Oracle client for Mac

[Jay]

I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?

TIA.

[HansF]

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

I don't think there is one. I base this on Oracle's publically
available 'certification matrix' at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/support/metalink/index.html

/Hans

[hpuxrac]

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

AFAIK there's 10g database software for MAC that of course includes the
client.

Dunno about 9i don't think so.

[b***@gmail.com]

that would be in the same place as the 8.1.6 and 8.1.7 clients that
Oracle PR announced but never delivered.

The 10g distro is what you are after.

-bdbafh

[DA Morgan]

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

There is no 9i client or database for the Mac.

You can certainly obtain a 10g copy for the Mac OSX/Darwin by download
but I must caution you that the installation instructions published by
Oracle assume a great deal of Mac knowledge not possessed by most people
coming from a UNIX/Linux background.

I am currently working with Kent Stroker to publish a white paper on the
Oracle Magazine web site in the next two weeks.

[Andy Hassall]

Post by DA Morgan
There is no 9i client or database for the Mac.

There's one offered on otn.oracle.com:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/oracle9i/index.html
Oracle9i Release 2 - Developer's Releases
Oracle9i Developer Release 1 (9.2.0.3.0) for Linux / AMD64
Oracle9i Database Release 2 Enterprise Edition for Apple Mac OS X
Version 10.2 Jaguar

The release notes indicate that the "Developer's Releases" title means it's
pretty much beta-quality stuff and not for production use.

[Bob Bunch (OCP)]

Post by DA Morgan

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

There is no 9i client or database for the Mac.
You can certainly obtain a 10g copy for the Mac OSX/Darwin by download
but I must caution you that the installation instructions published by
Oracle assume a great deal of Mac knowledge not possessed by most people
coming from a UNIX/Linux background.
I am currently working with Kent Stroker to publish a white paper on the
Oracle Magazine web site in the next two weeks.

Looking for a good 10g/Mac install guide? Check this site out:

http://www.orablogs.com/sergio/archives/000781.html

It helps to have experience installing Oracle on *nix platforms. If
you do, then the only real problem I had w/ this was the Mac's user
maintenance screen kinda got wigged out because the Oracle account was
created w/o all the "normal" NetInfo goodies. I did have to "do
battle" w/ the /etc/oratab area (it seems confused as to how this
should be created). Once I hand-jammed the missing parts (for oratab and
the NetInfo entries), all was well. I've very happy w/ my 10g install on
a meager PowerBook/G4 (800MHz, 768MB) -- runs surprisingly well! The 10g
distro is a lot nicer than the 9i developer drop too -- it has everything
you'd expect to be present on a Unix box.

BTW, I haven't bothered setting up any RC startup scripts for it. I just
close the lid when I'm not using it. Something you can't really get away
w/ on Windoze laptops! ;)

HTH
Bob Bunch
8i OCP Uber-Nerd and New Mac Freak ;)

PS -- I'd love to check out the white paper! Could you post the link for
it whenever it's published? Thanks!

[DA Morgan]

Post by Bob Bunch (OCP)

Post by DA Morgan

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

There is no 9i client or database for the Mac.
You can certainly obtain a 10g copy for the Mac OSX/Darwin by download
but I must caution you that the installation instructions published by
Oracle assume a great deal of Mac knowledge not possessed by most people
coming from a UNIX/Linux background.
I am currently working with Kent Stroker to publish a white paper on the
Oracle Magazine web site in the next two weeks.

http://www.orablogs.com/sergio/archives/000781.html
It helps to have experience installing Oracle on *nix platforms. If
you do, then the only real problem I had w/ this was the Mac's user
maintenance screen kinda got wigged out because the Oracle account was
created w/o all the "normal" NetInfo goodies. I did have to "do
battle" w/ the /etc/oratab area (it seems confused as to how this
should be created). Once I hand-jammed the missing parts (for oratab and
the NetInfo entries), all was well. I've very happy w/ my 10g install on
a meager PowerBook/G4 (800MHz, 768MB) -- runs surprisingly well! The 10g
distro is a lot nicer than the 9i developer drop too -- it has everything
you'd expect to be present on a Unix box.
BTW, I haven't bothered setting up any RC startup scripts for it. I just
close the lid when I'm not using it. Something you can't really get away
w/ on Windoze laptops! ;)
HTH
Bob Bunch
8i OCP Uber-Nerd and New Mac Freak ;)
PS -- I'd love to check out the white paper! Could you post the link for
it whenever it's published? Thanks!

Sergio doesn't address any of the network naming information problems
and doesn't provide any background on much of what he writes. In short
there is the assumption of a lot of Mac knowledge that likely is not
present with existing Oracle DBAs and developers.

Stroker and I will be submitting a white paper to Oracle Magazine next
week that should be far more detailed. I will post an announcement when
I know where it has been published.

This morning I performed another successful install of Oracle 10gR1 on
a Mac mini. This machine will be on the PSOUG table at Oracle Day 2005
on Thursday for anyone that would like to play with it.

[Ronald Rood]

Post by DA Morgan
Stroker and I will be submitting a white paper to Oracle Magazine next
week that should be far more detailed. I will post an announcement when
I know where it has been published.

Hi Daniel,
for me the oracle installation manuals were quite good. Using the manual I
could perform each and every task with success. What is missing is a way to
view the sga definition, something like ipcs -bom. This is a macos issue but
did you find a way to check the sga ?
Most problems I encountered had to do with a polluted java environment, the
existence of old jdbc drivers etc. An other minor problem was caused by the
fact that the graphical tools - like the installer - are not using X11. The
runInstaller script does check the X environment but is not using it. This
can be solved by using vnc but a little note in the documentation could have
saved quite a few hours.

With kind regards / met vriendelijke groeten,
Ronald

http://ronr.nl/unix-dba
http://homepage.mac.com/ik_zelf/oracle

[DA Morgan]

Post by Ronald Rood

Post by DA Morgan
Stroker and I will be submitting a white paper to Oracle Magazine next
week that should be far more detailed. I will post an announcement when
I know where it has been published.

Hi Daniel,
for me the oracle installation manuals were quite good. Using the manual I
could perform each and every task with success. What is missing is a way to
view the sga definition, something like ipcs -bom. This is a macos issue but
did you find a way to check the sga ?
Most problems I encountered had to do with a polluted java environment, the
existence of old jdbc drivers etc. An other minor problem was caused by the
fact that the graphical tools - like the installer - are not using X11. The
runInstaller script does check the X environment but is not using it. This
can be solved by using vnc but a little note in the documentation could have
saved quite a few hours.
With kind regards / met vriendelijke groeten,
Ronald
http://ronr.nl/unix-dba
http://homepage.mac.com/ik_zelf/oracle

That's because you understand the Mac. For most people, I suspect,
Oracle's instructions would carve a straight line between where they are
and extreme frustration.

Send me an email off-line and I will try to get you a solution.

[Jay]

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing it?
TIA.

I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application. I
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

[hpuxrac]

Post by Jay
I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application.

I

Post by Jay
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

I haven't even had time to play with 10g yet but 10g to 9i is a given
pre-req i believe 10g client connectivity breaks or "is supposed to"
somewhere in early 8.1.x or before ??? but you can always test.

[DA Morgan]

Post by Jay

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing

it?

Post by Jay
TIA.

I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application. I
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

I can't think of a single reason why the 10g client wouldn't connect
to a 9i database. Try it!

[Ronald Rood]

Post by Jay

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing

it?

Post by Jay
TIA.

I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application. I
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

Could be I am missing something but why don't you use the thin jdbc client ?
It's available.

With kind regards / met vriendelijke groeten,
Ronald

http://ronr.nl/unix-dba
http://homepage.mac.com/ik_zelf/oracle

[Bob Bunch (OCP)]

On Fri, 01 Apr 2005

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 23:33:58 +0100, Jay wrote (in article

Post by Jay

Post by Jay
I'm trying to find the Oracle 9i client for a Mac. I found the
developer version of the DBMS but I only need the client portion.
Where can I find it and is there anything special about installing

it?

Post by Jay
TIA.

I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application. I
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

Could be I am missing something but why don't you use the thin jdbc
client ? It's available.
With kind regards / met vriendelijke groeten, Ronald
http://ronr.nl/unix-dba
http://homepage.mac.com/ik_zelf/oracle

OTN has the 10g Instant Client available for Mac OS X. All you should
have to do is plop it down in it's own directory, put it in your path, set
TNS_ADMIN to the TNSNAMES.ORA file, and run with it. It's pretty much
that simple on Windoze, anyway! ;)

FYI, the 10g Instant Client (or any 10g client, AFAIK) will no longer
connect to less than 9i. The 10g JDBC (thin) driver, however, still does.
I recommend using the JDBC-thin driver, unless you're connecting to RAC
(OCI required for transparent failover); you shouldn't need an ODBC/JDBC
bridge.

If all you want is just JDBC connectivity, you could always just copy the
jdbc*.jar from your server's $ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib directory and run w/
that. (ojdbc14_g.jar on 10g, for example) Doesn't matter what platform
you need to use it on, after all. :)

If you want to do SQL*Plus (or some other OCI client) from your mac, then
you'll definitely need to get the Instant Client.

Off subject -- I recently found a VERY nice "Free TOAD" replacement at
http://www.minq.se/products/dbvis -- DBVisualizer. It does ALMOST
everything Free TOAD will do for free. It's 100% platform independent,
and supports more databases than I've ever heard of. Just feed it a
JDBC-thin driver (provided on their site). Awesome relationships view! ;)

Anyway, from the OTN download page:

========================================================== Instant Client
Package - Basic: All files required to run OCI, OCCI, and JDBC-OCI
applications instantclient-basic-macosx-10.1.0.3.zip (32,395,622 bytes)

*Instant Client Package - JDBC Supplement: Additional support for XA,
Internationalization, and RowSet operations under JDBC
instantclient-jdbc-macosx-10.1.0.3.zip (4,571,475 bytes)

*Instant Client Package - SQL*Plus: Additional libraries and executable
for running SQL*Plus with Instant Client
instantclient-sqlplus-macosx-10.1.0.3.zip (326,740 bytes)

*Instant Client Package - SDK: Additional header files and an example
makefile for developing Oracle applications with Instant Client
instantclient-sdk-macosx-10.1.0.3.zip (293,913 bytes) Optional packages
are marked with a *.


Installation Steps:

1. Download the appropriate Instant Client packages for your platform. All
installations REQUIRE the Basic package.

2. Unzip the packages into a single directory such as "instantclient".

3. Set the library loading path in your environment to the directory in
Step 2 ("instantclient"). On the Macintosh OSX platform, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
is the appropriate environment variable.

4. Start your application and enjoy.
==========================================================

HTH! ;)
Bob Bunch
8i OCP Uber-Nerd

[Stu Charlton]

Post by Jay
I don't suppose I can use the 10g client to connect to a 9i DB? What
I'm really looking for is the ODBC driver for 9i so I can use the
JDBC/ODBC bridge to connect to a 9i database in a java application. I
guess I should have asked for that the first time. This driver should
come with the 9i client software.

The 10g Thin JDBC driver works with 8i and 9i databases (not 8.0
IIRC). It's what BEA ships with WebLogic Server 8.1.4 as its
recommended driver when doing Java/Oracle connectivity, and we've been
quite happy with it in my experience.

The JDBC drivers come with the Oracle client installation (under
ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib), but are also available as a small separate
download on otn.oracle.com (though it's the 10.1.0.2 release).

I would not suggest using the ODBC/JDBC bridge unless you have very
specific reasons for doing so. The OCI and/or Thin drivers work fine
without ODBC. The Thin drivers do not even require an Oracle client
install, they work by themselves, on any platform with a Java Virtual
Machine (Mac included).

Cheers
Stu