Oracle client, ODBC drivers, cpio, and oracle installer?

First let me say, I know nothing about oracle, sql, programming, and very little Unix.

I have a user running Windows 2000 sp2. We are installing an app that connects to a database server using oracle...I think.

I have installed the same app on multiple machines with the same set up as this particular user without trouble. The app has been built using windows installer technology and attempts to connect to the database during the install. I get a oracle connection error halfway throught the install and the install aborts.

I decided that I should try and re-install the oracle client and started doing some looking around on the oracle site. I have given up trying to fix this users issue temporarily but have not been able to get a grasp on all the downloads on the oracle site or how to use some of them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1. I downloaded oracle lite 9.1 and extracted it to my windows 2000 machine. From the extension I realize that I need to use cpio to extract the necessary file. The problem is that I download cpio and now need to "compile" it to run on my machine and have no idea how to do so.

I have 63 files from the cpio download with cryptic instructions for compiling the program, which looks like it is written in "c". The instructions look like that are meant for Unix and do not work on my 2k machine.

What do I need to do to extract the olite_50200_aix5l.cpio file? Once I extract it, will it be something I can use to re-install the oracle client?, or will it be more cryptic instructions.

2. I gave up after several hours of reading the text files in the cpio documentation and decided to simply try downloading the odbc drivers, since there was some secondary error message referring to the odbc drivers during the app install. I downloaded the odbc drivers and extracted them only to get to a point where I am told to install them using the "oracle installer".

What is the oracle installer, where can I get it (which download), and will I be able to use it?

This doesn't seem like it should bee this difficult. I understand that I am not a database programmer and have no desire to become one, but I should be able to find enough information to understand the client side of the database scenario using oracle, and also have clear downloads for client side software...right?

Thanks
Brad Received on Tue Jul 29 2003 - 11:57:32 CDT