Oracle 8.1.5 Client on Linux

Question

My organization is beta-testing coldfusion on Linux. Our current
(NT) Coldfusion set up talks with a Linux server running Oracle.
Thus, I need to have the new linux box talk (via Net8) to the
database.
Despite the utter lack of documentation on this on Oracle's part,
(and I am not a DBA), a search here revealed that the client
could be installed as part of the Server install. So I dl'ed the
latest Oracle server for Linux (8.1.5), got the JRE installed,
and told it to install Oracle 8i Client. It did so without
complaint. (on my third try or so :) ) However, there was no
Net8 configuration. [This occurs with either Typical or Custom
installs]. The documentation points to a (AFAIK) non-existant
Net8 Admin guide for linux. Netec and netasst simply return me
to the command line. The sample SQLNET.ORA file is
half-uncommented, and in dense oracle-speak.
So what do I have to do to convince this box to talk to my other
box? Just edit sqlnet.ora? Do something in lsnrctl? What
fields of sqlnet.ora are required? What's with the funky
commenting scheme? Is Oracle providing more support for this
that I am not aware of?
Thanks in advance!
null

Answer 1

First question/comment: Check the listener on the box where the
database lives. Is it up and accepting requests?
Second: On the client, in ORACLE_HOME/network/admin, make sure
you have a tnsnames.ora file that has the information on the
database(s) you want to connect to. If you already have some
clients on NT or Windows 95/98, you can copy their sqlnet.ora
and tnsnames.ora files to the new client. They typically live
in either ORAWIN95\network\admin, ORAWIN95\net80\admin,
ORANT\network\admin, or ORANT\net80\admin.
There are three pieces to Oracle's sqlnet/net8. The client
which has files tnsnames.ora and sqlnet.ora that tell the client
application where the Oracle database is located and how to
connect. In other words where the listener is and what port it
is listening on.
The tns layer that manages all the protocols. For the most part
we don't need to be concerned with this layer.
The server side which includes the listener. The listener is a
process that listens on a specific port for connection requests
to the database(s) it has responsibility for. Could be one;
could be many. If the listener is not up, no client is going to
be able to connect to the database except those clients that are
on the same box as the database.
Hope some of this helps.
BT
Brett Sanger (guest) wrote:
: My organization is beta-testing coldfusion on Linux. Our
current
: (NT) Coldfusion set up talks with a Linux server running
Oracle.
: Thus, I need to have the new linux box talk (via Net8) to the
: database.
: Despite the utter lack of documentation on this on Oracle's
part,
: (and I am not a DBA), a search here revealed that the client
: could be installed as part of the Server install. So I dl'ed
the
: latest Oracle server for Linux (8.1.5), got the JRE installed,
: and told it to install Oracle 8i Client. It did so without
: complaint. (on my third try or so :) ) However, there was no
: Net8 configuration. [This occurs with either Typical or Custom
: installs]. The documentation points to a (AFAIK) non-existant
: Net8 Admin guide for linux. Netec and netasst simply return me
: to the command line. The sample SQLNET.ORA file is
: half-uncommented, and in dense oracle-speak.
: So what do I have to do to convince this box to talk to my
other
: box? Just edit sqlnet.ora? Do something in lsnrctl? What
: fields of sqlnet.ora are required? What's with the funky
: commenting scheme? Is Oracle providing more support for this
: that I am not aware of?
: Thanks in advance!
null