Browser-Based SQL*Plus

The new three- tier , web browser-based i SQL*Plus introduced in 2001 as part of Oracle9 i Database shook up the staid world of SQL*Plus, and certainly surprised many Oracle users (including me), who expected SQL*Plus to continue on as the simple, client-server application it always had been. Since then, Oracle has made virtually all of its administrative functionality web-accessible in the form of the newer , web-based Oracle Enterprise Manager interface in Oracle Database 10 g .

In Oracle9 i Database, i SQL*Plus ran under Oracle's HTTP Server, which was a version of the Apache web server connected to your Oracle database. In Oracle Database 10 g , i SQL*Plus runs as a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server using Oracle Containers for Java (OC4J) as the server engine. In Oracle9 i Database, i SQL*Plus was installed separately from the database along with the HTTP Server. In Oracle Database 10 g , i SQL*Plus is installed by default with the database on the database server.

Using i SQL*Plus means that you can connect to your database from any machine on your network without the need to first install Oracle's client software. That's a real convenience, even for those of us who prefer the older, two-tier, command-line SQL*Plus.