Oracle DBA FAQ - ODBC Drivers, DSN Configuration and ASP Connection

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By: FYIcenter.com

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A collection of 9 FAQs on Oracle ODBC drivers and connections. Clear answers are provided with tutorial exercises on installing Oracle ODBC drivers; TNS settings; defining DSN entries; connecting MS Access or ASP pages to Oracle servers. Topics included in this FAQ are:

What Is Open Database Communication (ODBC)?
How To Install Oracle ODBC Drivers?
How To Find Out What Oracle ODBC Drivers Are Installed?
How Can Windows Applications Connect to Oracle Servers?
How To Create Tables for ODBC Connection Testing?
How To Check the Oracle TNS Settings?
How To Define a Data Source Name (DSN) in ODBC Manager?
How To Connect MS Access to Oracle Servers?
How To Connect ASP Pages to Oracle Servers?

What Is Open Database Communication (ODBC)?

ODBC, Open Database Communication, a standard API (application program interface) developed by Microsoft for Windows applications to communicate with database management systems.

Oracle offers ODBC drivers to allow Windows applications to connect Oracle server through ODBC.

How To Install Oracle ODBC Drivers?

Oracle offers different ODBC drivers for different versions of Oracle servers. When you install an Oracle server or a client tools on your Windows system, the appropriate ODBC driver will be installed for you automatically.

If you want to install a specific ODBC driver, you need to go to http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/windows/odbc/index.html. Download the right ODBC driver and follow the instructions to install it.

How To Find Out What Oracle ODBC Drivers Are Installed?

To find out what Oracle ODBC drivers are installed on your Windows system, you can use the ODBC manager to look at them:

Go to Control Panel.
Go to Administrative Tools.
Run Data Sources (ODBC).
Go to System DSN tab.
Click the Add button.

You should a list of all ODBC drivers installed on your system. Oracle ODBC drivers should be on the list. For example, your installed ODBC driver list could look like the one the picture bellow with two Oracle ODBC drivers, "Oracle in OraClient10g_home1" and "Oracle in XE":

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