Driver Requirements
This section provides the system requirements for using the Oracle driver on Windows, UNIX, and Linux.
IMPORTANT: You must have all components of the Oracle client software installed; otherwise, the driver will not operate properly. You must have the appropriate DLLs or shared libraries and objects on your path.
Although an earlier version of a client can access a later version of a database, for example, client 9i to server 10g, to ensure that you have access to all of the features of a particular database, you should use the client that matches the database version, for example, client 10g to server 10g.
NOTE: The Oracle driver supports Oracle 10g clients; however, the clients are not available for all operating systems supported by the driver. Consult the Oracle Web site for current client availability.
Windows
Oracle client software 9.2.0.2.1 or higher is required on Itanium II. Oracle client software 10.1 or higher is required on x64.
UNIX and Linux
Oracle client software 9i R2 or higher is required on Linux for Itanium II and UNIX. Oracle client software 10.1 or higher is required for Linux on x64.
Before you can use the Oracle driver, you must have a supported Oracle client installed on your workstation in the $ORACLE_HOME source tree. ORACLE_HOME is an environment variable created by the Oracle installation process that identifies the location of your Oracle client components.
Set the environment variable ORACLE_HOME to the directory where you installed the Oracle client. For example, for C-shell users, the following syntax is valid:
For Bourne- or Korn-shell users, the following syntax is valid: