In this article I will write about installing the Oracle Database 10g XE on Windows and changing the default port number for HTTP and optionally for FTP. The installer does not provide any customization option and you end up with the DB server instantly up and running reserving the port 1521 (a default for Oracle database servers), including an embedded HTTP listener set to a default port of 8080 which might conflict with some existing Java application servers or servlet containers such as Tomcat, JBoss Application Server and Glassfish which use the same port by default. Although it’s easy to start and stop the Oracle database with the shortcuts pre-installed in the Start menu, its http listener remains “on” at all times with no shortcut to be turned on and off easily.
In my case I already have Tomcat and Glassfish which are set to use the 8080 port as well, so I will show you how to modify the port number of Oracle 10g XE as I go along.
About APEX or what I would normally call Oracle 10g XE
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE also goes by an abbreviated code name APEX) is an entry-level, small-footprint database based on the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 code base that’s free to develop, deploy, and distribute; fast to download; and simple to administer. Oracle Database XE is a great starter database for:
- Developers working on PHP, Java, .NET, XML, and Open Source applications
- DBAs who need a free, starter database for training and deployment
- Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and hardware vendors who want a starter database to distribute free of charge
- Educational institutions and students who need a free database for their curriculum.
With Oracle Database XE, you can now develop and deploy applications with a powerful, proven, industry-leading infrastructure, and then upgrade when necessary without costly and complex migrations.
An Oracle database is a collection of data treated as a unit. The purpose of a database is to store and retrieve related information. A database server is the key to solving the problems of information management. In general, a server reliably manages a large amount of data in a multiuser environment so that many users can concurrently access the same data. All this is accomplished while delivering high performance. A database server also prevents unauthorized access and provides efficient solutions for failure recovery.