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Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574502]

Fri, 11 January 2013 06:13

Michael Gorsich
Messages: 4
Registered: January 2013
Location: Michigan, USA

Junior Member

We have been upgrading our servers to Server2008 and are getting..

[ORA-3134: Connections to this server version are no longer supported.]

..using the drivers we used to use in XP and Server2003 to access a legacy Oracle7 db. Connections to this db are needed for typical CRUD functionality by multiple applications, some written in Classic ASP and some in C# .NET 3.5 & 4.0. I have tried ODBC drivers (System.Data.Odbc) and also ODP (Oracle.DataAccess.Client) to no avail.

Does anyone know of an existing driver solution to make this connection without have to resort to a custom HLI interface?

I would think we aren't the only ones needing to access Oracle7 from Server2008, but we are having a great deal of difficulty finding a solution.

Thanks!

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574503 is a reply to message #574502]

Fri, 11 January 2013 06:25

Littlefoot
Messages: 21823
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe

Senior Member
Account Moderator

I *think* (which means that I'm not sure) that it is not your operating system, but Oracle (Client) software that is to be used to connect to (an old) Oracle 7 database. For example: if you installed Oracle 11gR2, its SQL*Plus can't be used to connect to Oracle 7, which - in turn - means that you'd have to get an older version or even have one in between these two (if you, for example, have to fetch data via database links).

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574504 is a reply to message #574502]

Fri, 11 January 2013 06:38

Michel Cadot
Messages: 68733
Registered: March 2007
Location: Saint-Maur, France, https...

Senior Member
Account Moderator

ORA-03134: Connections to this server version are no longer supported.
 *Cause:  An attempt was made to connect to an Oracle server of older
          version.
 *Action: Please refer to documentation for more details.

Try to find an older client (for instance 8.0 or 8i) but it is not sure that it will be running on MS Server2003.

Is there any specific reason to use an Oracle version that is no more supported since 31-Dec-2000?
You do not use .Net 1.0 or Windows NT 4 or ODBC V2, so why do you use Oracle version 7?

Regards
Michel

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574508 is a reply to message #574504]

Fri, 11 January 2013 07:40

Michael Gorsich
Messages: 4
Registered: January 2013
Location: Michigan, USA

Junior Member

Thanks for your reply. I am, indeed, currently trying to make Oracle 8 drivers work. It looks, at least so far, that this may work, but I also have to maintain connections to our newer dbs (10g). Do you see an issue with having both modern drivers and old drivers simultaneously? I am using ODP for connections to the new dbs.

The root application (written in Powerhouse 4GL) that uses the Oracle7 db is over 30 years old and is not likely to change; and it can not viably work with a newer Oracle version. Therefore, our newer applications have to connect to the old db. It is certainly not by my choice that we still have one of our dbs on Oracle 7.

I can't imagine anyone intentionally staying with Oracle7 unless they had to for reasons out of their control.

You are in France, right?

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574513 is a reply to message #574508]

Fri, 11 January 2013 08:30

Michel Cadot
Messages: 68733
Registered: March 2007
Location: Saint-Maur, France, https...

Senior Member
Account Moderator

I don't know what to say.
I doubt your Oracle database version 7 will run on Windows Server 2003 or 2008 without any problem.
You then will not be able to do anything but rewrite the application or go back to NT 3.51 (the version natively running Oracle 7, I even don't remember if it was certified for NT 4).

For me it is surely better to invest on the rewrite of this application with a language, OS and database supported in these days than putting in danger the whole enterprise information system for one application.

In addition to the possibly incompatibility between Oracle 7 and Windows, you have to know that anyone can connect and act as a DBA to an Oracle 7 database even if he has no account. Of he has access to the network on which the database server is connected then ha can do anything (I hope your database server is not connected to Internet as this would mean anyone on the world can see, modify and delete your data).

Regards
Michel

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574515 is a reply to message #574513]

Fri, 11 January 2013 08:47

Michael Gorsich
Messages: 4
Registered: January 2013
Location: Michigan, USA

Junior Member

My apologies, I need to clarify:

The Oracle7 database itself is not running on Windows; it is running on an (equally ancient) HP-UNIX box.

Applications which access this data (with exception of the app I called 'root' in my previous post) are running in Windows and use ODBC drivers to do so. These are the servers we are upgrading.

Again, I apologize for not making it clear that the db server itself is not being upgraded.

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574522 is a reply to message #574515]

Fri, 11 January 2013 10:23

Michel Cadot
Messages: 68733
Registered: March 2007
Location: Saint-Maur, France, https...

Senior Member
Account Moderator

This does not change so much things on what I said except that you also have the security hole on the old HP-UX that everyone knows or can learn just searching on the web.

To answer your previous question, yes you can have many Oracle versions and drivers on the same box. On my laptop, I have 8i, 9.2, 10.2, 11.1 and 11.2. You just have to take care to start your program with the correct Oracle home and driver for the database you want to reach. Driver 10g cannot connect to Oracle 7 database, Driver 7, 8, 8i cannot connect to 10g database. I think your best choice is to use a 9i Oracle client and driver (if you find one) as, iirc, it can connect to both 7 and 10g.

Regards
Michel

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Re: Accessing Oracle7 db From Server2008 [message #574523 is a reply to message #574522]

Fri, 11 January 2013 10:53

Michael Gorsich
Messages: 4
Registered: January 2013
Location: Michigan, USA

Junior Member

Thanks, Michel, you've been a big help.

I don't see a way to mark my question as answered or give you credit for it. I guess that isn't done on OracleFAQ.

Have a great day!

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