Installation Guide: OpenLink Oracle ODBC Connector (Driver) for Linux (Lite Edition)

Data Access Drivers & Connectors Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
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This installation guide walks you through the installation of the Enterprise Edition ODBC Driver for Oracle to a Personal or Application Server host functioning as a client to an Oracle Database Server.

Oracle Enterprise Architecture

Step 1: Download the Installer Archive

  1. Visit the OpenLink ODBC Enterprise Edition Driver Download Page to download the appropriate ODBC driver for Oracle.
  2. Alternatively, curl can be used to download the installer archives and install.sh script directly:
curl -O https://download3.openlinksw.com/uda/components/misc/install.sh
curl -O https://download3.openlinksw.com/uda/components/8.0/x86_64-generic-linux-glibc25-64/ora120_lt.taz 
curl -O https://download3.openlinksw.com/uda/components/8.0/x86_64-generic-linux-glibc25-64/odbc_admin.taz

Step 2: Pre-Installation Configuration

Software Requirements
  • If not already in place already, Download the Oracle Instant Client software for Linux.
  • Installed the Oracle Instant Client on the same machine as the OpenLink Oracle Single-Tier (ora120_lt_mu.so), setting the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables to point to the location where the required binaries and shared libraries are installed –
export PATH=/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Oracle Client Configuration Requirements

The following

  1. The following details for the target Oracle Database needs to be determined –
  • username/password = your DB credentials
  • hostname = the database server address (IP or DNS)
  • port = usually 1521
  • service_name = the service name (not SID) of the Oracle DB
  1. The Oracle Client Connect string format for the database connection is then –
username/password@//hostname:port/service_name

Step 3: Installation

  1. Log onto the target machine for the installation and create a suitable OpenLink installation directory {OPENLINK_INSTALL}.
  2. Copy all the downloaded components to the {OPENLINK_INSTALL} directory, which are the install.sh, odbc_admin.taz, ora120_lt.taz files.
  3. Install OpenLink components using the install.sh shell script with the command –
 sh install.sh
  1. Take care to enter correct information when prompted pertaining to ports, passwords, etc and ensure that you note these down for future use.
  2. The installation should finish without error.
Step 4: Configuration
  1. To setup the OpenLink environment, from the {OPENLINK_INSTALL} run the command –
. ./openlink.sh
  1. Open the file {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/bin/openlink.ini with a suitable text editor such as vi.
  2. Locate and edit the [Environment ORACLE120] section in the oplrqb.ini file and set the ORACLE_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to point to your Oracle Instant Client installation directory, such that they are always set when the Oracle Database Agent is invoked –
 [Environment ORACLE120]
 ORACLE_HOME          = /opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10
 ;ORACLE_SID          = 
 ;ORACLE_SERVER	       = 
 ;TWO_TASK	       = P:
 ;ODBC_CATALOGS	       = Y	 ; Uncomment after loading odbccat10.sql
 ;MULTIPLEX_LDA	       = 5	 ; Allow 5 OpenLink clients on a single lda
 ;OPL_USR_TBLS_FIRST   = Y	 ; Sort SQLTables starting with user tables
 SHOW_REMARKS         = N	; Retrieve SQLColumns REMARKS field
 CURSOR_SENSITIVITY   = LOW  ; Set to HIGH after loading odbccat10.sql
 ;OCI_PREFETCH_ROWS    = 100  ; Number of rows to prefetch
 ;OCI_PREFETCH_MEMORY  = 65535  ; Amount of memory to use for prefetching
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH      = /opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10  ; Find shared libraries
 SHLIB_PATH	      = /opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10  ; Find HP/UX shared libraries
 LIBPATH	      = /opt/oracle/instantclient_21_10  ; Find AIX shared libraries
 ;NLS_LANG	       = AMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8 ; Uncomment for Unicode connections
  1. Place the License file(s) (oplrqb.lic, oracle12.lic) either purchased or obtain during the evaluation download process in the {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/bin directory.
  2. Start the OpenLink License Manage (oplmgr) by going to the {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/bindirectory and running the command –
./oplmgr +start
  1. Start the OpenLink Request Broker (oplrqb) by going to the {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/bindirectory and running the command –
./oplrqb -v     ;;; To start in background mode
or
./oplrqb -fd    ;;; To start in foreground debug mode

Step 5: Create Data Source Name (DSN)

  1. Open the file {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/bin/odbc.ini with a suitable text editor such as vi.
  2. Locate and edit the sample OpenLink Multi-Tier ODBC data source (DSN) called [ora120_lite] created during the installation process and edit as follows –
[ora120_lite]
Driver          = {OPENLINK_INSTALL}/lib/ora120_lt_mt.so
ServerType      = ORACLE120
Database        = 
Username        = {username}
Password        = {password}
Options         =  {//hostname:port/service_name}
FetchBufferSize = 99
ReadOnly        = no
DeferLongFetch  = no
JetFix          = no
WideAsUTF16 = Y
Description     = Sample Oracle Single-Tier Connection

Step 6: Test connection

Using the iODBC Runtime Environment
  1. Use the OpenLink iODBC iodbctest sample tool packaged with the HTTP-based OpenLink ODBC Administrator as follows to make a test connection –
$ cd {OPENLINK_INSTALL}
$. ./openLink.sh 
$ iodbctest "DSN=ora120_lite;UID={username};PWD={password}"
iODBC Demonstration program
This program shows an interactive SQL processor
Driver Manager: 03.52.0507.0105
Driver: 08.02.1217 OpenLink Generic ODBC Driver (oplodbc.so) 

SQL>
  1. SQL statements can now be issued directly against the target database from the SQL>prompt –
SQL> select count(*) from orders

(count(*))       
-----------------
23               

 result set 1 returned 1 rows.

SQL>
  1. The Oracle ODBC Driver is now ready for use with target ODBC application(s).
Using the unixODBC Runtime Environment
  1. When using the unixODBC Driver Manager the WideAsUTF16 = Y parameter needs to be added to the target ODBC DSN, if not in place already, to enable successful connections with applications built using the unixODBC SDK, e.g., its isql test application –
$ isql ora120_lite {username} {password}
+---------------------------------------+
| Connected!                            |
|                                       |
| sql-statement                         |
| help [tablename]                      |
| echo [string]                         |
| quit                                  |
|                                       |
+---------------------------------------+
SQL> select count(*) from orders              
+------------------+
| (count(*))       |
+------------------+
| 23               |
+------------------+
SQLRowCount returns -1
1 rows fetched
SQL>

Additional Information