I need to migrate a BaanIV from MSSQL 7
to Oracle 8.1.7 on windows 2000. I have installed
oracle 8.1.7 on the server and set a global
environment varable for ORACLE_SID.
The line for oracle8 in my ipc_info is as follows:
oracle8 s 0 0 p ${BSE}\bin\ora8_srv.exe
When I try to connect to a table in Oracle I get error
505. If I change the p to a s in ipc_info and try to
connect then the session just hangs.
If I change inf_info to
oracle8 s 0 0 p ${BSE}\bin\ora7_srv.exe
then I can connect.

1) Currently the system is on a very old porting set
6.1c.04, will upgrading to 6.1c.06.04 fix this problem?
2) Are there any issues upgarding the porting set?
3) Has anyone migrated from MSSQL 7 to Oracle 8.1.7.
4) What is the difference between the Oracle7 and
Oracle8 drivers??

Thanx

You need to update your tabledef file as well to reflect the switch to Oracle, and don't forget the Database Definition Parameter in Baan.

ad 1. I doubt it.

ad 2. Check your documentation that comes with the porting set (and the ones in between)

ad 3. Probably, not me though ;)

ad 4. Lots, and big. As a matter of fact, you might consider using Oracle 7 drivers because of some known issues with certaing Oracle versions. Little pressed for time so I can't elaborate. I'll get back to you on that one.

Francesco, thanx for your reply.

I have updated the tabledef to connect to
one table in oracle. When I point tabledef
to Oracle8 I get the problems above. When
I point to Oracle7 it works. Please note I am only
changing the Baan/Oracle driver as I only have
Oracle 8.1.7 installed.

I look forward to your response on why I should
use the Baan/Oracle7 driver to connect to the
Oracle 8.1.7 database.

Regards Patrick

@Patrick,

do you had run the $BSE/bin/ora_update script ?
From oracle8 on this script creates the client directories in $BSE/lib/ora/.....


Martin

P.S.

Portingset is ok for running Oracle8.
I had a IVc4 server with Portingset 61c0602 and Oracle8 and it works fine.

Huups,

see, you had an old 61c04 PS. Oracle8 would be support from 6.1c06.02

BTW, did you update your license for Oracle8 driver ?

Patrick,

Are you licensed to use the Oracle8 driver?

And NT or Unix? sounds like NT.. so there wouldn't be an ora_update.. But if its unix then definitely run it!

Dave

I only recently heard about this, so I had to look it up and make sure I had it right.

This bug exists in all Oracle 8 versions, although the email that I got this from suggests that Oracle 8.1.7.0 is exempt. I wouldn't bet on this.

"This bug significantly effects batch processes, and can cause an increase in processing time of up to 50% for batch and report processes."
I am quoting here, I think the correct value should be 5%. At least this is what Oracle specifies.

If available in your porting set, the flag 'use_oci7_interface=1' can be used. Previous baan porting sets can avoid this bug by using the oracle7 driver rather than the oracle 8 driver, however, it is important to ensure that the data is structured in oracle using the oracle7 version of the oracle table naming conventions (ie: ora_column_format:7 must have been set).

The OCI driver in 8.1.7.x makes thousands of calls to translate messages from the oraus.msb file. This can degrade application performance by five percent or more. This problem has been documented by Oracle under bug ID 2142623.

I have not (yet) heard of anybody actually dealing with this issue. Oracle retracted its bugfix and their suggested solution is now to migrate to 9.

As long as database drivers have staticly linked Oracle libs, it doesn't make sense to migrate to Oracle 9. Maybe a next portingset ;).

The performance difference on the driver with and without use_oci7_interface can make more than 50% difference. But on the total of bshell + driver + database + others the maximum gain I have seen is 40% (and the minimum 0% :) ).

Hope this helps,
Dick

Originally posted by Dikkie Dik
As long as database drivers have staticly linked Oracle libs, it doesn't make sense to migrate to Oracle 9. Maybe a next portingset

You lost me there. How does the linking method affect Oracle 9 operations?

Thanx for the reply's
I have been able to connect to the 8.1.7 using
the baan/oracle8 driver by setting the
ORACLE_SERVICE_NAME environment variable
Comming from unix, I have alwayed used TWO_TASK.

Do you know what porting set support use_oci7_interface=1.
Thanx Patrick

Francesco,

On Unix, the driver is staticly linked to oracle libs (ie, ora_update)
SO since you're still using oracle 8i libs, no matter what version of your database. You'll still see this bug.

This bug hasn't been as much of a problem in Windows, and upgrading to Oracle 9i should resolve the problem (if found) in that case..


Patrick,

Next porting set (sometime in december) use_oci7 will be available. But if you are NT, then do not bother.

Dave

Hi Francesco

In reading the Oracle driver doc they
state that it is not supported to connect
to a Oracle8 database with the Baan/Oracle7
driver.

I find a performance improvement of up to 300%
on some sessions when using the ora7_srv driver.
Are there any problems connecting
to the Oracle 8.1.7 database with ora7_srv?

Please note when I loaded the tables I had
ora_column_format:7 set.

Thanx

Francesco

I have decided that I will create a Baan user
that is used for batch run's eg "batch". I will create
an entry in tabledef6.1 for this user to use the
oracle7 driver. All the other user's will use the oracle8
driver. The tabledef6.1 will be as follows:
{batch}*:*:oracle7:N
*:*:oracle8:N

This way the long running reports will be on the Oracle7
driver and not supported. The OLTP will be on the
Oracle8 driver and supported.

What do you think??

That is certainly unprecedented. Is it?

It goes somewhat against my instincts, but I can't think of a good reason this early in the day.

This should be interesting. Keep us in the loop.