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Some notes on using Oracle 11 Database Instant Client

I recently upgraded my day-to-day environment to Windows 7 (64-bit) using MSSQL 2008. This week I needed to do some Oracle work, so I needed to get DovetailAgent working with an Oracle 9 (technically 9.2.0.1.0) database, so I needed Oracle client software. The latest Oracle client version is 11, so I decided to give that a try. The actual Oracle database runs on a VM, so I just needed an Oracle client.

 

Here are a few notes about getting this working.

Install Oracle Instant Client

 

Install the Oracle 11 Instant Client for your platform.

 

I installed mine into C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1

 

I went to edit the tnsnames.ora file, and quickly realized that there wasn’t one. A little googling led me to a helpful blog post at DBAToolZ.

Environment Variables

 

Following the instructions from that blog post, I created a new system environment variable named TNS_ADMIN that was set to C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1

tnsnames.ora

 

I then created a tnsnames.ora file in the C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1 directory, and edited it for my database:

 

ORA9=
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = ORA9)(PORT = 1521))
)
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME = ORA9)
)

Test connection using SQLPLUS

 

sqlplus user/pass@ORA9

 

c:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1>sqlplus sa/sa@ora9

SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 – Production on Wed Sep 16 10:55:45 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

 

Connected to:
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.1.0 – Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Oracle Data Mining options
JServer Release 9.2.0.1.0 – Production

SQL>

 

Using sqlplus, I was able to successfully connect to the database.

Install DovetailAgent

 

I installed DovetailAgent, and edited the database info in the fc.env file:

 

login_name=sa
db_password=sa
db_server=ORA9
db_name=ORA9
db_type=ORACLE

Enable 32-bit web applications

 

Because I am running on a 64-bit machine, I had to enable 32-bit applications in the web application pool. Here’s a solution that shows how to do this.

Test Dovetail Agent

 

Using IE, I navigated to the DovetailAgent page, and got this error:

 

System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater

Set Permissions on Oracle directory

 

A quick search through our knowledgebase led me to this article:

 

Solution 92 – Oracle connection issues – BOLT, FCFL, fcClient, fcAdmin

 

I followed the instructions in the 3rd resolution, which was to give the Authenticated Users group privilege to the Oracle Home directory (C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1).

Test DovetailAgent

 

Using IE, I navigated to the DovetailAgent page, and was presented with the Login page.

Success

 

Oracle 11.1 instant client + Oracle 9.2 database + DovetailAgent 4.2 + Windows 7 (64-bit) + IIS 7.5 = success