Oracle Client Configuration

To install and configure the client for Oracle:

  1. Install Oracle Instant Client on the Management Console host.
    You must install the 32–bit version, regardless of whether you are running on a 32–bit or 64–bit platform. Use only version 10.2 or 11.2 or 12.1 of Instant Client Package - Basic for your operating system.
    • Use the version 10.2 client for Oracle 10.2.
    • Use the version 11.2 client for Oracle 11g.
    • Use the version 12.1 client for Oracle 12c.
    • Use the version 18.3 client for Oracle 18c.
    • Use the version 19.3 client for Oracle 19c.
    • Use the version 21.14 client for Oracle 21c.

    Download the client from Oracle at http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/index.html.

  2. Set up the environment on the Management Console host.
    Several environment variables must be set.
    • LD_LIBRARY_PATH: set to include the client installation directory.
      Note: You can specify this value on the Database Configuration page from Installation Manager.
    • NLS_LANG: set to an appropriate value for international language support.
      • UNIX and Linux systems: the value must include AL32UTF8. Example: AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8.
      • Windows systems: the value must include a character map specification that corresponds to the Active Code Page setting in the Windows registry. See Oracle Client Example Configuration on Windows.

      NLS_LANG must be set explicitly as described. The default charset that is set during the client installation is not correct for use with Build Forge.

    • ORACLE_HOME: set to the path of your Oracle client installation directory.
      Note: You can specify this value on the Database Configuration page from Installation Manager.
    • ORA_NLS10: set to the path where character-set data is located on the server.
    • PATH: set to include the client installation directly.
    • TNS_ADMIN: set to the path where the tnsnames.ora file is located on the server. For Remote Database connection, you must copy the tnsnames.ora file from the Oracle database server to the Oracle client installation directory. Ensure that full access permissions have been set for the tnsnames.ora file.
      Note: You can specify this value on the Database Configuration page from Installation Manager.

    To check the current language setting on the Oracle server, log in to Oracle and run the following command:

    SQL> host echo $NLS_LANG
Important: During installation, tnsnames.ora is set up to use the same value for the database name and the Oracle SID. A limitation in JDBC drivers requires this constraint. If they are not the same, the Quick Report reporting feature and the services-layer APIs for Java and Perl do not work.