal of the Oracle Database is to build cutting edge technologies like Multitenancy, JSON, Analytics, Machine_learning, Blockchain, and many more, directly within a converged infrastructure to greatly simplify applications' development and deployment.

Explanation of issue: This is one of the most important goals of the Oracle Database and it is missing in the article. References supporting change: Minute 37:22 from Video delivered by Juan Loaiza (Oracle EVP System Technology)

JFVerrier (talk) 12:17, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Requests
Can I respectfully suggest people with WP:COI please use Template:Request edit when making edit requests to this article identified as mid-high importance by WikiProjects when they will usually be evaluated by specialists in this area. Also please appreciate the volunteers in this area often do not appreciate using their volunteer time to fix the issue from paid professionals. As with level 0 backups and restores of databases it is often better to practice and get success on small examples before moving into the 10 Terrabyte range. Thankyou. Djm-leighpark (talk) 10:01, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for driving me through the Wikipedia processes but you understood that I am brand new to this exercise. My intention is only to provide accurate technical information to the audience despite the fact that I have a COI. I am following your recommendations and will now create edit request using the right template. I understand that this is a lot of work for both of us, but what can we do? With my kindest regards, JFVerrier (talk) 12:32, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Edit Request on 31-JAN-2019
In the section on "History" and/or under the "Releases and Versions" section, please add the following sources as reference for the claim that Oracle Version 2 (released in 1979) was the "first commercially available SQL-Based Relational DBMS".


 * Virtual Exhibitions in Informatics, Oracle V2
 * Brief History of Oracle Database

As noted in these sources, IBM's System/R and SEQUEL pre-dated Oracle V2, but those were not commercial products.

Thanks Ccraft us (talk) 13:58, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

I'd like to profoundly modify this page because it is way too much overloaded with old information and not up to date ones. It needs to be also more consistent with the French version of this page as well as the Exadata page. The TOC needs to be redone and I'll post a new request shortly.

First, would it be possible for me to add the following paragraph to the introduction at the top of the page ?

One of the important goal of the Oracle Database is to build cutting edge technologies like Multitenancy, JSON, Analytics, Machine Learning, Blockchain, and many more, directly within a converged infrastructure to greatly simplify applications' development and deployment.

Thanks to let me know.

JFVerrier (talk) 08:23, 29 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier (Struck request duplicated in following paragraph for clarity). Djm-leighpark (talk) 09:37, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

. Djm-leighpark (talk) 12:48, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Edit Request - 5 on 30-Sept-2019: Update content in paragraph "Database Cloud Services"
I'd like to add in paragraph-subheading1 “Database Cloud Services” the following sentences at the last place: Oracle Cloud provides a set of data management services built on self-driving Oracle Autonomous Database technology to deliver automated patching, upgrades, and tuning, including performing all routine database maintenance tasks while the system is running, without human intervention. Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) provides you an easy-to-use, fully autonomous data warehousing environment that scales elastically, delivers fast query performance and requires no database administration. Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) delivers a self-driving, self-securing, self-repairing database service that can instantly scale to meet demands of mission critical transaction processing and mixed workload applications.
 * Bulleted list item
 * Bulleted list item

Thanks to let me know.

JFVerrier (talk) 10:01, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Reply 30-SEP-2019

 * To expedite your request, please provide the following information:
 * 1) Please state each specific desired change in the form of verbatim claim statements which can then be added to the article (if approved) by the reviewer.
 * 2) The exact location where the desired statements are to be placed should be given.
 * 3) Exact, verbatim descriptions of any text or references to be removed should also be given.
 * 4) Reasons should be provided for each change.
 * In the section of text below titled Sample edit request, the four required items are shown as an example:

 1. Please remove the third sentence from the second paragraph of the Sun section:
 * "The Sun's diameter is estimated to be approximately 25 miles in length."

2. Please add the following claim as the third sentence of the second paragraph of the Sun section:
 * "The Sun's diameter is estimated to be approximately 864,337 miles in length."

3. Using as the reference:

4. Reason for change being made:
 * "The previously given diameter was incorrect."

Regards, Spintendo  13:12, 30 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Kindly open a new edit request at your earliest convenience when ready to proceed with all four items from your request. Thank you!

Add Goal sentence in the first paragraph
Information to be added: Please add the following claim as the last sentence of the first paragraph :

"One of the important goal of the Oracle Database is to build cutting edge technologies like Multitenancy, JSON, Analytics, Machine_learning, Blockchain, and many more, directly within a converged infrastructure to greatly simplify applications' development and deployment."

right after "Oracle Database (commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply as Oracle) is a proprietary multi-model database[4] management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation." It is a database commonly used for running online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing (DW) and mixed (OLTP & DW) database workloads. The latest generation, Oracle Database 19c, is available on-prem, on-cloud, or in a hybrid-Cloud environment. 19c may also be deployed on Oracle Engineered Systems (e.g. Exadata) on-prem, on Oracle (public) cloud or (private) cloud at customer.[5] At Openworld 2017 in San Francisco, Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO, Larry Ellison announced the next database generation, Oracle Autonomous Database.[6] "

Explanation of the change: This is one of the most important goals of the Oracle Database and it is missing in the article.

References supporting change: Minute 37:22 from Video delivered by Juan Loaiza (Oracle EVP System Technology)

JFVerrier (talk) 15:55, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier


 * Why is this goal important? Who (other than Oracle employees) say so? Why are those technologies cutting edge? Who says so? - MrOllie (talk) 16:04, 30 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks MrOllie, you are asking questions that could be asked for many if not all of the sentences I can read on this article.
 * For example, take the very first opening sentence that says "Oracle Database (commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply as Oracle) is a proprietary multi-model database[4] management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation."


 * Regarding "commonly referred to as ORACLE RDBMS or simply Oracle": who say so?


 * Regarding multi-model a reference number 4 here is given to an Oracle document. So that is said by Oracle employees no?


 * Why this went through and mine would not ?


 * This is exactly the same reasoning, no?


 * Sorry to ask but I am very new to this world and would sincerely like to add value to this article.


 * Would the following be better?


 * "The Oracle Database builds many technologies like Multitenancy, JSON, Analytics, Machine_learning, Blockchain, and many more, directly within a converged infrastructure to simplify applications' development and deployment." and making a reference to the video I refered too originally? at minute 37:22 https://www.oracle.com/openworld/on-demand.html?bcid=6087202381001


 * Thanks to let me know.
 * JFVerrier (talk) 17:40, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Reply 30-SEP-2019
One of the important goal [sic] of the Oracle Database is to build cutting edge technologies like Multitenancy, JSON, Analytics, Machine_learning, Blockchain, and many more, directly within a converged infrastructure to greatly simplify applications' development and deployment. This claim statement has several issues, 2 of which MrOllie mentioned. Another issue is that this appears to be a statement of the company's goals. Describing the object of a company's ambitions or efforts, as well as descriptions of its aims and its desired results, are ultimately not the purpose of the article.

The article is meant primarily to be an accounting of what the company has done — i.e., what it has produced, sold, and encountered as an institution existing in a business marketplace. The realm of the real, or actual, is what Wikipedia deals in, as in what actually occurred during a business's existence. The realm of ideas — such as hopes, desires, goals and aspirations are not the purpose of a Wikipedia page assigned to cover a business.

Now one could say that instead of meaning to write "goals", what was actually meant was to merely describe what the "purposes" of the Oracle database is, and then to list the technologies used by the company, in order to imply that the company's tech does what it's supposed to do....One of the important goal(s) of the Oracle Database is to build cutting edge technologies like Multitenancy...to greatly simplify applications' development is really just saying "The goal of the company is to deliver efficient technology such as project X, a project which carries out its duties efficiently", which is a nice roundabout way of complimenting and thereby promoting the company's products twice in one sentence, which is also not the purpose of the article. Regards, Spintendo  18:19, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Absolutely agree with you. The thing is that all these technologies are already there in the database. So I should rephrase this to list what is in there currently. Will do it soon. Thanks JFVerrier (talk) 20:00, 30 September 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Reply 01-OCT-2019
I suggest adding the following claim as the last sentence of the first paragraph : "The Oracle Database integrates in a secure, highly efficient and available converged infrastructure the following technologies to simplify applications' development and deployment by avoiding polyglot persistence: right after "Oracle Database (commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply as Oracle) is a proprietary multi-model database[4] management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation." It is a database commonly used for running online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing (DW) and mixed (OLTP & DW) database workloads. The latest generation, Oracle Database 19c, is available on-prem, on-cloud, or in a hybrid-Cloud environment. 19c may also be deployed on Oracle Engineered Systems (e.g. Exadata) on-prem, on Oracle (public) cloud or (private) cloud at customer.[5] At Openworld 2017 in San Francisco, Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO, Larry Ellison announced the next database generation, Oracle Autonomous Database.[6] "
 * Relational data
 * Multitenancy
 * Sharding
 * Analytics
 * Machine Learning
 * XML
 * JSON
 * Spatial and Graph
 * Text
 * Key-Value Store
 * Large Objects

Explanation: The current introduction in the page mainly focuses on traditional RDBMS functionalities and does not sufficiently show the big evolution of the system towards ease of application development, integrated in the database during the past four years. References supporting change: Minute 37:22 from Video delivered by Juan Loaiza (Oracle EVP System Technology) and links for each technology in the text above pointing to the official Oracle documentation. JFVerrier (talk) 08:36, 1 October 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier


 * I suggest the Oracle website is the best place for marketing claims, not Wikipedia. Guy (help!) 09:17, 1 October 2019 (UTC)


 * I don't think that what we say in this paragraph is marketing, as all references are technical information and sourced directly from the official documentation website which is the legal single source of what the product is about.
 * I find it weird and shocking that you completely wiped out almost the entire previous content of the Oracle Database page without even asking anyone; this right after I was trying to add valuable information. This content was there since years and provided by valuable people.
 * If you apply the same recommendations as these, there are probably hundreds of Wikipedia pages you will have to fix.
 * In addition, the references number 4 and 5 are from the Oracle website, so why are you keeping them in the introduction?
 * I don't see any logic in all this.

JFVerrier (talk) 13:25, 1 October 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier

Purpose of Wikipedia
Wikipedia is not intended to be a How-To guide or technical manual. Much of the technical content would be fine at Wikibooks but not here - virtually all of it was drawn from Oracle publications either on its own website or sponsored. I realise that Oracle's website is a nightmare, and finding things like platform support by version is often a challenge, but we're here to describe things for a lay audience, not to provide a technical reference.

We could do with sections on Oracle engineered systems, RAC and the like, but drawn from reliable independent sources and describing them, not telling people how to specify and use them. Guy (help!) 09:41, 1 October 2019 (UTC)


 * You don't want marketing information nor technical information. What is left for a technical product like Oracle? A simple name like RDBMS is a technical acronym.
 * What to say about the "Releases and versions" table ? It is full of technical information about the markee features and you refused to add references to the meaning of these features ...
 * In addition, somebody from Dell like you who states "Oracle's website is a nightmare" without sourcing his statement must have grief against Oracle. This is not tolerable and seems to be a COI to me.
 * I spent multiple days trying to accommodate all the Wikipedia processes talking to so many different Wikipedia people with different opinions, only to see someone coming out of the blue and discarding content based on his own dictatorial principles (see all edits already attempted on this talk page and history). This is against the basic collaboration principles of open source projects like Wikipedia.

JFVerrier (talk) 13:44, 1 October 2019 (UTC)JFVerrier
 * ... Given Dell and Oracle have a competition overlap the in x86 midrange server market perhaps /Guy should strictly not have commented, though I'd broadly concur with having nightmares on the Oracle edelivery website until I'd got some sort of knack, but I'm pretty useless and I've also had difficulties (nightmares) on IBM, HP, etc. too ... and even a few blue words at the Dell website for that matter all for the old patches. I note you seem to have referred to Oracle Database as simply Oracle which perhaps is interesting given your earlier comments.  In my opinion it is well possible to write a suitable article on Oracle Database product ... I would treat it the same way I treat a steam engine article.  But it requires diligence and criticisms and warts and history to be considered.  As with all software one only really knows what was wrongs with version X-1 when version X comes out.  But in general the treatment this article has just received is little different than that received by some other commercial software products in my opinion.  I too have invested my time with you.  thankyou.Djm-leighpark (talk) 22:24, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

Final comment in main article does not follow NPOV
The last line in the main article does not appear to follow NPOV. Using words like 'fleecing' suggest underhand dealings by the company. This should be rephrased and citations about legal cases/controversies given. — Preceding unsigned comment added by KimballKinnison (talk • contribs) 12:10, 25 July 2020 (UTC)
 * In general most of the last paragraph needs removing if not cited, otherwise its non DB:V and needs removal even if halfway accurate.Djm-leighpark (talk) 14:26, 25 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Removed the last sentence in the "competition" section as totally POV. The rest of that section is questionable; it mentions mid-size markets but ignores large markets such as major corporations.  That is likely where most of Oracle's revenue comes from.  MeekMark (talk) 16:25, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 September 2020 and 7 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): LBJJames.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:47, 17 January 2022 (UTC)