64 bit client accessing 32 bit server?

I know this is the opposite of what most people do, but I wanted to know if it possible to use a 64 bit Oracle client to access a 32 bit server (8i would be prefered with migration to 9i later)? Ideally, I would like to have the option of accessing an Oracle server either on the same machine or on a remote machine via SQL*Net.

The motivation is the need to build a very large in-memory model (4 - 8GB) on an application server, thus the application server needs the 64 bit address space. Since 32-bit Oracle is more than sufficient to manage the database and more mainstream than 64-bit Oracle, I would prefer not to make 64 bit Oracle a requirement of the architecture.

If it is relevant, the application server will most likely be using OCI to access the database. As far as platform goes, it is a multi-platform application supporting Solaris, HPUX, AIX, and Tru64.

Finally, does anyone know whether there would be an incremental licensing charge for the 64 bit client? I believe the 64 bit server can be more costly to license than the 32 bit server, but assuming that you have a properly licensed 32 bit Oracle server can you use either 32 bit or 64 bit clients at your discretion (without incremental cost)? My apologies if the licensing question is off topic for this group.

Thanks!
Dan Received on Tue Feb 12 2002 - 12:36:46 CST