Oracle 8

Oracle 8 is a version of the Oracle Database.

Also see Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g and Oracle 11g.

History and Support Status

First release: June 1997

Desupport End Dates:

• Error Correction Support (ECS): 30-JUN-2000
• Extended Assistance Support (EAS): 30-JUN-2003

Last patch-set: 8.0.3.2, 8.0.4.4, 8.0.5.2 and 8.0.6.3

Features introduced

The following new features were introduced with Oracle 8:

• Object Relational database (ORDBMS) features
• Object types (not just date, character, number as in v7)
• SQL3 standard
• Call external procedures
• LOB >1 per table
• Partitioned Tables and Indexes (new partitioning option)
• partitions in multiple tablespaces
• export/import individual partitions
• Online/offline, backup/recover individual partitions
• merge/balance partitions
• Advanced Queuing for message handling
• Many performance improvements to SQL/PLSQL/OCI making more efficient use of CPU/Memory. V7 limits extended (e.g. 1000 columns/table, 4000 bytes VARCHAR2)
• Parallel DML statements (UPDATE and DELETE)
• Connection Pooling (uses the physical connection for idle users and transparently re-establishes the connection when needed) to support more concurrent users.
• Improved "STAR" Query optimizer
• Integrated Distributed Lock Manager in Oracle PS (as opposed to Operating system DLM in v7).
• Performance improvements in OPS - global V$ views introduced across all instances, transparent failover to a new node
• Data Cartridges introduced on database (e.g. image, video, context, time, spatial)
• Backup/Recovery improvements - Tablespace point in time recovery, incremental backups, parallel backup/recovery. Recovery manager introduced (see RMAN)
• Security Server introduced for central user administration. User password expiry, password profiles, allow custom password scheme. Privileged database links (no need for password to be stored)
• Fast Refresh for complex snapshots, parallel replication, PL/SQL replication code moved in to Oracle kernel. Replication manager introduced.
• Index Organized tables (IOTs)
• Deferred integrity constraint checking (deferred until end of transaction instead of end of statement).
• SQL*Net replaced by Net8
• Reverse Key indexes
• Any VIEW updateable (INSTEAD OF triggers on views)
• New ROWID format

Upgrade procedure

If you are running Oracle 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3, you can use the Oracle8 Migration Utility to upgrade the data dictionary. The amount of time it takes to do the migration depends on the number of tables you have in the database, and not on the size of the database. Note that you cannot perform a migration after a patch set has been installed. Migrate first; then apply the necessary patch sets.

For versions prior to Oracle 7.1, export your data and import it into a newly created Oracle8 database.

For more information, refer to the "Oracle8 Server Migration Release 8.0" manual.