Using OCI 8.1 on 9i installation?

[jeisenbe]

I have a Windows 2000 machine with the Oracle client 9.2.0.3 installed along with PL/SQL Developer version 5.1.0.657. We are using a nameserver, not TNSNAMES for translation (onames)

PL/SQL Developer will connect just fine, but then doing anything as simple as a select * from any table causes the app to hang for some time while initializing, and then to return an ORA-12154. If we connect from the client with the tnsnames, everything works fine.

I know there is a bug with the Oracle client version 9.1 about multiple connections using onames, but this can't be the issue here since I am on 9.2.

Another very odd thing is that when I show the Help -> About dialog in PL/SQL Developer it shows that the version of the OCI it is using is 8.1. Shouldn't this show 9.x? It shows the path to the OCI as C:\oracle\ora90\bin\oci.dll. There is only one oracle home on the machine and that is the correct home path.

Also curiously it shows the oracle version as 9.0.1.3.0, even though the client is patched up to 9.2.0.3.

I have a TAR open with Oracle support on this issue, but it is getting nowhere. Is this an issue with PL/SQL Developer? It seems odd that the about dialog would show seemingly incorrect information.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We would like to upgrade all of our developer's client Oracle installs to 9, but we can't do this until this issue is fixed. The problem does not occur on the 8.1.7 clients.

 

[Marco Kalter]

This is a known Oracle9 Names issue. We are currently looking into a workaround. Right now you need to use tnsnames.ora, or use Single Session mode (Tools > Preferences > Options tab page).

The Help > About screen does not discriminate between OCI 8.1, 9.0 and 9.2. All versions are compatible, are handled the same, and will be displayed as 8.1.

The Oracle Server version is queried from the v$version view:

select * from v$version

This should really return 9.2.0.3 in your situation.

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Marco Kalter
Allround Automations

 

[jeisenbe]

So then this is a bug with PL/SQL Developer, not an issue with the Oracle client? If so, when do you expect a patch/update to be available? Using tnsnames in not really an option for us since the administration of several clients would be a pain.

 

[Marco Kalter]

It is an Oracle9 bug, but we'll try to find a workaround in PL/SQL Developer.

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Marco Kalter
Allround Automations

 

[rbrooker]

I use plsql dev with an 817 names server, there seems to be no problems there. I have 9.2.0 client installed.

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richard.brooker@vuw.ac.nz

 

[jeisenbe]

Our nameserver is 9.0.1.0.0

Any idea on when a patch for PL/SQL Developer will be available to work around this issue? Using single session is not an option since it severly limits the functionality of the application.

 

[Babo]

Jeisenbe,
Take a look on
HREF="http://www.allroundautomations.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000205.html" TARGET=_blank>ONAMES thread - same thing.

[This message has been edited by Babo (edited 19 September 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Babo (edited 19 September 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Babo (edited 19 September 2003).]