Existing client (Oracle 8) fail to connect to its server after installed

Question

After installed Oracle 10g XE, my existing client does not work.
I checked its tnsnames.ora, it's still there and the content didn't get changed.
If I uninstall the 10g XE, the existing client works again.
What should I do to avoid this?

Answer 1

I have the following configuration:
OS: Windows 2000 Professional in spanish language
ram=512 MB
Oracle databases: Oracle 8i 8.1.7 on HP-UX servers
Number of databases: 2
Number of instances: 6 (production, test and developers)
transport: TCP
1. Before install Oracle 10g XE:
Oracle Developer 6.0,in C:\ORANT, in english language
- Oracle Forms 32-bit (6.0.35.3)
- Oracle Reports 32-bits (6.0.5.35)
PATH=C:\C:\ORANT\bin;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem
TNSNAMES.ORA in C:\ORANT\NET80\ADMIN points to the enterprise databases in my company
Registry: HKLM\Software\Oracle\Oracle_home=C:\ORANT
2. After Installed Oracle 10g XE (beta 1)
the path now is:
path=C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\bin;C:\ORANT\bin;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem
The web interface of XE works oK
the C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\BIN\sqlplus.exe can connect to Oracle 10g XE but NOT to the enterprises databases.
but now, all tools from Oracle Developer (Forms, Reports, PLUS80W.EXE) and third party tools like SQLTools, DreamCoder) cann't connect to the enterprise databases
neither to Oracle 10g XE.
In the registry, the ORACLE_HOME says C:\ORANT
Solution:
1. Modified the path so c:\orant is before the path to XE so:
path=C:\ORANT\bin;C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\bin;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem
2. Copy from C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\NETWORK\ADMIN\tnsnames.ora,
the lines:
XE =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = mycomputer.domainname.com)(PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVER = DEDICATED)
(SERVICE_NAME = XE)
and copied into C:\ORANT\NET80\ADMIN\TNSNAMES.ORA as
XE.world =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = mycomputer)(PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVER = DEDICATED)
(SERVICE_NAME = XE)
and Now:
1.The Developer tools third party tools can connect to the enterprise databases.
2.The develper tools and third party tools can connect to Oracle 10g XE
3.C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\BIN\sqlplus.exe can connect to Oracle 10g XE
Bye
Alvaro Alonso_G
OCP
Bogota, Colombia (South America)