Oracle7 Server Distributed Systems Volume I: Distributed Data
Changing Connection Hold Time
If a distributed transaction fails, the connection from the local site to the remote site may not close immediately. Instead, it remains open in case communication can be restored quickly, without having to re-establish the connection. You can set the length of time that the connection remains open with the database parameter DISTRIBUTED_RECOVERY_CONNECTION_HOLD_TIME.
A high value minimizes the cost of reconnecting after failures, but causes the local database to consume more resources. In contrast, a lower value minimizes the cost of resources kept locked during a failure, but increases the cost of reconnecting after failures. The default value of the parameter is 200 seconds. See the Oracle7 Server Reference for more information.