Configuring an ODBC Connection for Oracle

To configure an ODBC Connection for Oracle you will need the following:

• Install the Oracle Client or Instant Client on your PC.
• Service Name. This is the global database name for your database.
• Communication Protocol. Use TCP.
• Host Name. Enter the IP address or host name of the machine on which the Oracle server resides. Use localhost if the database resides on your own machine.
• Port Number. The default port (1521) will generally be the correct value. However, it is possible to configure Oracle to use a different port.
• Set up a tnsnames.ora file. This can be placed either in the same directory as the Instant Client or some other directory. The Instant Client provides no means to configure the tsnames.ora file (which contains the Oracle network names). The easiest way to create tnsnames.ora is to set it up on a machine that has the full client then copy it across.
• Set environment variable TNS_ADMIN to the directory containing tnsnames.ora