Published on

December 13, 2005

Exploring SQL Server Interoperability with Oracle

Welcome to another blog post on SQL Server! In this article, we will discuss the concept of interoperability between SQL Server and Oracle, and explore a new tool called Oracle Instant Client that simplifies the process of establishing a connection to Oracle databases.

When working with Oracle databases, it was previously necessary to install the full Oracle client to ensure the proper Oracle driver was loaded on your server or PC. However, this full client was often bloated and made significant modifications to the registry. In reality, all that is needed are the relevant DLLs and some configuration files to establish a connection to the Oracle server.

This is where Oracle Instant Client comes in. With Oracle 10g, Oracle introduced Instant Client, a lightweight tool that provides the necessary DLLs and configuration files for establishing a connection to Oracle databases. This is particularly useful for server applications, as it eliminates the need for unnecessary bloat on production servers.

Setting up Oracle Instant Client

Setting up Oracle Instant Client is a straightforward process. Here is a step-by-step procedure:

  1. Download the Basic Package and the ODBC package from Oracle’s website.
  2. Create a folder on your system, such as C:\Oracle, and extract all files from the Basic Package into this folder. A subfolder called InstantClient may be created.
  3. Extract the ODBC Package files into the same folder.
  4. Run ODBC_Install.exe to make necessary registry changes and DLL registrations on the system.
  5. Set up the environment variables by adding C:\Oracle\InstantClient to the PATH variable and creating a new variable called TNS_ADMIN with the value C:\Oracle\InstantClient.
  6. If required, set up additional environment variables for language/collation.
  7. Obtain the necessary .ora files (tnsname.ora, sqlnet.ora, or ldap.ora) from your Oracle admin and place them in C:\Oracle\InstantClient.
  8. Reboot the system to apply the changes.

Once the setup is complete, you should be able to establish a connection to your Oracle databases. You can now proceed to create an ODBC DSN for the connection, using the Microsoft ODBC for Oracle driver.

Potential Problems

In some cases, when using DTS packages and scheduling them, they may not stop on their own. Even after the data transformation is done, the job status under SQL Server Agent may show that it is still executing. This issue has been observed on Windows Server 2003, but not on Windows 2000. To work around this problem, you can use the T-SQL openquery statement instead of DTS.

By following these steps and using Oracle Instant Client, you can simplify the process of establishing a connection between SQL Server and Oracle databases, making it easier to work with both platforms seamlessly.

Thank you for reading this blog post on SQL Server interoperability with Oracle. Stay tuned for more articles on SQL Server concepts and ideas!

Click to rate this post!
[Total: 0 Average: 0]

Let's work together

Send us a message or book free introductory meeting with us using button below.