Is it technically possible to use oracle 73 client for Windows (NT/XP) to connect to an Oracle 10g

[Frank de Vries]

Is it technically possible to use oracle 73 client for Windows (NT/XP) to connect to an Oracle 10g database on HPUX PA-RISC.

(I am not asking to the fact whether this is offically supported, but more whether it is technically possible, under our own risk).

Unfortunately we have some oldish Office97 MsAccess applications that use an Oracle73 client on NT/XP to connect to Oracle8i and oracle9 db.

However we would like to change this applications, we need more time.

We want to upgrade the Oracle 9 db to 10G first.

The question is:
Can the applications still connect , or is the 10g connect significantly different and would refuse or block connections comming from an Oracle73 client ?

Anyone any experience with that ?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Probably won't work. Almost definitely will not work. Lots of changes in the client since 73.

sEP

[Hein van den Heuvel]

I havent's tried, but I suspect it will work. Oracle tries there best to allows client code to remain stable whilest upgrading the server. If they did not, progress would slow down a lot.

Of course the 7.3 connection might not be optimal, but I expect it to work.

Try your question in an Oracle forum, or even just ask Oracle support? Whether the server is hpux or not is unlikely to be of any relevance for this question.

Met vriendelijke groetjes,
Hein.

[TwoProc]

Some code will work, and some won't.
You're going to have lots of trouble. The main reason is that the structure of the data dictionary was redone since Oracle 8i.

Anything that defines a variable in a piece of plsql like
myvar tablename.columnname%type;
may break, so would have to be recoded to use types directly:
e.g. myvar varchar2;
instead of
myvar tablename.columnname%type;

you don't be able to do a
"desc mytable"

And there will be others.

HOWEVER, I don't see why an old Office 97 MsAccess program couldn't use an Oracle 8i or Oracle 9i client on an NT/XP OS client to talk to a 10g database.

So why not just upgrade the client to 8i or 9i?

[Hein van den Heuvel · Accepted solution]

Sep wrote> "Probably won't work. Almost definitely will not work. Lots of changes in the client since 73."

Ya butt.. Frank already indicated it works just fine to "use an Oracle73 client on NT/XP to connect to Oracle8i and oracle9 db.". I expect that to continue, allthough as you indicate, Oracle will not support it.

I found a clear statement in the 9i doc indicating 7.3 clients will work with 8i and 9i servers.

http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/A91202_01/901_doc/server.901/a90191/mig7app.htm

I could not (quickly) find a similar documenation for 10g.

Here is a cute matrix, but it talks 'supported', not what might work:
http://www-css.fnal.gov/dsg/external/oracle_admin/client_cert_matrix.htm

fwiw,
Hein.

[Frank de Vries]

Very Good Hein :)

I asked the same Q to Oracle,
this was their answer:

Hello Frank, Good Afternoon,

As you may know, connecting from Oracle 7.3 client to Oracle 10.2 Server has never been supported and certified.

I do not have a complete answer...

I know there are considerable changes between Oracle 7 and 10.2 and many times I have
seen that it did not work and a customer was forced to upgrade his client software.

But most times customers will only notify us if it does not work, so maybe testing
may show that in your situation/envrionment it is possible in the way you use the connection.

So, seems like I will have to test each
app on its own merit.

Thanks for all your input though :)

[Hein van den Heuvel]

Me again, sorry.

I agree with John that you should try to upgrade the NT client as that may well be transparant to the MsAccess application itself.


This section in the upgrade guide suggests you can postpone, but boed not mention Oracle7 clients.

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B14117_01/server.101/b10763/intro.htm#sthref38
"Upgrade Clients to the Current Release...

You can also upgrade your Oracle8, Oracle8i, Oracle9i, or Oracle Database 10g database to the new Oracle Database 10g release at a later date."



The Oracle Net Services manual suggests it can work:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B14117_01/network.101/b10776/mignet.htm#sthref1083


And the Upgrade Guide guide has:

"The O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY Parameter
The O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY initialization parameter controls whether to continue Oracle7 data dictionary behavior. Use of this initialization parameter is only a temporary expedient. Starting with Oracle9i release 9.0.1, the default value of this initialization parameter is false."

Hein.

[TwoProc]

Frank,

What I've told is from actual experience. We had Oracle7 clients here connecting to Oracle8i and 9i databases in the past. Some of those older apps had some problems (like I indicated in the posting above), some didn't. Upgrading the clients to post 8i and then 9i clients fixed many problems. Back then, even the oldest computers handled upgrading their clients to 8i just fine, and some of the newer ones we moved to a 9i client. However, there were a few apps that experienced no trouble at all, and remained on client for Oracle7 for quite a while. Of course eventually, all were replaced/upgraded.