Supported ODBC Configurations On Windows

Supported ODBC Configurations On Windows

The ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) interface allows applications to access data in DBMS (Database Management Systems) using SQL (Structured Query Language). The Oracle ODBC driver on windows is a DLL that implements ODBC function calls and interacts with a data source.

The flow of control when communicating from an application through ODBC to an Oracle database is shown below:

Application
|
ODBC Driver Manager
|
Oracle ODBC Driver
|
OCI layer
|
SQL*Net Driver
|
Network Software
(PCTCP, Novell Netware, Microsoft LAN Manager, etc,.)
|
SQL*Net Listener
|
Oracle RDBMS

When a third party application communicates with the Oracle database in a Client/Server environment, several Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) are involved.

The ODBC driver communicates with the OCI layer. DLLs used in the OCI layer are part of Required Support Files (RSFs). Required Support Files are bundled with SQL*Net.

Each version of the ODBC driver is linked with a specific version of RSF. Each version of SQL*Net is also dependent on a specific version of RSF. The matrix below shows the dependency.
Supported Versions Matrix
ODBC Driver Version

Supported Operating System

Sql*Net Requirements

RDBMS

Release Notes

Patchset Number
11.2.0.1.0 Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 11.2.0.1.0 9.2.0.4 or higher

N/A *
11.1.0.7.0 Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 11.1.0.7.0 9.2.0.4 or higher

Patch 6890831
10.2.0.5.0

Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7

10.2.0.5.0

8.1.7 or higher

Note 402885.1

Patch 8202632 *

Note: If you are running an ODBC driver not listed in the above matrix, we strongly recommend that you upgrade your ODBC driver.

* Starting in 10.2 all Oracle ODBC Driver patches are contained in the Oracle Database (AKA Oracle Database Family) patchsets. However, they assume that the base Oracle ODBC Driver has been installed in the Oracle Home.

Basics

If your application is 32-bit, you must use a 32-bit Oracle ODBC driver and 32-bit SQL*Net for the platform where your application is targeted.

As of December 31, 2000 all the 16-bit products from Oracle have been desupported.

ODBC Documentation

For Oracle8, the ODBC driver help file name is Sqora.hlp and is located in windowsNT/system32/.

For other ODBC Documentation such as white papers and bulletins written by Oracle Support Services, refer to the MetaLink web site at:

http://metalink.oracle.com/

For ODBC API documentation, refer to the "ODBC 3.0 Programmer's Reference and SDK Guide" from Microsoft Press. The online version of this manual is part of the MSDN Library.

Version of Oracle product: How to find ?

To find the versions of Oracle software installed on your machine, run the Oracle Universal Installer and click on Installed Products. In case of errors, versions numbers are an important part of problem definition.

API Conformance Level

The Oracle 8i and 9i ODBC Drivers are numbered according to the Oracle Client they work with. The API Conformance Level of the ODBC Driver can be found in the Release Notes for that Oracle ODBC Driver.

General Suggestions

Read the release notes and online documentation which contain important information. If an error occurs, write down the entire error message as seen on the monitor(screen). An error message is key in finding the problem.

Where can I obtain Oracle ODBC drivers from ?

The Oracle ODBC driver is bundled with the Oracle client and server software. It is available to be downloaded from http://otn.oracle.com.

Also, starting in 10.2 all Oracle ODBC Driver patches are contained in the Oracle Database (AKA Oracle Database Family) patchsets. However, they assume that the base Oracle ODBC Driver has been installed in the Oracle Home.

http://metalink.oracle.com

Supportable Operating System

Currently, Oracle no longer supports the Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups for 16-bit ODBC. Win/OS2 sessions are NOT SUPPORTED.

The only supported Windows 95 versions are Windows 95 or Windows 95 service pack 1 which are identified with a lower case 'a' after the version number, i.e. 4.00.95a. Windows95 OSR2 identified with an uppercase 'B' after the version number is NOT SUPPORTED.

Oracle also supports the Oracle odbc drivers running on Windows 2000, Windows 2003 and Windows XP.