I had this problem, when trying to connect with the External Authentication Method, using the Remote Display server in VirtualBox (4.1.8). When I want to connect with Microsoft’s Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe), it failed every time.

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Sometimes… as Oracle DBA you need to connect to SQL Server (with Oracle SQL Developer and jTDS plug-in installed).

When using ‘SQL Server Management Studio’, the ‘Server name’ is in the format:

SERVERNAME\INSTANCE.

This won’t work in SQL Developer:

Status : Failure -Unknown server host name 'SERVERNAME\INSTANCE'.

This can be solved using the Hostname in the next format in SQL Developer:

SERVERNAME;instance=INSTANCE

For me it worked :)

Installing the Oracle Instant Client will save you 600 megabyes compared to the ‘full’ Oracle Client.

Installation steps:

1. Download Basic Package for Oracle site
2. Unzip to directory x
3. Set PATH  to the Instant Client directory x
4. Move TNSNAMES.ora to directory x/network/admin (or set TNS_ADMIN and ORACLE_HOME).
5. Extend with SQL*Plus Package from download (optional)
6. Start your application

Read full article here: Whiteblog – Installing the Oracle Instant Client.

Happy consulting!

Have a look at my Whitehorses Blog where I will explain in more detail.

Final conclusion (on one line):

CustomLog "|<midtier>\Apache\Apache\bin\rotatelogs logs\ssl_request_log 43200" "%t %... %b"

Happy consulting!

They have finally arrived, the Windows 64 and 32 bit versions of Oracle 11gR2.

Download Oracle Database 11g Release 2 for Windows

The 64 bit version was released a bit earlier, so I was hoping the 32 bit version would not come… Why do we want the 32 bit versions? Older systems? Ancient systems! Why…?!

Now I don’t have an excuse to update my almost 10 years old Windows XP OS (running on 64bit hardware) to a much nicer Windows 7 64 bit. The only excuse now is that I could use 600+ megs of memory… enough to run that XP OS virtually!

When having multiple Oracle homes on Windows, how is decided which Oracle home (in the registry) is used by an Oracle binary? Which NLS_LANG or TNS_ADMIN setting from the registry is used?

The answer is binary, path, oracle.key, registry… and which for Windows.

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Ever want to set or remove Windows environment variables permanently within a command file, so you can use it in other command sessions? Use setx en reg !

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When getting the following message using JInitiator: “Unable to verify the certificate – code will be treated as unsigned.”, please check “Control Panel > JInitiator > Cache”, to which location Java will store the ‘Oracle Jar Cache’ and JInitiator settings (like the ‘Grant Always’ setting and ‘Oracle Jar Cache’ directory) in <USERHOME>\.jinit\properties<jinit version> and jpicerts<jinit version>.

Java will get the USERHOME path from the Windows registry [HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Desktop] when looking for the Desktop path setting and truncates the ‘Desktop’ part. Most of the time this will result in the correct USERHOME directory, but when this setting is changed to a network path where users are not granted write access, Java is not able to store the Cache and JInitiator settings.

Ofcourse, this can be one of a few problems, but if you suspect a case like this, there might be a solution…

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Did you notice that when you install Windows Desktop Search, it replaces the Search Companion in the Windows Explorer? Probably you did…

If you want to change this back, for whatever reason, change the following registry entries:

Just for you:
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Desktop Search\DS]
“ShowStartSearchBand”=dword:00000000

For all users:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Desktop Search\DS]
“ShowStartSearchBand”=dword:00000000

Happy consulting!