How to find out which version of Oracle is running

In order to handle a database connection, a separate Oracle process is required, which may require up to 2 MB of memory. Normally an Oracle installation limits the number of concurrent connections based on the available memory and CPU configuration.

For example, let's say you have 50 customer accounts on the database with a maximum of 100 concurrent connections per account. If every account in average uses only 25% = 25 connections, the total average number would be 1250 connections. That means 2500 MB only for storing connection specific data. There is also processor time needed for context switching.

By setting limits on concurrent connections, you can ensure your transactions get through, and that some very active customer accounts don’t start to block your database server's resources. The number of connections is limited by the sessions parameter and your licensing. The sessions parameter controls the total number of connections including the Oracle background processes.

Adding more RAM to the server using a 64-bit Windows platform is a good idea, since you don’t have to spend a lot, even adding 16 GB of memory.

For detailed information of how configurations perform on realistic workload scenarios, read the Oracle E-Business Suite Standard Benchmark. Typically they have a large number of connections.

if your server admins knows only Windows (MS-only shop) - you should use Oracle on Windows... or do you want as a DBA to maintain O/S, install O/S patches, handle O/S security, do O/S backups etc etc?

However, in case of mixed shop, I usually recommend Oracle on Linux for various reasons (some might be subjective):

1. Better stability, drivers and market experience of linux 64 bit vs Windows 64 bit
2. Linux is more flexible to tweaking and configuration
3. Linux is the development platform as far as I know - releases / patches usually comes faster
4. Since linux is open source, Oracle R&D can better investigate issues
5. You can optionally get support from Oracle for the O/S (and VM) - "single throat to choke"
6. Linux is considered more secure (but if you consider it flame - ignore it)
7. I personally don't like all the registry and windows services stuff - need to hunt down NLS registry configuration etc is not nice
8. Seem to be more customers using linux in higher-end configurations (RAC, data guard etc) than Windows.

But anyway, for your developers, accessing Oracle on windows or linux is the same, totally transparent. They should be checking Oracle goodies for .NET either way.