Oracle Net is layered on top of the network protocol.

Oracle Net must reside on both the client and the server for peer-to-peer communication to occur.

On the client side, Oracle Net is responsible for working with the listener to receive incoming connection requests.

On the server side, Oracle Net is responsible for several connectivity issues such as : the location of the server, whatever one or more protocol is involved in the connection, and how to handle exception and interrupts.