Oracle Heterogeneous Services To Connect To MS Access On MS Windows Platform

Heterogeneous Services is an integrated component within the Oracle server, and provides the generic technology for accessing non-Oracle systems from the Oracle server.

This article shows how Oracle's Heterogeneous Services can be configured to allow an Oracle Database to connect to a Microsoft Access database using standard databases links on Microsoft Windows Platform.

Step 1: Prepare the MS-Access environment

If you do not have a MS-Access environment create a new Access file and create a table with the name EMPLOYEE

The table EMPLOYEE will have the following columns:

1- ID Number

2- NAME Text

3- SAL Number

4- JOB Text

Start inserting data to the EMPLYEE table like that

Step 2: Define ODBC connectivityUse the ODBC Administrator Utility to define a local System DSN that can be used to connect to the Access database on the same machine. Ensure that the correct *.MDB database file is selected.

Step 3: Prepare the Oracle EnvironmentInstall the Oracle Database Server software on the same machine where MS-Access is installed.

NOTE: It is not sufficient to only install Client Software, as we require an Oracle Net Listener and the Heterogeneous Services (ORACLE_HOME\hs directory) software to be installed as well.

Step 4: Configure and Start the Oracle ListenerConfigure the Oracle Listener on the Windows machine. Here is a sample LISTENER.ORA entry that can be used. Change the HOST, PORT and ORACLE_HOME entries to match your setup. You may also use a different SID_NAME if required.

# listener.ora Network Configuration File: D:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1\network\admin\

listener.ora

# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

LISTENER =

(DESCRIPTION_LIST =

(DESCRIPTION =

(ADDRESS_LIST =

(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = seca14.siliconegypt.com)(PORT = 1521))

)

)

)

SID_LIST_LISTENER=

(SID_LIST =

(SID_DESC =

(SID_NAME = hsodbc)

(ORACLE_HOME = D:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1)

(PROGRAM = hsodbc)

)

)

Stop and start the listener service or from the command line: C:\> lsnrctl stop C:\> lsnrctl start

Step 5: Configure Oracle HS:Edit the ORACLE_HOME\hs\admin\inithsodbc.ora file and add your ODBC System DSN Name (ODBC1 in our case as defined in step 3).

HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = odbc1

HS_FDS_TRACE_LEVEL = off

Step 6: Configure Oracle connectivity to Windows Machine

From now on we are going to work on the Oracle Server (Unix or whatever you run) add the following TNSNAMES.ORA entry:

access_db.world =

(DESCRIPTION =

(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = seca14.siliconegypt.com) (PORT = 1521)

)

(CONNECT_DATA =

(SID = hsodbc)

)

(HS=OK)

)

Ensure you can tnsping the new entry before continuing.

Step 7: Create a database linkCreate a database link using the entry defined in step 6.

SQL> CREATE DATABASE LINK access_db USING 'access_db.world';

Step 8: Test Configuration

The tables in the access database can now be queried from the Oracle environment.

SQL> SELECT * FROM employee@access_db;

id name sal job

-- ------------ ---------- ------

1 Ahmed 1000 DBA

2 Mohamed 109 IT

3 Mahmoud 100 Java

SQL> INSERT INTO employee@access_db

values(4,'Ali',1000,'Network Admin');

SQL>COMMIT;