Software Applications
Overview
The Oracle 10g client used to be required on client computers running the Sungard BSR Advance C/S client/server database system, because it communicates with an Oracle database. The 10g client installation is described in the Advance general article and the restricted article. However, with a new version of Advance Web (AWA), an Oracle client is no longer needed. For the companion program SmartCall, a new version of Oracle, version 11g, is required. And version 11g offers an alternative to the big, awkward Oracle Universal Installer (oui.exe) we had to use with 10g. The alternative is what Oracle calls an "instantclient"; its installation is so simple that I'll document it here.
Contents
Product Details
A summary of the specifics of the product.
- Here is the Oracle page introducing the instantclient, with installation instructions at the bottom.
- Here is the page with the downloads of all versions and "packages" of the instantclient for 32-bit Windows.
- We have no information yet as to whether any instantclient packages will work with the next version of Advance or not.
System Requirements
Any 32-bit version of Windows. Oracle 11g is specifically labeled as compatible with Windows 7, where earlier versions were not.
Licensing Information
Oracle is licensed at the server. The Oracle clients may be installed on any number of client machines owned by the college. In fact, the instantclient is freely downloadable by the public.
Licensing Restrictions
None
Usage Restrictions
None
Home Use
The full, traditional Oracle client was too difficult to install to be appropriate for personal computers. The instantclient is light enough to be installed on a home computer. However, connection with a Carleton Oracle database will be possible only when using the restricted VPN.
Lab and Classroom Availability
The Oracle client is not install on lab or classroom computers.
Installation Instructions
College Owned Equipment
To set up an instantclient installation of Oracle 11g that has the same components as the Carleton "basic" installation of Oracle 10g, the first three "packages" listed below are needed:
Instant Client Package
Description
Notes
Basic Lite
Smaller version of the Basic, with only English error messages and Unicode, ASCII, and Western European character set support (10.2 only)
SQL*Plus*
Additional libraries and executable for running SQL*Plus with Instant Client
ODBC Supplement*
Additional libraries for enabling ODBC applications with Instant Client (Not all platforms)
ODAC*
Includes ODP.NET, Oracle Services for MTS, Oracle Providers for ASP.NET, Oracle Provider for OLE DB, and OO4O with Oracle Instant Client
Optional packages are marked with a *.
For the latest version available today, this mean three .ZIP archives are needed: instantclient-basiclite-win32-11.2.0.1.0.zip, instantclient-odbc-win32-11.2.0.1.0.zip, instantclient-sqlplus-win32-11.2.0.1.0.zip. These files are currently stored in APPS\Windows\Oracle102\instantclient; they will be moved to an Oracle11 directory on the new archive service as soon as it is available. Also in that directory are Oracle Web pages and the whitepaper related to the use and installation of the instant client.
Here are manual installation instructions for use at Carleton:
- If there is another version of an Oracle client on this computer, remove it first. Because there is usually no uninstaller available in Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs, just delete the directories "C:\Program Files\Oracle10" and "C:\Program Files\Oracle" and their contents. You may not be able to remove one directory because one oci*.dll file is in use; ignore the problem and it will go away in the next step. In the Services management console (services.msc), disable any Oracle services, if there are any. You also need to remove any Oracle directories from the Windows PATH environment variable, which is easiest to do in step X below.
- Create the directory "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" and unzip all the .ZIP archives listed above into this directory. (Windows Explorer can open a .ZIP archive like a folder and then you can "Extract all files".) These extracted files are probably going to be created under an instantclient_11_xx subdirectory; once the extractions are done, move all the files and folders out of that instantclient_11_xx subdirectory up into the main "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" directory.
- Create the directory "C:\Program Files\Oracle11\Network\Admin"
- Copy the three Carleton *.ora files, "tnsnames.ora, ldap.ora, and sqlnet.ora" into C:\Program Files\Oracle11\Network\Admin directory. You can find these files in the original directory holding the .ZIP archives, or in APPS\Windows\Oracle102. These files define how the Oracle client will try to locate database services; their modification is beyond the scope of this article.
- Create the directory "C:\Program Files\Oracle11\bin"
- Copy all '.dll' files that you extracted into "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" directory in to C:\Program Files\Oracle11\bin
- You need to create two new Windows environment variables and modify another. You can use the SetX command line utility if you're familiar with it; there's a copy of the utility in that original directory holding the .ZIP archives. Or you can use the Windows UI; In Control Panel->System->, find the Advanced tab (under Advanced system settings on Windows 7), choose the Environment Variables button (toward the bottom). In the System variables (bottom) list, scroll down to the Path variable, select it, and choose Edit. Remove any existing Oracle directories from the Path (they are usually at the front), and put these new directories as the first in the Path: C:\Progra~1\Oracle11\bin;C:\Progra~1\Oracle11; then choose OK.
Back at the Environment Variables dialog, select the New button under the System variables (bottom) list, and create these two new variables with the indicated values (no blanks):
TNS_ADMIN C:\Progra~1\Oracle11\Network\Admin
ORACLE_HOME C:\Progra~1\Oracle11
(in these, we're using the short form of the "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" directory name, to avoid confusing Oracle.)
That's it; installation is done in four easy steps. To make the environment variables changes effective, you have to reboot. After you do, it should become possible to delete that last oci*.dll files from any old C:\Program Files\Oracle10" directory, and then the empty directory itself.
This instantclient lacks two important pieces that were present and used with the traditional Oracle client. SQL*Plus Worksheet was used by "a handful of people" at Carleton, but is becoming obsolete. (I believe that Microsoft Access or Excel, along with the advance ODBC data source, can replace it.) And TNSPING was used by all of us to demonstrate that an Oracle client installation worked and that Oracle was correctly installed. Without TNSPING, it becomes more difficult to prove that the instantclient is correctly installed and working: Assuming that the Advance client has also been installed, from an elevated command prompt, run the SQLPlus program using these command line parameters:
sqlplus.exe username/password@advance
where username is your Oracle (not Advance, not Windows) login and password is your Oracle password. If this succeeds, SQLPlus displays its SQL> prompt, at which you can enter this query to retrieve one record:
select * from entity where rownum = 1;
Retrieving one record demonstrates that the instantclient is installed correctly and locating Carleton data to which you have read access.
There is current no Link to protected information for ITS instructions.
Personal Machines
The installation would be the same on a personal computer. Remember that a restricted VPN connection would be required to access Carleton data.
Who To Call
BSR Advance CS and its companion applications are supported by Central Records staff Carla Thomas, Tony Pierre, and Denise Flicek. Within ITS, Oracle database systems administration is done by Richard Goerwitz, who can answer many Oracle questions (like how do the three *.ora files work). Sande Nissen in ITS will package any Oracle 11g client installations that are needed, for distribution through the KBOX user portal.
Questions, Tips and Tricks
Technical Troubleshooting
In the SQLPlus verification test described above, a number of common errors can be diagnosed. If the program sqlplus.exe cannot be found (Windows looks on the search PATH that you modified), then the instantclient installation, with its reboot, was not correct. If the program SQLPlus starts, it should display a header with its version number; if the version number is not 11.something, then an old version of Oracle is interfering with the new Oracle 11g instantclient installation. When SQLPlus starts, if it cannot resolve the command line database name of @advance, then either Advance is not installed, or the three Carleton *.ora files were not copied to the Oracle directory, or the TNS_ADMIN environment variable does not point to the directory where the *.ora files are stored. If SQLPlus starts but immediately displays an error message about login or access denied, then the username/password combination on the command line may be incorrect. If any error message is displayed, be sure to copy it exactly when you create a WebHelpDesk ticket to get help with this problem.
Miscellaneous Information
Disclaimer: This information was correct as of when it was created based on Sande's and Russ' best knowledge. If this page has been edited by anyone else, Sande and Russ are not responsible for the accuracy of the information.