Oracle in a Nutshell

Name

description_information

Synopsis

DESCRIPTION_LIST=
        [(DESCRIPTION= 
                [(ADDRESS LIST=]
                        (ADDRESS=address_info)
                        [(ADDRESS=address_info). . .]
                (address_parameters)
                [)]
        [(description_list_parameter
        [) (description_list_parameter])]
        [(description_parameter
        [) (description_parameter])]
        [)]

Used to specify information about the connection. There can be more than one description_information clause for a service. If the client attempts to connect to a service, Oracle Net Services will try to connect using the first description clause. If this fails, Oracle Net Services will move on to the second clause, and so on.

Keywords and clauses

DESCRIPTION LIST

An optional keyword, used if you want to specify one or more description parameters. If this keyword is omitted, you also should not use the trailing parenthesis. If you use this parameter, client load balancing is turned on by default.

description_parameter

If you use the DESCRIPTION LIST parameter, you can specify description parameters. These parameters are:

FAILOVER=({ON | YES | TRUE} | {OFF | NO | FALSE})

Enables or disables connect-time failover for descriptions in the list. By default, failover is ON. When failover is ON, a failure to connect using one description causes Oracle Net Services to try another description in the list. Oracle Net Services works through addresses in order unless client load balancing is used. New with Oracle8i.

LOAD_BALANCE=({ON | YES | TRUE} | {OFF | NO | FALSE})

Enables or disables client load balancing. When a description ...