Oracle8 and Oracle8i

As mentioned  earlier, we need to install a layer of network software on our web server that allows us to communicate with Oracle. By selecting the Client installation, the Oracle Installer will have installed Net8, which we now have to configure.

Net8 supports standard network protocols, such as TCP/IP, to connect to Oracle8 servers through the use of user-friendly aliases called service names. A service name is simply a name used to refer to an Oracle server much as we use URLs in preference for hard-to-remember IP addresses.

You have a number of ways in which to store these lists of service  names:

Net8 uses Oracle Protocol Adaptors to map the following industry-standard network protocols into a standard that it can recognize internally :

Oracle8 comes with two utilities to configure Net8: Net8 Easy Config , to edit our list of service names, and Net8 Assistant, an advanced utility that allows us to configure service names, network listeners, Oracle Names Servers and local configuration files. Configuration using Net8 Assistant is primarily a DBA role so we won't cover it here. We will be using the Net8 Easy Config application to configure
our client.

There are a number of ways to store the list of service names with the two most commonly used methods being:

Host Naming does not require any client configuration so we will take a look at Local Naming using the Net8 Easy Config program. Net8 Easy Config edits a file called TNSNAMES.ORA in the installation_folder\Net80\Admin folder, which can be edited manually using Notepad. In many Oracle sites it is a common practice to simply copy  the TNSNAMES.ORA file from the Oracle server machine onto the client.

TNS stands for Transparent Network Substrate (TNS). This is a non- proprietary low-level interface that manages the opening and closing of sessions and the sending or receiving of requests .

The screens that make up the Oracle8 and Oracle8i Net8 Easy Config (Net8 Configuration Assistant in Oracle8i) applications do differ somewhat so we'll work through both versions to configure connecting to an Oracle8 and Oracle8i server.

If you are configuring an Oracle8 client then start the Oracle Net8 Easy Config and select Add New Service. Our DBA has called the Oracle8 server Oracle8_Dev, so we'll type that name in – you'll have to use the name of your own Oracle8 server. You may find that this is the name of the actual server, provided that it is only running one instance of Oracle.

You may see a dialog box warning you that Net8 Easy Config has found a number of comments in the configuration file TNSNAMES.ORA. It is generally safe to ignore this warning message.

In the case of our Oracle8i database, we have a server called Oracle8i_Dev so we'll use that for the name. Before you can enter the Oracle8i service name, choose the Local Net Service Name configuration option, click Next and then choose the Add item to add a new service name before pressing Next again. Finally you must tell the Oracle8i Configuration Assistant that you want to access an Oracle8i database. Clicking Next will take you to the Service Name screen:

The next step is to choose the type of network protocol used to communicate with the server. Typically this will most likely be TCP/IP:

The host name is the resolved name used to refer to the server, which in our case is the same name given to this service name – for ease. It is possible to install the Oracle server software to listen on a different TCP/IP port number. By default, port number 1521 is used for Oracle installations, in much the same way that port number 80 is used for HTTP requests . Unless your DBA has used a different port number for additional security, select the default option:

There is one additional step to complete before testing an Oracle8 connection: you have to type in the name of the database System Identifier, or SID to connect to. It is possible to run more than one instance of Oracle on the same server by giving each instance a unique SID by which it can be identified. If there is only one instance installed, then the Oracle server installation will default to calling it ORCL, which your DBA can confirm :

If you do have a number of SIDs per server then it might be a good idea to use the SID as the name for each service.

To test the new service name, you must enter a valid user name and password when using Oracle8. Typically you can enter the scott/tiger username/password combination provided that the pre-configured scott database has been installed. The Oracle8i version actually defaults to using scott/tiger for you .

If you've entered the correct host name and username/password then you should receive a message saying that the connection test was successful. If you receive the error message ORA-12545: connect failed because target host or object does not exist, you need to recheck the values of your host name, port number and SID. You should also confirm that Oracle is actually running on the host specified.

The message ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied is a lot more encouraging; it means that you successfully communicated with the Oracle server, but you entered the wrong username or password.

ORA-12545 and ORA-01017 are the common error messages  that you are likely to come across, but you may receive any of the following messages as well:

Much like SQL Server's user spaces, Oracle groups database objects, such as tables, indexes and procedures, into what is called a schema . A schema maps to an actual login name. So, in the case of the scott login name you will find a whole host of database objects under the scott account. scott is the sample database schema created by the Oracle Installer when you first install the Oracle server. Typically, a new default Oracle installation will have the following logins created:

We've gone through the process of installing Oracle's client networking software, Net8, then added and tested a new Net8 service name to connect to an Oracle8 server called Oracle8_dev and an Oracle8i server called Oracle8i_dev. Now it's time to look at how we connect to an Oracle database through ASP.