RE: Deployment of Oracle Client

[schmoldt]

Title: RE: Deployment of Oracle Client

We install the Oracle runtimes (both SQLnet and Forms/Reports runtime installs) on a shared network drive, same as you would on a client. 

 

Easiest is to do it from a "clean" PC with no previous Oracle installs.  Once the network install is done, export the local machine's HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ORACLE registry branch to an external registry file.  We call ours ORACLE.REG.  You can edit that file with a text editor to view it or make additions ... FORMS library paths, Forms icon paths, etc., whatever.

 

Make sure you also have current versions of TNSNAMES.ORA, etc. in the correct directories of your network install.  Basically, this needs to be a complete ORACLE_HOME ... everything that might otherwise go in the client ORAWIN95 or ORANT directory.

 

E-Mail the ORACLE.REG file to the user and have them double-click it.  It will create the Oracle network registry entries on their PC.  This lets them run SQLNet from the network drive as well.  As long as they have an Oracle login, they're good to go at this point.

 

Most of our Forms amd Reports are launched from a single "clearinghouse" Oracle form.  It populates listboxes containing the products the user has access to, based on a security table.  They select the form or report and the form runs the product from there.     So as long as the user has the icon for that master form on their desktop, they don't need any other local installs.  We usually e-mail the icon to them and ask them to drag it to their desktops.  For users that aren't confident in doing that, we do it for them.

 

All the icon paths point to the Oracle Forms runtimes that we installed above.  If our network drive is M:, and our network Oracle install was to M:\ORACLE\ORAWIN, an example for a form would be: 

 

M:\ORACLE\ORAWIN\BIN\ifrun60.EXE M:\oracle\gazmis\prod60\exe\retention.fmx

 

So our steps to set up a PC user for Oracle access are:

 

1.  Create their Oracle login(s).

2.  Email them the ORACLE.REG file to point all their Oracle paths to the network install.

3.  Email them the icon needed to run the "clearinghouse" form.

 

We've found that 90% of the users have no problem doing the e-mail install, as long as the e-mail instructions are very clear and concise.  So that's 90% of the PCs we never have to visit.  We haven't noticed any network load issues caused by having the Oracle install and Forms/Reports executables on a network drive.  But then, we're only at a few hundred client machines.

 

I'm sure I skipped some details, but this might point you in the right direction.  If anything isn't clear, you can follow up with me in e-mail if you'd like.

 

Dave Schmoldt

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Gazette Communications

Cedar Rapids, IA

-----Original Message-----
From: Jacques Kilchoer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 4:46 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Subject: RE: Deployment of Oracle Client

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Conboy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: lundi, 12. mars 2001 10:27
>
>
> How do most organizations deploy sqlnet client to a large
> user base?  We've currently got hundreds, maybe thousands of
> users with various versions of the client installed on their
> desktop.  We're also about to roll out Windows 2000 to a
> large percentage of these users.  In testing we've determined
> that earlier desupported client versions (7.3.4 and such)
> seem to work on W2K with the apps currently deployed.  I'm
> not happy with a "cross your fingers and hope" approach and
> have been pushing to get most users up to 8i as a client. 
> Ideally I'd like to have something the users can download and
> install from the intranet.  In searching technet downloads
> all I find is the entire bloated 200MB Oracle Client as a
> download - much too big for our remote users to download and
> install.  All I want is the Net8 pieces I'd need for
> sqlworksheet, or TOAD, or an ODBC connection, so that the
> download and install time would be within reason.  Anybody
> have suggestions?  How are people on this list deploying
> Oracle apps to many users?  Thanks.

At the companies I've worked, we have used two different methods:
a) For every new PC, have PC support people install SQL*Net from the Oracle CD - though I think sometimes they might just do a full disk copy from a startup disk on an identical system, not 100% sure about that

b) Have a log created by Oracle Installer and copy the actions performed by that log to create a WISE installation script. One of my colleagues did this at a previous company but had to change the WISE installation script several times because the Oracle Installer may not install some .DLLs if they are already present on the PC. e.g. if I remember correctly CTL3D.DLL was one that was missing from the WISE script because on our sample run it wasn't installed, but if it was missing from the PC the installer would copy it over.

c) There's also talk of a "silent" install but I think that was with older versions of the Oracle Installer. I don't know where the "silent" install is documented.

------
any ignorant comments made are the sole responsibility of J. R. Kilchoer and should not reflect adversely upon my employer.

Jacques R. Kilchoer
(949) 754-8816
Quest Software, Inc.
8001 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, California 92618
U.S.A.
http://www.quest.com