But it's a very important difference. The thin driver, basically just the classes12.zip file, is slower than the OCI. The advantage for me is that I don't need an Oracle supported platform (mine is Linux on Alpha) to run the thin driver. For our upcoming JDBC stuff here at work, I can't imagine why we wouldn't want to use OCI.
Rich Jesse System/Database Administrator [EMAIL PROTECTED] Quad/Tech International, Sussex, WI USA > -----Original Message----- > From: Ben Poels [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 4:03 PM > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L > Subject: RE: Differences between Oracle JDBC thin and thick drivers > > > Hi > > I believe the difference is that the OCI drivers use SQL*Net > or NET8 or whatever they call it now, whereas the thin driver > does not require SQL*Net on the client machine. > > Ben Poels > Sr. Technical Analyst > Queen's University > > -----Original Message----- > Avrami > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 4:29 PM > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L > > > > > Hello all, > > I have a question concerning the Oracle JDBC thin vs. thick drivers > and how they might affect operations from an application perspective. > > > We're in a Solais 8/Oracle 8.1.7.2 environment. We have several > applications on several servers connecting to the Oracle database. > > > For redundancy, we're looking into setting up TAF (transparent > application failover). Currently, some of our apps use the Oracle > JDBC thin drivers to talk to the database, with a connection > string that like this: > > jdbc:oracle:thin:@host:port:ORACLE_SID > > In a disaster recovery mode, where we would switch the database > from one server to another, the host name in the above string > would become invalid. That means we have to shut down our application > servers and restart them with an updated string. > > Using the Oracle OCI (thick) driver though, allows us to connect > to a Net8 service instead of a specific server: > > jdbc:oracle:oci8:@NET8_SERVICE_NAME > > Coupled with the FAILOVER=ON option configured in Net8, it is > then possible to direct a connection from the first server to > the failover database on another server. This is exactly what > we would like to do. > > My question is, from an application perspective, how is the Oracle > thick driver different from the thin driver? If everything > else is "equal" (i.e. the thick driver is compatible with the > app servers) would there be something within the the thick/OCI > driver that could limit functionality vs. the thin driver? > > My understand, which obviously is sketchy, is that the thick > driver is a superset of the thin driver. If this is the case, > and for example if all database connections were handled through > a configuration file with the above OCI connection string, then > theoretically the thick driver should work. > > If anyone has any info on this that they can share, it would > be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Lou Avrami -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Jesse, Rich INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).