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Get the Report →Access SQL Server Data as a Remote Oracle Database
Use the Oracle ODBC Gateway and Heterogeneous Services technology to access SQL Server data from your Oracle system.
The Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC and Heterogeneous Services technology enable you to connect to ODBC data sources as remote Oracle databases. This article shows how to use the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server to create a database link from SQL Server to Oracle and to query SQL Server data through the SQL*Plus tool. You can also create the database link and execute queries from SQL Developer.
Connect to SQL Server as an ODBC Data Source
Information for connecting to SQL Server follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.
Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server
Connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the following properties:
- Server: The name of the server running SQL Server.
- User: The username provided for authentication with SQL Server.
- Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
- Database: The name of the SQL Server database.
Connecting to Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Warehouse
You can authenticate to Azure SQL Server or Azure Data Warehouse by setting the following connection properties:
- Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to "SQL databases" (or "SQL data warehouses") -> "Select your database" -> "Overview" -> "Server name."
- User: The name of the user authenticating to Azure.
- Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
- Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the SQL databases (or SQL warehouses) page.
Windows
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
Note: If you need to modify the DSN or create other SQL Server DSNs, you must use a system DSN and the bitness of the DSN must match your Oracle system. You can access and create 32-bit DSNs on a 64-bit system by opening the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.
Linux
If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.
/etc/odbc.ini
[CData SQL Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server
Description = My Description
User = myUser
Password = myPassword
Database = NorthWind
Server = myServer
Port = 1433
For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).
Set Connection Properties for Compatibility with Oracle
The driver provides several connection properties that streamline accessing SQL Server data just as you would an Oracle database. Set the following properties when working with SQL Server data in SQL*Plus and SQL Developer. For compatibility with Oracle, you will need to set the following connection properties, in addition to authentication and other required connection properties.
MapToWVarchar=False
Set this property to map string data types to SQL_VARCHAR instead of SQL_WVARCHAR. By default, the driver uses SQL_WVARCHAR to accommodate various international character sets. You can use this property to avoid the ORA-28528 Heterogeneous Services data type conversion error when the Unicode type is returned.
MaximumColumnSize=4000
Set this property to restrict the maximum column size to 4000 characters.
IncludeDualTable=True
Set this property to mock the Oracle DUAL table. SQL Developer uses this table to test the connection.
Linux Configuration
In Linux environments, Oracle uses UTF-8 to communicate with the unixODBC Driver manager, whereas the default driver encoding is UTF-16. To resolve this, open the file /opt/cdata/cdata-driver-for-sql/lib/cdata.odbc.sql.ini in a text editor and set the encoding.
cdata.odbc.sql.ini
[Driver]
DriverManagerEncoding = UTF-8
Configure the ODBC Gateway, Oracle Net, and Oracle Database
Follow the procedure below to set up an ODBC gateway to SQL Server data that enables you to query live SQL Server data as an Oracle database.
-
Create the file initmysqldb.ora in the folder oracle-home-directory/hs/admin and add the following setting:
initmysqldb.ora
HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = "CData SQL Sys"
-
Add an entry to the listener.ora file. This file is located in oracle-home-directory/NETWORK/admin.
If you are using the Database Gateway for ODBC, your listener.ora needs to have a SID_LIST_LISTENER entry that resembles the following:
listener.ora
SID_LIST_LISTENER = (SID_LIST = (SID_DESC = (SID_NAME = mysqldb) (ORACLE_HOME = your-oracle-home) (PROGRAM = dg4odbc) ) )
If you are using Heterogeneous Services, your listener.ora needs to have a SID_LIST_LISTENER entry that resembles the following:
listener.ora
SID_LIST_LISTENER = (SID_LIST = (SID_DESC = (SID_NAME = mysqldb) (ORACLE_HOME = your-oracle-home) (PROGRAM = hsodbc) ) )
-
Add the connect descriptor below in tnsnames.ora, located in oracle-home-directory/NETWORK/admin:
tnsnames.ora
mysqldb = (DESCRIPTION= (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=localhost)(PORT=1521)) (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=mysqldb)) (HS=OK) )
- Restart the listener.
Test the configuration with the following command:
tnsping mysqldb
-
Open SQL*Plus and create the database link with the command below:
CREATE DATABASE LINK mysqldb CONNECT TO "user" IDENTIFIED BY "password" USING 'mysqldb';
You can now execute queries in SQL*Plus like the one below (note the double quotation marks around the table name):
SELECT * from "Orders"@mysqldb WHERE ShipCountry = 'USA';