Re: SQL*NET over dial-in

>Bart Mendez (bmb_at_bae.bellcore.com) wrote:
>
> I'm developing an application that will have local and remote users. The
> clients will be PCs running a PowerBuilder front-end, and the server will
> be an HP 9000 with Oracle7 and SQL*NET. The local users will be connected
> to the network via an Ethernet LAN, but the remote users will have to dial
> in from remote locations. Unfortunately, there's no choice. What kind of
> transport protocol should I use for the remote users? TCP/IP over a SLIP
> or PPP connection comes to mind, but I'm not sure if this is the best or
> only choice. If it is, what TCP/IP software package(s) for the PC can
> handle this?
>
> Thanks,
> Bart Mendez

We are currently trying to solve a very similar problem. Specifically, we have Oracle7 running on a RS6000 AIX. The front-end client tool is PowerBuilder and we use SQL*Net to connect the two over a LAN. HOWEVER, we are now trying to figure out how to provide remote access (via dial-up) to Oracle with ADEQUATE performance.

Our first test was to use PowerBuilder and SLIP/PPP to dialup to the RS6000 to access the database. The performance, however, was very dismal to unacceptable since the users who will be doing the remote access are our customers. I have actual results if anyone is interested.

We even talked to Oracle face-to-face about remote access and they claimed it is due to SLIP/PPP and PowerBuilder. SLIP/PPP will put a lot of overhead on your packets since it is trying to do TCP/IP over a serial line. Worse, they suggest that PowerBuilder does not seem to provide very efficient "SQL call" to the database. We called PowerBuilder and Oracle's claim seem to be true. PowerBuilder said they are sending the call "char" by "char" over the network!!

Anyway, we are continuing to looking at other solutions. My question is if anyone out there has successfuly implement GUI-based remote-access (dialup over a regular phone line) to access an ORACLE database. And how? Are there other products (particular networking) I should look at?. I also was wondering if there is such a thing called Oracle SQL*Net Asynchronous for Windows?? I know there is one for DOS. If anyone know the answer to this, your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Ben Wong Received on Wed Aug 03 1994 - 06:52:41 CEST