Oracle provides for the installation of multiple ORACLE_HOMEs on a single server for support of separate databases. This is normally seen in production systems to allow for isolation of databases residing on the same server. In this article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of such a configuration, in order to determine which would best suit your needs.

Advantages:

1. Oracle database software is physically separated and corruption will not affect all databases.
2. Ability to configure and manage network configuration to one database without affecting the others.
3. Ability to patch single database without affecting other databases.
4. Configuration changes to one database will not impact other databases.

Disadvantages:

1. Increase maintenance and software configuration work required.
2. Increase disk storage requirements.
3. Increase management of network configurations.
4. Increase use of system resources.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com