When configuring either an Oracle ODBC DSN or an OLE DB connection, you must have Oracle's SQL*Net client-side components installed. SQL*Net is Oracle's network transport layer. Most Oracle ODBC drivers, including Microsoft's driver and the Microsoft OLE DB Oracle provider map, call directly to this SQL*Net layer.
After SQL*Net is configured, note your SQL*Net connect string. Typically this consists of a specifier for the Oracle database server name, and the network protocol type (TCP/IP, named pipes, etcetera.). Often, the SQL*Net connect string is mapped to an alias. In this case it is only necessary to note the alias. For information on how to configure SQL*Net contact your Oracle DBA, refer to the SQL*Net documentation, or refer to your Oracle ODBC driver help file for an example of a connection string.
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