Purpose

Specifies whether the connection is established using a shared or dedicated server process (UNIX) or thread (Windows).

If using a tnsnames.ora file to provide connection information, do not specify this property. See Using tnsnames.ora Files for information about specifying the server type using a tnsnames.ora file.

Valid Values

shared | dedicated

Behavior

If set to shared, the server process to be used is retrieved from a pool. The socket connection between the client and server is made to a dispatcher process on the server. This setting allows there to be fewer processes than the number of connections, reducing the need for server resources. Use this value when a server must handle many users with fewer server resources.

If set to dedicated, a server process is created to service only that connection. When that connection ends, so does the process (UNIX) or thread (Windows). The socket connection is made directly between the application and the dedicated server process or thread. When connecting to UNIX servers, a dedicated server process can provide significant performance improvement, but uses more resources on the server. When connecting to Windows servers, the server resource penalty is insignificant. Use this value if you have a batch environment with low numbers of users.

If unspecified, the driver uses the server type set on the server.

Default

None

Data Type

String

See also

Performance Considerations