Oracle's sqlnet cannot always resolve services
when static IP addresses are used directly in the tnsnames.ora
file. To prevent having to use static IPs in that file, the
windows operating system must be configured to resolve the network
names where you are expecting to find listeners.
Just as each of the Linux machines has the
file /etc/hosts to resolve names to IP addresses on the local
network, the windows machine has the file %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.
This file can be edited with notepad, placing the name and
associated IP address of machines on the internal network as shown
in Figure F1.
M
Do not be surprised if when opening the hosts file
there are entries that were placed there by spyware or other
viral software. In most cases, it is a good idea to delete or
comment out entries not recognized.
Putty
Putty is a freeware terminal client that supports sshand telnet, available at http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/.
Putty is very easy to use. It supports copying and pasting text
with the mouse. It allows the administrator to carry out OS
commands and to run sqlplus on the server to connect and
administer the database. Fedora has the ssh service turned on by
default, and ssh allows root to login, something not supported by
telnet. Putty gives the administrator full control of Linux
servers from a remote connection.
Oracle Client
Software
Oracle offers software that can be downloaded
freely from its website (otn.oracle.com) that will enable the user
to connect to the database. I suggest downloading the Oracle
Database 10g Client for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) which can be
found on the database download page. At the time of this
publication, only Release 1 is available. Many 3rd party tools
such as TOAD or PL/SQL Developer
require this full version; they will not function with the
?instant client?. Install the administrator version (460 MB).
Once the client software is installed, use ftp
to get a copy of the tnsnames.ora file from one of the nodes of
the RAC. Note: to start the ftp service on a node, as root, run
the command /sbin/service vsftpd start. The tnsnames.ora from
different versions (9i, 10g) can be appended into one file on the
client machine.
TOAD
Originally called Tool for Oracle Application
Developers, TOAD is an
excellent productivity tool for DBAs and Developers. Trial
versions are available for download at
http://www.quest.com/.
PL/SQL Developer
PL/SQL Developer
is another excellent tool for developing PL/SQL objects. Trial
versions are available for download at
http://allroundautomations.com/.
VI for Windows
A database administrator on a Linux or UNIX
system cannot escape the VI editor. It is also available as a free
download for windows at http://www.vim.org/download.php.
and include the URL for the page.
