Oracle to SQL Server DB Link (64-Bit)

Question

Dear All,
We need to create a db link from Oracle 10gR2 (10.2.0.1 on 64-Bit Windows 2003) to SQL Server 2008 (on 64-Bit Windows 2008 R2). We followed the necessary steps on Testing Servers (Oracle 10gR2 and SQL Server 2005 both on 32-Bit Windows) using the following method:
Create ODBC on Oracle DB Server for SQL Server
Create inithsodbc.ora in <Oracle_Home>/hs/admin
modify TNSNAMES.ORA file to add TNS Alias for ODBC
Change SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES to NONE in SQLNET.ORA
Change listener.ora file to amend SID_LIST_<ListenerName> and reloaded the listener
Everything worked perfectly fine.
But when we followed the same steps on Production (64-Bit environments), we get the errors. Below are the contents of files:
*(1)*
inithsodbc.ora
HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = testodbc
HS_FDS_TRACE_LEVEL = off
*(2)*
Listener.ora (partial contents)
SID_LIST_LISTENER =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME = PLSExtProc)
(ORACLE_HOME = d:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1)
(PROGRAM = extproc)
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME = hsodbc)
(ORACLE_HOME = D:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1)
(PROGRAM = hsodbc)
After reloading the listener, i can see:
Service "hsodbc" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "hsodbc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service..
*(3)*
TNSNAMES.Ora (partial contents)
HSODBC =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = <Server Name>)(PORT = <Port>))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SID = hsodbc)
(HS = OK)
*(4)*
SQLNET.Ora
#SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NONE)
NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES, EZCONNECT)
SQLNET.INBOUND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=180
*(5)*
SQL> create database link testdb connect to <UserName> identified by <Pwd> using 'hsodbc';
Database link created.
SQL> SELECT count(*) FROM <TableName>@testdb;
SELECT count(*) FROM <TableName>@testdb
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-28545: error diagnosed by Net8 when connecting to an agent
Unable to retrieve text of NETWORK/NCR message 65535
ORA-02063: preceding 2 lines from TESTDB
Could you please help me in resolving this issue?
regards,

Answer 1

HSODBC was never ported to 64bit Linux - that's the reason why it doesn't work.
As an alternative you could use the follow up product of HSODBC called Database gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC). You can download DG4ODBC release 11.2 from OTN, edelivery or My Oracle Support and then install DG4ODBC into its OWN Oracle_home, different from your Oracle database (if you install DG4ODBC 11 into an existing 10.2 Oracle_Home you will corrupt this 10.2 OH!).
Configuration is similar to HSODBC - only the name of the executable in the SID section of the listener.ora differs (program=dg4odbc) instead of (program=hsodbc).
DG4ODBC is certified with Oracle database release 10.2.0.4/5 - so please make sure you apply also the mandatory database patchset to your Oracle database.