HOW TO: Oracle 11g instant client+Debian x64+fpc
lazarus / 16-Databases

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BigChimp · 2012-12-04 08:48

Just got an Oracle instantclient installed on Debian and got a
connection with fpc to a remote server.

Hoping this can help others - and perhaps I'll get some tips about
what could be improved...

Inspired by
http://canonical.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/simple-oracle-instant-
client-installation-on-debian-linux/

# we are going to use the .rpm packages and convert them to .deb; we
need alien for this:
aptitude install alien

cd /tmp

#Now go here
#http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/instant-
client/index-097480.html
#select the instant client for 11g Linux x64 + SDK (got Version
11.2.0.3.0, others may work too of course)
#Download using your browser, wget will probably only get html pages
as you need to log in etc.
# This is not enough:
# Instant Client Package - Basic Lite rpm
# instead use the full instant client package:
# Instant Client Package - Basic: All files required to run OCI, OCCI,
and JDBC-OCI applications
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/linuxx86-64soft-092277.html

# this is optional but handy for running sqlplus to see if everything
works
# Instant Client Package - SQL*Plus: Additional libraries and
executable for running SQL*Plus with Instant Client
http://download.oracle.com/otn/linux/instantclient/11203/oracle-
instantclient11.2-sqlplus-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# the sdk is probably not needed:
# Instant Client Package - SDK: Additional header files and an example
makefile for developing Oracle applications with Instant Client
http://download.oracle.com/otn/linux/instantclient/11203/oracle-
instantclient11.2-devel-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# odbc can be useful if you want to test FPC behaviour with ODBC
# Instant Client Package - ODBC: Additional libraries for enabling
ODBC applications
http://download.oracle.com/otn/linux/instantclient/11203/oracle-
instantclient11.2-odbc-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm

#convert the rpm packages to .deb packages
alien *.rpm
# install
dpkg -i *.deb

#add some prereqs not picked up; requirements for instant client
aptitude install libaio1

#My oracle home now is
#/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/
# yours may vary

#We also are going to use tnsnames.ora, which will need an env var as
well:
#"If you want to use Net Service Names configured in a local Oracle
Net tnsnames.ora file, then set the environment variable TNS_ADMIN to
the directory containing the tnsnames.ora file."

#set systemwide Oracle_home variable (we need the .sh extension for
the bash shell to accept this)
cat >> /etc/profile.d/oracleclient.sh << "EOF_DOCUMENT"
# needed for Oracle client
export ORACLE_HOME="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64"
# needed if tnsnames.ora is used with Net Service Names
#todo: perhaps not really needed as client can find this via
oracle_home see
#http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/oci/ic-
faq-094177.html#A4428
export TNS_ADMIN="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/network/admin"

EOF_DOCUMENT
chmod +x /etc/profile.d/oracleclient.sh

#load manually now:
/etc/profile.d/oracleclient.sh

# Create some logging directory that Oracle seems to like:
mkdir -p $ORACLE_HOME/log

# Set up tnsnames.ora:
mkdir -p $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

# add tnsnames.ora with details about remote dbs (not strictly
required but handy):
cat >> $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora << "EOF_DOCUMENT"
# the contents of your tnsnames.ora specifying (remote hosts) etc,
e.g.
ORCL =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = DBHOSTNAME)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = orcl)
    )
  )
EOF_DOCUMENT

# change library path/shared library search path to find Oracle libs
# needed for SQL*Plus and quite probably for fpc applications as well
# we need the .conf extension, otherwise it won't work!
cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracleclient.conf << "EOF_DOCUMENT"
$ORACLE_HOME/lib
EOF_DOCUMENT

ldconfig

#test sqlplus to see if the library works:
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus

#connectin examples: Connect to orcl service on host 192.168.0.1 using
password tiger, username scott:
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus scott/tiger@//192.168.0.1/orcl
#or via tnsnames.ora:
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus scott/tiger@ORCL

# Hint: sql*plus connectionerrors will show up in sqlnet.log

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EgonHugeist · 2012-12-07 19:17

Great job, BigChimp i like that.

It might be a good idea to add this to the tutorials? 

King regards, Michael

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BigChimp · 2012-12-07 19:19

Hi Michael,

Well.. it's more of a database installation thing. If I did that, I
could also tell how to install & configure MS SQL Server, Sybase etc.
IMO not really appropriate for a programming wiki. Also, there are
lots of sites, wikis, blogs and documentation areound that describe
how to do it...

I've no desire to have hordes of people asking questions, using the
wrong commands etc... but putting this in a forum post has the
advantage that the smarter people, who search for information, get
some extra info