Re: MS-Access to Oracle connection

gapinski_at_chopin.vantage writes:
> stevens_at_scubed.com (Jeff Stevens) writes:
 

>> I would like to connect MS-Access on my 486
>>at home to an Oracle database on a Sun SPARCstation at work.
>>Access 1.1 has an ODBC driver for Oracle, but what else do I
>>need to access Oracle? Do I need SQL*NET on the 486? Do I
>>have to have network software running on both machines? If
>>so what is the cheapest way to do this?
 

>You will need both SQL*Net and SQL*Net-compatible transport stacks on
>both the 486 and the Sun. Check with Oracle regarding which transports
>they are compatible with on the 486 side, as well as pricing. Hopefully,
>SQL*Net will work with a Windows socket API compliant transport.

Yup.

The tricky part will be getting a stable OSI Layer Three running over your dial-up. From a Windows box to a Sun, I'd guess a serial-line version of TCP/IP's IP layer, such as SLIP or PPP, might fit your bill.

Once you have that working, you can treat it all as a local area network, meaning you just have to have a brand of DOS TCP/IP that works with Oracle's SQL*Net TCP/IP.

Remember that there are two flavors, SQL*Net for DOS and SQL*Net for Windows. They are NOT the same, and Oracle has ripped off (in my own opinion and the opinions of every other customer I've heard from) the SQL*Net installed base by *not* allowing you to upgrade from the DOS version to the Windows version of SQL*Net. You buy one or the other, or maybe both, but no upgrade exists. [My answer is to RMA my DOS license and replace it with a Windows license.]

Anyway, I'm using the DOS version today at one client site, and Windows are perfectly able to connect to the database. There are limitations to this, which are beyond the scope of this posting.

One of those apps, SQL*Forms version 4 [oops, make that "Oracle Forms v4"], is very nice indeed. Puts MS Access quite to shame, in my humble opinion.

Followups to comp.databases.oracle.

Cheers.

 -Tom

-- 
Thomas Cox      DoD #1776   '91 CB 750 Nighthawk   tcox_at_qiclab.scn.rain.com
    The Platinum Rule:  "Do Unto Others As They Want To Be Done Unto"