This system is where the Oracle Data Base is installed. The professional and self service interface connect to the application server and it is the application server that connects to the data base. Third party and external tools like Discoverer, SQL plus, SQl Loader or other report writing tools would connect to the data base directly.

There are several functions that will activate procedures in the data abse that will then execute on that server, including outputting files for interface purposes. In this case, the user on t he server that is executing the Oracle data base process must have write access to the directory indicated. Unless you change the user who is running the Oracle processes using the Contol Panel Services applet, you are limited to local (on the server) directories.

With recent versions of the Oracle Data Base, it is recommended that this be further abstracted using the CREATE DIRECTORY operations.