Is parallel execution enabled or disabled by default in Oracle Standard Edition database version 12.1?

Question

Oracle Standard Edition 12.1 on Red Hat Linux 7

According to the documentation, parallel execution is enabled by default in Oracle SE 12.1. However, when looking at the database parameters, the following exists:

PARAMETER              VALUE
---------              -----
Parallel execution     FALSE

Is there an error in the documentation? Shouldn't this be set to TRUE.
What does this parameter refer to if not for enabling parallel execution? If it needs to be set to TRUE, how to do so?

Answer 1

You say that VLDB and Partitioning Guide, Release 12.2

About Initializing and Tuning Parameters for Parallel Execution

Oracle Database computes defaults for the parallel execution parameters based on the value at database startup of CPU_COUNT and PARALLEL_THREADS_PER_CPU.

Parameters are described in the Database Reference.

But a lot of features are not possible in the Standard Edition. Either they cannot be enabled or are not allowed. Some of the features of Enterprise Edition need extra license if you use them.

• Most of the parallel features need Enterprise Edition but no additional license
• Partitioning needs Enterprise Editition and and additional license

More about which edition has which feature can be found in the Licensing Information User Manual