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that involve tables and views for which you have set the result_cache option. You can also cache
PL/SQL function results in addition to SQL query results. In addition to the result_cache_mode
option, there are several result cache–related initialization parameters, such as the result_
cache_max_result, result_cache_max_size, and result_cache_remote_expiration parameters.
You can also cache query results on the client side. When you use client-side query caching,
you can specify the new parameters client_result_cache_size and client_result_cache_lag.
We discuss all these new parameters as part of the result cache feature in Chapter 4.
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Note
When you set the compatible parameter to 11.0.0 or greater, the server parameter file is written in
a new format to comply with Oracle’s HARD initiative, which helps prevent writing corrupted data to disk.
Parameter to Control DDL Lock Timeout
One of the important new features of the Oracle 11g database is the new DDL locking duration
control feature. The ddl_lock_timeout parameter lets you specify the length of time a DDL
statement will wait for a DML lock. This feature comes in handy when you want to perform
online reorganization, where a DML lock by a user may prevent a DDL operation from succeeding.
You can practically specify that a DDL statement wait forever by setting the parameter to the
maximum allowed value, which is 1,000,000 seconds. We discuss the ddl_lock_timeout parameter
in detail in Chapter 3.
SecureFiles-Related Parameter
The new Oracle SecureFiles feature is a major revamping of the implementation of Large Objects
(LOBs). By using the new initialization parameter db_securefile, you can specify whether to
treat a LOB file as a SecureFiles file. Please see Chapter 12 for a detailed discussion of SecureFiles.
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Note
The job_queue_processes parameter has been moved to the basic initialization parameters list
in Oracle Database 11g. Although this is not a big deal on the face of it, the point is that Oracle is saying you

The other new security-related initialization parameter is the parameter sec_max_failed_
login_attempts, which specifies the maximum number of times a client can make a connec-
tion attempt to a server. The default value of this parameter is 10.
Please see Chapter 5 for more details about the new case-sensitive password feature as
well as the sec_max_failed_login_attempts parameter.
Optimizer-Related Parameters
There are several important new optimizer-related initialization parameters that are intended
to support powerful new features such as SQL Plan Management, private statistics, and invis-
ible indexes. We discuss all these features in subsequent chapters and merely introduce the
relevant new initialization parameters in this section.
Oracle Database 11g replaces the old plan stability feature with the new SQL Plan Manage-
ment feature. A change in the execution plan of an important SQL statement can potentially
degrade performance. To avoid this performance degradation, the database selects optimal
SQL plan baselines and prevents the optimizer from changing the execution plan of a state-
ment until the new plan is found to be definitely superior to the existing SQL baseline plan
(lower cost). You can enable automatic SQL plan capture so the database can capture and
maintain SQL plan history using information from the optimizer.
By default, automatic plan capture is disabled, and you can enable it by setting the
optimizer_capture_sql_plan_baselines parameter to true. Chapter 4 contains a detailed
discussion of the SQL Plan Management feature.
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Use the new initialization parameter optimizer_use_sql_baselines to enable the use of SQL
plan baselines that are stored in what’s called the SQL management base. If you enable SQL plan
baselines, the cost optimizer will search in the SQL management base for a SQL plan baseline
for the SQL statement being currently compiled. If there is a SQL plan outline available, the
cost optimizer will select the baseline plan with the least cost.

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Figure 1-2. DBCA’s new Security Settings page
7. On the Network Configuration page, select the listener(s) for which you plan to register
the new database. (This is new in Oracle Database 11g.) Figure 1-3 shows the new Network
Configuration page.
Figure 1-3. DBCA’s new Network Configuration page
8. On the Storage options page, select the type of storage mechanism.
9. On the Database File Locations page, specify the Oracle software home and the
directory for the database files, or select the Oracle-Managed Files (OMF) option
for database files.
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10. On the Recovery Configuration page, specify the archivelog/noarchivelog choice and
the flash recovery area location.
11. On the Database Content page, specify the sample schemas and custom scripts to be
run after database creation.
12. On the Initialization Parameters page, alter the default settings for various initialization
parameters, such as memory, character sets, and so on. This screen lets you select among
the three types of memory allocation—automatic memory management, automatic
shared memory management, or manual shared memory management. (This option
has been modified in Oracle Database 11g.) Figure 1-4 shows this page.
Figure 1-4. The DBCA’s New Initialization Parameters page
13. On the Database Storage page, make changes in the storage structure of the database.