Re: 32-bit ODBC and SQL*Net

In response to several posts about 32-bit ODBC drivers and SQL*Net, here's my solution, which works for connecting Windows NT3.51 and Windows 95 clients to an Oracle 7.1 server using SQL*Net 1.1 over a TCP/IP network.

From the 90-day trial CD, using the installer for the NT workgroup server (in the NT directory, NOT Windows), install

   SQL*Net TCP/IP Client 1.1.6.7

This should install correctly on both NT and 95 clients - the same DLL's work on both. I found that it was necessary to copy the following DLLs

   ORANT71.DLL

   CORENT23.DLL
   SQLTCPNT.DLL
   MSVCRT10.DLL

from the installation BIN directory to the Windows SYSTEM32 (on NT) or SYSTEM (on 95) directory. I guess you could avoid this by setting the PATH environment variable appropriately.

Now install the ODBC 2.5 Driver Pack from Microsoft (comes with MSVC or VB 4.0, or download it from Softlib at ftp.microsoft.com). This includes the Visigenic Oracle ODBC driver. I've also tried the demo OpenLink Lite driver from http://openlink.co.uk. Both of these work for me using Access 7.0.

There is an SQL*Net V2 client available on the CD, but I haven't tried this (since our server isn't running V2). If you try it, you might find the OpenLink driver is more flexible, as it can be configured to search for several possible Oracle DLLs other than ORANT71.DLL. A word of warning - Access 7.0 wouldn't work with either ODBC driver on NT3.51 with the NewShell installed, but it worked fine as soon as I uninstalled it. I suppose its possible that this problem may have carried over into the NT4.0 beta.

-- 
Roger Austin 
<R.Austin_at_ioh.ac.uk>