Re: Oracle and a Y2K problem

In article <36B92444.51237CA9_at_erols.com>, openmind_at_erols.com says...
> We are running Oracle 7.3.4 on a Windows NT 4.0 server, with 4.0, 3.51, and
> Windows 95 clients.
>
> We install the client version of Oracle on every user's computer. By default,
> an Oracle registry variable called NLS_LANG is created with a value of:
> AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1
>
> With this setting, the date format is this: dd-mon-yy and 01-JAN-00 == January
> 1, 1900.
>
> Oracle does allow a variable called NLS_DATE_FORMAT to be set on the server to
> change the date format to 4 digit years. Unfortunately, the NLS_LANG setting on
> each user's computer overrides any setting on the server. So, the only way to
> fix this problem, is to log into each computer's registry remotely (we have
> about 150 users), and delete the NLS_LANG variable. This is what an Oracle
> Technical Support person told me.
>
> Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Are there any other solutions?

An alternative to deleting that key is to have a NLS_DATE_FORMAT string variable within the registry. Although this still means having to do something on each computer, it means adding to each registry rather than deleting from each registry, which is easier.

On my Win 95 PC at home, I have a file called y2k.reg which is as follows ------- file starts after this line ---------- REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE]
"NLS_DATE_FORMAT"="DD-MON-YYYY"
------- file ends before this line -----------

When executed, this adds the desired string variable to the registry.

Depending on your network setup, you might be able to have this executed as part of their network login script, or email it to all your users. It will not matter if people execute this who do not have Oracle on their PC.

>
> Also, is there any way I can install Oracle client on a network, and have the
> users access it this way rather than have it installed on each computer.
>

I believe that this can be done (something to do with the Oracle Home setting in the registry?) but last I heard you still needed the registry on each PC and I think SQL*Net Client. You can have the TNS_ADMIN files on the server though, by specifying a TNS_ADMIN string in the registry which points to a server file, which helps a bit. Oracle Tech SUpport should surely be able to help you with this, I know it is in an Oracle manual somewhere.

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