This section describes the new features in the following releases:
The DBFS Client supports Windows platforms. See "DBFS Prerequisites".
LOB prefetching has JDBC support, as does zero-copy input and output. Both improve performance by reducing server round trips. See "LOB Prefetching to Improve Performance".
The Oracle Database File System creates a standard file system interface for files and directories that are stored in database tables. See Chapter 5, "Introducing the Oracle Database File System" through Chapter 10, "Creating a DBFS Store".
Database File System Links and Hierarchical Storage Management allow you to store SecureFiles content on any tape library (for example, those managed by RMAN). See "PL/SQL Packages for SecureFiles LOBs and DBFS" and Chapter 9, "DBFS Hierarchical Store".
Oracle SecureFiles add the following capabilities:
Deduplication automatically detectd duplicate LOB data and conserved space by only storing one copy of the LOB. See "About Deduplication", "ALTER TABLE Deduplication", and "ALTER TABLE Deduplication".
LOB data path optimization includes logical cache above storage layer, read prefetching, new caching modes, vectored IO, and so on.
New LOB APIs have been added to both PL/SQL packages and OCI inteface to accommodate SecureFiles, as well as new or amended SQL commands. Existing OCI functions support the new SecureFiles.
SQL statements like
TABLE have new parameters to ensure proper configuration of SecureFiles.High performance space management includes changes to LOB SQL statements and
DBMS_SPACE package changes. See Chapter 4, "Using Oracle SecureFiles LOBs".
OCI LOB prefetching improves performance. See "Prefetching of LOB Data, Length, and Chunk Size".