iSQL*Plus in Font

Paint QR-Code in Font iSQL*Plus

The iSQL*Plus interface isn t very different from the traditional SQL*Plus interface, in terms of the type of commands you can use. iSQL*Plus is actually a web-based interface to the regular SQL*Plus engine. Thus, underlying all interaction with the iSQL*Plus interface is the SQL*Plus engine that performs the actual work and returns the results to the iSQL*Plus interface. The big difference is that iSQL*Plus is browser-based; therefore, once you have access to a machine that has just about any type of web browser, all you need is the URL of the HTTP server in order to log into the database from anywhere (security considerations permitting). You can do in iSQL*Plus most of what you can do in SQL*Plus, including running queries, either manually or with the help of scripts, and administering the database itself. The iSQL*Plus interface comes bundled with the Oracle server as a component of the SQL*Plus software. This is important to remember iSQL*Plus is not part of the Client installation like the SQL*Plus interface or the SQL*Plus Windows GUI. The iSQL*Plus interface s architecture is based on a middle tier, which includes the iSQL*Plus Application Server (with a built-in web server). This middle tier communicates with the database on one side and the client on the other. The iSQL*Plus interface involves minimal or no configuration, and, in some cases, you may be able to use it right out of the box. However, it may take some time for you to feel completely comfortable with iSQL*Plus. There are some limitations to using iSQL*Plus because some of the common SQL*Plus commands are either redundant or can t be used in it. Install it and get good at using it, because it provides some interesting reporting facilities, such as HTML-formatted reports.

If iSQL*Plus is installed on a common server, clients can log into the iSQL*Plus environment and access all the databases, without any Oracle software on the client machines.

There isn t much to installing the iSQL*Plus software its installation is part of the Oracle server software installation. If you create a database using the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA), the iSQL*Plus Application Server is automatically started at the end of the database-creation

You have three components in the iSQL*Plus architecture the client tier, the middle tier consisting of the iSQL*Plus Application Server, and the database tier. Although the configuration of any one of the three components is not really difficult, you may have to deal with certain issues at each level, depending on your system s configuration and your Internet or intranet architecture. The following sections examine each of these three components.

The client tier consists of the web browser based iSQL*Plus user interface, and all you have to do is ensure you have installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, or Netscape Navigator 4.7 or later. (In fact, you can use just about any web browser, including Firefox.) In most cases, you are not required to make any changes in your browser settings, as long as you are set to accept cookies and run JavaScript. In addition, on some web browsers, you may have to set up new application extensions for files or add a proxy server exception for your web server running in the middle tier. You can make all these changes by selecting Preferences from the Edit menu in Netscape or by selecting Internet Options from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer. To connect to iSQL*Plus, you must type in the following URL in your web browser: http://machine_name.domain:port/isqlplus For example, on my server, this translates to http://localhost:5560/isqlplus

Make sure that the middle tier, the iSQL*Plus Application Server, is up and running before you connect to the iSQL*Plus interface through your browser and start an iSQL*Plus session. If your iSQL*Plus Application Server isn t running, you ll see the following message when you try to connect to iSQL*Plus by using, for example, the URL http://localhost:5560/isqlplus: The connection was refused when attempting to contact localhost:5560. In the next few sections, I explain how to start and stop the iSQL*Plus Application Server and how to check whether the iSQL*Plus Application Server is running. You can change the iSQL*Plus configuration file, http-web-site.xml, located in the $$ORACLE_ HOME/oc4j/j2ee/isqlplus/config directory, to modify the default settings of the iSQL*Plus server. You should probably edit this configuration file to change the default iSQL*Plus session timeout parameter from its limit of 60 minutes. Sometimes, you may be unable to connect because the port that the iSQL*Plus Application Server is attempting to use is already in use by another application. In this case, you can change the port setting in the http-web-site.xml file.