Re: Oracle8i client-Oracle10g server question

"Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message news:1078122701.833454_at_yasure...
> Hans Forbrich wrote:
>
> > Daniel Morgan wrote:
> >
> >> Actually I can't think of a single large company I know that doesn't
> >> have the ability to seemlessly roll out patches to client machines on
> >> demand.
> >
> >
> > I'd be interested in hearing about the tool set they use - home built or
> > third party. And their reliability. Especially in a heterogeneous
> > environment.
> >
> >>
> >> Apparently you do ... but that is not my experience.
> >
> >
> > That IS my experience, and I assume the OP has the same concern.
> > Otherwise I would back down entirely and support your comments.
> >
> > /Hans
>
> I can not discuss some companies due to confidentiality agreements
> but the City of Seattle is a public entity and anyone can contact
> their IT department and inquire as to how groups such as Seattle
> City Light do it. As far as I know the tools is a commercial tool
> I think provided by Novell. But I know other organizations doing it
> too that don't use Novell and don't have the sophistication to
> build their own.

Novell and Microsoft both provide tools that will enable you to do this for networked machines. (ZENWorks and SMS). These tools require time and effort to get to know and use and have some drawbacks, particularly if updating different client builds with different connectivity to the network - a 120mb install on a 56k modem is not fun (especially if the IT department force you to take it at logon and you were only wanting to check your mail headers for that important meeting you have just skipped out of to get the information you require :( ). Doing it from CD using these tools is more reliable from the client point of view but can be a challenge for the people writing the install.

bottom line distributing client software whether with an automated tool or not is difficult and expensive, in a heterogenous network with differenmt connectivity it will likely be the most difficult part of any upgrade.

-- 
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK