Re: ODBC setup

From: Billy Verreynne <vslabs_at_onwe.co.za>
Date: 14 Sep 2003 10:45:03 -0700
Message-ID: <1a75df45.0309140945.213f4591@posting.google.com>

"John Wood" <jwood_at_hotmail.com> wrote

> I have to setup ODBC for Microsoft Access to read an Oracle database. It
> seems to me that I have to set up Oracle Client to have TNS defined in the
> workstation first. Can I just use the Microsoft's Oracle ODBC ? Where and
> how can I defined the TNS name to point to the database ?

You need to have Oracle Net8 or Net9 (i.e. Oracle Client) installed. ODBC runs on top of this to access Oracle. Net9 is similar to SQL-Server's dbLib and Informix's Star/Net.

Once you have Net9 installed, you can use the Net Assistant GUI tool to define a TNS alias - consisting of hostname, system id and port of the Oracle database server. Or manually edit and configure the TNSNAMES.ORA file in your %ORACLE_HOME%\NETWORK\ADMIN directory.

Also a good idea to test your TNS aliases first using the Oracle utility TNSPING.EXE before trying it via ODBC. Makes troubleshooting and diagnosis easier.

--
Billy

Received on Sun Sep 14 2003 - 12:45:03 CDT