Re: ODBC driver for Oracle

Dr. Weidong Yu wrote:

> I like to access database through ODBC connection in WindowsNT environment.
> I have no experience on ODBC driver for Oracle. Oracle server is on
> a SGI workstation. Would you tell me what kind of softwares should be
> installed in my PC? Do you think that SQL*NET for Windows and ODBC driver
> for Oracle should be OK?

Hi,

For a simple one-client-one-server connection, SQL*Net and an ODBC driver installed on your NT client should be ok, as long as your client application supports ODBC. But you need to configure SQL*Net (port #, etc.) on the Oracle server (assuming it's running on IRIX) so that this communication library on the server side will listen to connection requests sent out by the client. This is a 2-tier (client/data source) connection.

If you have quite a few clients on the network or if there is the possibility of a second or a third database server to be added to the system, you should connect in a 3-tier (clients/server/data sources) fashion. A ODBC server runs in between the clients and the data sources in order to centralize the various connections. Now your clients will be able to access all data sources simultaneously (which will not happen if you apply the first instance to each database). You will save a lot of trouble installing ODBC drivers and communication libraries on each client; the drivers and the client libraries are installed on the ODBC server once and the ODBC server will make requests for the clients. SimbaExpress uses this structure for database connectvity. This type of architecture is ideal for a network with many clients or with more than one data source.

I hope this helps.

Vance

Vance Pan                     Email: g2l1_at_ugrad.cs.ubc.ca

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