Re: Differences between Oracle JDBC thin and thick drivers

I don't know about performance, but thick and OCI add one important element - TAF. I am working now on converting an exclusive Oracle8i system to 9i RAC, but the front end is thin client (i.e. no TAF).

Don Granaman
[certifiable OraSaurus]

• Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 11:58 AM

> In "Java Programming with Oracle JDBC", Don Bales actually benchmarks the
> differences. The copy here in our group seems to have taken legs, so
> recalling from memory, I recall that under some circumstances the thin is
> faster and other times the thick is faster. The differences weren't great,
> and given the hassles of setting up SQL*Net clients, thin looks good to
me.
> Dennis Williams
> DBA
> Lifetouch, Inc.
> dwilliams_at_lifetouch.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 11:23 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
> But it's a very important difference. The thin driver, basically just the
> classes12.zip file, is slower than the OCI. The advantage for me is that
I
> don't need an Oracle supported platform (mine is Linux on Alpha) to run
the
> thin driver. For our upcoming JDBC stuff here at work, I can't imagine
why
> we wouldn't want to use OCI.
>
> Rich Jesse System/Database Administrator
> Rich.Jesse_at_qtiworld.com Quad/Tech International, Sussex, WI
USA
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ben Poels [mailto:poelsb_at_post.queensu.ca]
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 4:03 PM
> > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> > Subject: RE: Differences between Oracle JDBC thin and thick drivers
> >
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > I believe the difference is that the OCI drivers use SQL*Net
> > or NET8 or whatever they call it now, whereas the thin driver
> > does not require SQL*Net on the client machine.
> >
> > Ben Poels
> > Sr. Technical Analyst
> > Queen's University
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Avrami
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 4:29 PM
> > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have a question concerning the Oracle JDBC thin vs. thick drivers
> > and how they might affect operations from an application perspective.
> >
> >
> > We're in a Solais 8/Oracle 8.1.7.2 environment. We have several
> > applications on several servers connecting to the Oracle database.
> >
> >
> > For redundancy, we're looking into setting up TAF (transparent
> > application failover). Currently, some of our apps use the Oracle
> > JDBC thin drivers to talk to the database, with a connection
> > string that like this:
> >
> > jdbc:oracle:thin:@host:port:ORACLE_SID
> >
> > In a disaster recovery mode, where we would switch the database
> > from one server to another, the host name in the above string
> > would become invalid. That means we have to shut down our application
> > servers and restart them with an updated string.
> >
> > Using the Oracle OCI (thick) driver though, allows us to connect
> > to a Net8 service instead of a specific server:
> >
> > jdbc:oracle:oci8:@NET8_SERVICE_NAME
> >
> > Coupled with the FAILOVER=ON option configured in Net8, it is
> > then possible to direct a connection from the first server to
> > the failover database on another server. This is exactly what
> > we would like to do.
> >
> > My question is, from an application perspective, how is the Oracle
> > thick driver different from the thin driver? If everything
> > else is "equal" (i.e. the thick driver is compatible with the
> > app servers) would there be something within the the thick/OCI
> > driver that could limit functionality vs. the thin driver?
> >
> > My understand, which obviously is sketchy, is that the thick
> > driver is a superset of the thin driver. If this is the case,
> > and for example if all database connections were handled through
> > a configuration file with the above OCI connection string, then
> > theoretically the thick driver should work.
> >
> > If anyone has any info on this that they can share, it would
> > be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Lou Avrami
> --
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> --
> Author: Jesse, Rich
> INET: Rich.Jesse_at_qtiworld.com
>
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> Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS
> INET: DWILLIAMS_at_LIFETOUCH.COM
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-- 
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
-- 
Author: Don Granaman
  INET: granaman_at_cox.net

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