Oracle ODBC Driver 11.1.0.1.0

 

DESCRIPTION

 

The Oracle ODBC Driver enables users to connect to Oracle database from a Windows client as well as Unix client. 

The Oracle ODBC Driver enables Microsoft[R]  Windows XP [R], Windows 2000 [R], Windows NT[R] and Windows 98 [R] applications that implement the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity  (ODBC) API to read from and write to Oracle databases.

 

The Oracle ODBC Driver distribution kit consists of Dynamic Link Libraries, a Windows help file, a copy of the license and this product description.  To use an ODBC enabled application the following software is required in addition to the Oracle ODBC Driver:

  • Oracle Net version 11.1.0.1.0
  • Network transport on the client.
  • Oracle Server

 

The support for Oracle ODBC Driver for Linux and Solaris platforms is introduced in 10.2.0.1 version. Oracle ODBC Driver for Linux & Solaris complies with ODBC 3.52 specifications. It is based on features of Oracle 11.1.0.1.0 ODBC driver for Windows.

 

NEW FEATURES

 

        ODBC 11.1.0.1.0

  • Added support for Disable RULE Hint. Oracle ODBC Driver now allows user to specify the option to select whether to use RULE Hint in catalog API’s. The change has been done to increase the performance of ODBC driver for catalog API’s. The default value for the option is TRUE which means that RULE Hint will not be used in catalog API’s by default. (Bug4150034).
  • Added support for Bind Number As Float. By introducing Column Binding for NUMBER Column as FLOAT when column contains float data speeds up the query execution that uses bind variables as FLOAT. (Bug4608183).
  • Added support for OCI statement caching feature that provides and manages a cache of statements for each session. By implementing the support for OCI Statement Caching option, Oracle ODBC Driver will see the increase in performance where user have to parse the same statement multiple times in the same connection. The default value for the statement cache flag is FALSE.
  • Changed the behavior of Result-set cache by saving the un-necessary memory calls to increase the ODBC Driver Performance.

ODBC 10.2.0.1

  • Added support for named parameter, binding parameters by name. Oracle ODBC Driver now allows application to specify the parameters to a stored procedure by name, in the procedure call. Named parameters are only to be used in calls to stored procedures, and not to be used in other SQL statements. (Bug3617324)
  • Changed the behavior of describing metadata for stored procedures that exist in some package. The change has been done to increase the performance of ODBC driver for stored procedure calls. Now if the stored procedure is in some package then the metadata will be described using PL/SQL procedure. (Bug4030664) 

ODBC 10.1.0.2.0

  • Added support for NCHAR columns in INSERT/UPDATE statements with parameter markers. (Bug 2827132)  Previously the driver did not notice that the column was of NCHAR type and failed to set the proper attribute when binding at the OCI level.  As a side effect the SQLDescribeParam call now returns useful information for parameters in INSERT/UPDATE statements, though not in other statement types.
  • Added support for LOBs larger then 4gb.  Requires the Oracle Client and Database to both be version Oracle 10g or higher.
  • Added support for new BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE datatypes in 10g and later servers.
  • Added support for MONTHNAME and DAYNAME functions in SQL statements.

 

 

TESTING MATRIX

 

The following table summarizes the testing configurations that an ODBC release was certified with.  This table is intended to give an indication of what environments the ODBC driver is know to work in.  The table is not meant to be a complete list of all supported environments.

 

ODBC          Database                Operating                    MDAC

Version       Versions               Systems                                      

11.1.0.1.1         As Supported       Windows XP SP2       2.70.9001.0                     

By OCI.                  Red Hat Linux 3.0

                                Solaris5.8

 

 

FUNCTIONALITY

 

The Oracle ODBC Driver complies with Version 3.52 of the Microsoft ODBC specification.

 

SOFTWARE SUPPORT

 

If you would like to receive Oracle Support for your Oracle ODBC Driver, please call (650) 506-5578 in the US , or contact your local Oracle Sales office. Please note that Oracle will not provide support for the Oracle ODBC Driver unless a support contract is in place.

 

HARDWARE REQUIRED

 

The Oracle ODBC Driver requires a system configuration supported by Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, Red Hat Linux 3.0, Solaris5.8 including:

 

  A minimum of 32 MB system memory

  A minimum of 3 MB free disk space

 

SOFTWARE REQUIRED

 

Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 , Red Hat Linux 3.0, Solaris5.8 operating system.

Oracle Net Client 11.1.0.1.0

Oracle Universal Installer shipping with Oracle 11.1.0.1.0

 

SERVER SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

 

This section lists the server software required to support ODBC enabled applications through the Oracle ODBC Driver.

 

  Oracle Server 8.1.7 or higher

 

MORE INFORMATION

                                                      

1. Post-Installation                  

 

Use the Microsoft(R) ODBC Administrator to configure your Oracle ODBC Driver data sources on Windows. Refer to the Oracle ODBC driver help file section entitled Configuring the Data Source. For Unix Client refer to point-4 below.

  

2. Data Conversions

 

The Oracle ODBC Driver follows the Microsoft(R) ODBC 3.00 Software Development Kit (SDK) guidelines for manipulating and displaying real and double data types. Precision (the maximum number of digits used) of SQL_DOUBLE and SQL_FLOAT is 15.

 

If double values are stored in an Oracle database precision for these data types can be much greater than what ODBC currently supports. The end result will be the loss of precision. For Example:

 

                A float data type defined in Oracle with the default precision contains a number such as:

 

                                123.9991029382123

 

                When converted on the Windows Platform the number will drop precision to

 

                                123.999102938212

 

This loss of precision may have different behavior for different applications. For Microsoft Access(R), the user is not allowed to update the data. Microsoft Access(R) thinks the data has changed, because Oracle has the value 123.9991029382123 and Microsoft Access(R) now has the original but truncated number 123.99910293821. Microsoft Access(R) cannot update the row using the 123.99910293821 truncated number as a selection criteria since that row does not exist in the Oracle database.  Only the original row with 123.9991029382123 exists in the Oracle database.

 

In Microsoft Query(R) the display will be incorrect. Lets take for example the following double precision number to display:

 

                                -1.123400000000000E-001

 

                with Microsoft Query(R) the number is displayed as

 

                                -1.123400000000000E-00

 

Microsoft Query(R) makes a call to SQLColAttributes returning the display size of 22. The format defined in the ODBC SDK for display of a double precision data is the following:

 

                Total 22 Length

                (a sign,15 digits,a decimal point,the letter E,a sign and 3 digits)

 

Our example contains a total string length of 23 with 16 digits instead of the 15 digits for precision. This is why the data is displayed wrong.

 

In general to avoid precision problems using ODBC, ensure that data stored in the Oracle database for a double data type conform to the specifications described in the Microsoft ODBC Programmer's Reference and SDK Guide.

 

3. Known Software Problems for Oracle ODBC Driver

  • The SQLSetStmtOption SQL_QUERY_TIMEOUT does not work if the database server is running on Windows NT. As  a workaround, Setting BREAK_POLL_SKIP=1 in server's sqlnet.ora solves the problem. By default, this is set to 100, and the database would not check for timeout set by the ODBC application.
  •   SQLCancel does not work if you are canceling a statement that is executing on Windows NT database server.

 

 

4.  ODBC Driver For Linux & Solaris

    

       4.1   Pre installation task – Install ODBC DM from unixODBC.org

  • Oracle ODBC driver for Unix is certified against unixODBC DM version 2.2.11. Customers are encouraged to use unixODBC DM of version 2.2.11 or above.
  • Please install ODBC Driver Manager after downloading .tar file from http://www.unixodbc.org/

 

4.2 Post installation task

  • Configure Oracle ODBC driver on Linux & Solaris.

       You can configure Oracle ODBC Driver by running  <install-home>/odbc/utl/odbc_update_ini.sh

The utility “odbc_update_ini.sh” takes four command-line arguments

    • arg-1 : Complete path where unixODBC DM has been installed.
    • arg-2 : Complete path of driver install location (optional); if this argument is not passed, the driver path is set to the directory from where the utility is run.
    • arg-3 : Driver name (optional); if this argument is not passed, driver name is set to “Oracle 11g ODBC driver”.
    • arg-4 : Data Source Name (optional); if no value is passed, DSN is set to “OracleODBC-11g”.
  • Update/ verify values of environment variables such as PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, TNS_ADMIN.

4.3   Uninstalling ODBC Driver

  • Update ~/.odbc.ini file:
    • Remove DSN entry (e.g., "OracleODBC-11g") from [ODBC Data Sources].
    • Remove complete DSN information for corresponding DSN.
  • Update <ODBCDM_HOME>/etc/odbcinst.ini file:
    • Remove driver information for “Oracle 11g ODBC driver”.
  • Remove Oracle ODBC driver for Linux & Solaris
    • Delete libsqora.so.11.1
  •  Reset environment variables such as PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, TNS_ADMIN.

 

 

 

 

 

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For More Information

 

Contact your Oracle Sales Representative, your Oracle Sales Office, or call 1-800-ORACLE1.  Outside of the United States please call 650-506-5701.

 

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