I have installed Cognos BI 8.3 on my machine, which has a Windows 7 OS 64-bit. In IBM's supported environment list for Cognos 8.3, Windows 7 is not listed. On top of that, it says the product will only integrate with 32-bit 3rd party libraries. So, you can already see that I'm already starting on a bad foot. But anyways, this is the machine I have and that is the software I got, so I decided to see if they would work together..
I installed Oracle 10g Express database also in my machine and Apache 2.2 server. Up to there no problems.
Before moving further, I copied ojdbc14.jar to cognos/.../webapps/p2pd/WEB-INF/lib and added the Oracle database in Cognos Configuration. Tested, passed.
With the database started, the Apache server started, and Cognos started, I was successfully able to start Cognos Connection on the computer. So, it looks like the OS is not an issue.
(You can see everything I did by following the steps on this site, which since two days ago seems to be down but I'm thinking will eventually come back up)
Then I decided to try the samples, so I tried to create a data source connection from Cognos to the Oracle database. So, in the admin config console (i.e. Administer Cognos Contents > Configuration), I decided to create a new Oracle data source. I put the credentials, but BAM.. testing fails.
Fail Message:
QE-DEF-0285 The logon failed.
QE-DEF-0323 The DSN(ODBC)/ServiceName is invalid. Either the DSN is missing or the host is inaccessible.
RQP-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDateSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0031 Unable to access the "testDataSourceConnection" database.
UDA-SQL-0532 Data Source is not accessible: "XE".
ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified
RSV-SRV-0042 Trace back:
...
From what I have researched, it could be a number of things, but nothing seems to work. Here is what I tried:
Adding ODBC driver. Added the Oracle XE driver, even making sure it was done in the 32-bit ODBC manager (i.e. Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe). That didn't work.
Added ORACLE_HOME, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and TNS_ADMIN to my environment variables.
tnsping'ed the XE database and it the ping returned ok.
There are no tnsnames.ora duplicates in the computer.
I tried and I am able to connect to the database via sqlplus. Did I mention that Cognos Config database test also passed?
Installed Oracle XE client. But didn't do much with it because the Oracle server is installed in the computer and also has a client component.
Has anyone come across this problem? I haven't been able to diagnose the problem or make even the slight progress for days. If you would like me to provide more information on any of the solutions I tried, please do ask. If you have a potential solution or, even better, if you have been able to solve this problem before, please let me know how!
Thanks!
One thing to keep in mind : certain portions of Cognos BI are implemented via Java and other portions are implemented via native C++ processes (the BI Bus processes)
Cognos connects to the content store database from the Java process using JDBC.
The BI Bus processes will connect to Oracle using a native oracle client.
So based on your description, I'd say that the problem area is in the native oracle client configuration (or the Cognos service's perspective of it).
You mentioned adding the ORACLE_HOME, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and TNS_ADMIN environment variables in windows, and the fact that Oracle Utilities like SQLPlus and TNSPing are working for you.
When you added the environment variables, did you add them to the SYSTEM area for environment variables or the User area...?
If you're running Cognos as a service, its going to be a child process of SERVICES.EXE, which is run as system (this process is also not restarted unless you reboot the machine).
I'd try this :
make sure the above environment variables are defined for the SYSTEM user (in the system area, not the user area)
once you've done this, reboot the machine
See if you can create the database connection now.
If that doesn't work, I'd suggest doing a "run as" of SQLPlus or TNSPING as the SYSTEM user (and see if that works).
In order to use oracle as data source, you must install 32 bit client.
64 bit client will not work.
So if you installed oracle express 64 bit, and you don't want to uninstall it,
you can just install additional 32 bit client, and make sure to set it as your default home.
Related
I work at a facility that does not allow me access to a Oracle Database offsite. So I can't connect to the server through a Oracle client connection right now, because of COVID I'm forced to work from home.
I'm required right now to write a PL/SQL script that will update records across the entire database, however I don't know anything about setting up a test environment on my home computer so that I can run the script in a controlled environment to test it before I bring it back on site.
At one of my previous jobs, they had a PROD, PREPROD, and so forth copies of Oracle databases that one could run the script on before I sent it up the chain to production. The setup we're using doesn't have that, just the production database and thus we have the problem with our workflow that we have one shot to get it right.
So my question is, is there an editor out there for Oracle that will allow me to create a test database, so that I can run the script on that, see the results, edit it to make it work right, before I bring it back to work and run it on our production server? I'm opposed to installing a full Oracle database implementation on my own computer for licensing reasons and/or honestly I don't know what I'm doing setting up an Oracle server on my own (Tried it, couldn't even find documentation on it).
Oracle Express Edition (XE) is free so - no licensing reasons here.
If you want, you can download pre-configured Virtual Box machine which has the database already installed, along with SQL Developer GUI tool to access it so you're up and running in a matter of minutes.
Alternatively, create an account on https://apex.oracle.com/en/; it is also free, gives you certain quota (was 25MB, don't know how much is it now, possibly somewhat more than that) which is enough to try your queries.
Or, use https://dbfiddle.uk/
As you can see, there are various options; pick the one that suits you best.
So I have successfully installed Oracle DB 19c and connected it to Oracle SQL Developer. I am able to create tables and run queries. Furthermore, I can connect to ADW with both python and SQL Developer and any changes that I commit are seen in all locations. I am trying to connect the ADW database to Power BI. I am running all this on a personal Windows 10 Pro laptop with plenty of SSD & RAM.
In a new window of Power BI I click Get Data and then Oracle Database followed by Connect. When I do this I get a pop up that says:
The recommended provider ('Oracle.DataAccess.Client') is not installed. You can continue with your current provider, however it has been deprecated and may not work correctly.
I clock OK. Enter my Server as the TNS Name that I have used for my python and SQL Developer instances. In my ADW database, I have a table called TEST. It's a simple table with 1 column with the years 2015 through 2020 in it. Been using this to test to see if things are working. So I click on the DirectQuery and run the SQL statement SELECT * FROM TEST under the Advanced options menu and select OK. A sign in window pops up and I select the Database table and enter my correct ADW username and password. The same one that I can use to access this table from SQL Developer and then select Connect. When I do, I get this error:
Details: "The provider being used is deprecated: 'System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater.'. Please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=272376 to install the official provider."
So I go to the website and download the ODAC122011_x64 file from Oracle and unzip it. When I double click the setup.exe file inside the directory I get a yes/no user control account menu and I select yes and then a command prompt window flashes very quickly and then nothing happens. I ran a super slow motion capture from my phone to capture what the command window showed and below is what I see:
Starting Oracle Universal Starter...
Checking monitor: must be configured to display at least 256 color Higher than 256 . Actual 4294967290 Passed
Preparing to launch Oracle Universal Installer from C:\Users\<my username>\AppData\Local\Temp\OraInstall2020 09:20_09-04 {???}
Please wait .._
It does nothing after this I have tried running the oui.exe file under the install subdirectory and get nothing and I have tried running the install.exe file in Oracle Universal Installer that I acquired when installing Oracle DB 19c and I get the following error when I target the install.exe file for installation:
OUI-10118:C/Users/{my username}/Downloads/ODAC122011_x64/Setup.exe is either a directory or a corrupt file. Specify a valid filename.
This is a file that I just directly downloaded from Oracle's website and unzipped to a directory with no spaces in the directory location. I have the latest version of Java installed (JDK 15).
I am not sure the proper work around here. Why can't I get my Power BI to connect to my Oracle ADW table using the methods described in this article. Those are the instructions that I used. It appears that I need this ODAC application but I don't understand why it won't install.
Can anyone help me resolve this issue? Thanks!
Edit: I am using 64-bit on each application.
Update: Still having issues. I checked the log and this is what I am seeing:
Using paramFile:
C:\Oracle\Oracle_PowerBI_ODAC\ODAC122011_x64\install\oraparam.ini
Checking monitor: must be configured to display at least 256 colors. Actual 4294967296 Passed
The number of files bootstrapped for the jre is 0.
The number of files bootstrapped for the oui is 0.
the client version need not match the server version, Removing all other versions, and making sure that I had the x64 version,
You need the latest ODP.net library to use Oracle. Please download it here:http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/dotnet/utilsoft-086879.html
I figured out the solution after reviewing this post. Apparently having over 2TB of free space on a hard drive causes this problem. You have to go into command prompt and create a temporary file to get your free space under 2TBs using something like this:
fsutil file createnew temp_1TB_file 1200000000000
Run the setup.exe again and then delete the temp file after.
Update: After doing all this I still was running into the same issues in Power BI. Then I read the troubleshooting notes from this page more closely and realized that I might have found the problem when it said:
If you downloaded Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, you might be unable to connect to Oracle databases because of an Oracle driver issue.
I uninstalled the PowerBI Desktop that I had installed from Microsoft Store and installed it from the download from its website and tried connecting to Oracle ADW again through PowerBI and IT WORKED!!! So much troubleshooting but it finally works!
I get this error when I launch Toad for Oracle.
No valid Oracle clients found. You need at least one 64-bit client properly configured.
This has been happening since I upgraded the Oracle Client to Oracle 12c from 11g.
Here is what I have done so far to try to resolve it based on internet research:
I checked the path variable, it's currently set to C:\xyz\Oracle\ora12.1\client_2\bin, and there is an Oracle installation at this path.
I checked the TNS_ADMIN variable, it is currently set to C:\xyz\Oracle\ora12.1\client_2\network\admin. This also appears to be valid and correct, there is a tnsnames.ora file under this path.
SQL Plus works without issues, and Oracle SQL Developer also works without issues.
Is there anything else I can try to resolve this issue? Unfortunately, uninstalling and reinstalling Toad is not an option at this point as I do not have access to a new setup.
The issue is due to not having the Oracle Database installed on your computer.
You can download the database here: https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/appdev/xe.html
Once the zip file is downloaded and extracted, run setup.exe. Once that is complete, the Oracle DB will be installed on your machine and the error will no longer appear.
With TOAD you need to have oracle client installed on your computer and you must configure the related TNSNAMES.ORA to connect to the server.
If you use SQLDeveloper you can do without oracle client installation.
I have installed Oracle Database 11.2.0.1 Win64 and also Client 11.2.0.1 Win64 in my windows 7 Ultimate and I was able to access Oracle database using Sql*plus
using sqlplus / as sysdba. After that I installed ODP.NET ODTwithODAC1120320_32bit to work with Oracle using C# in Visual Studio 2010. When i tried to add connection to Oracle database using ODP it pops out ora-12560 :TNS: protocol adapter error and even during logging to Oracle using SqlPlus / as sysdba.
I have read several articles that say stopped service will cause but mine is running.
What could be the problem???
The main problem that I faced Connecting to Oracle 11g using Server explorer in VS 2010 was not version compatibility of ODP with Oracle database but it's architecture. After such errors I uninstalled Oracle Database 11g using deinstall.bat file then cleaned Registry Key ../Software/Oracle and cleaned up temp files, did a system restart. Then installed Oracle 11g Database x32 Database server, ODP.NET x32, checked Env vars.
First success was that I was able to connect to DB using SQL*Plus. After that started VS 2010 and tried to connect ..... Connected! wow has worked in VS IDE. I was so happy :)
I remember how many times I reinstalled Oracle(cleaning,configuring checking listeners, restarting services). Then my hard work really paid off.
here is a screenshot
Generally, I advise to install Oracle server under different credentials than what you usually use. The Oracle server (under Windows) makes use of a few environment variables; and the same is the case with ODP.NET as well. And while you can't easily switch between different sets of env variables in your user profile, you can assign different env var values to a (different) user under which the Oracle server is installed and/or being run.
If you already have your Oracle server installed (which, I suspect, is your case), then try:
Create a new user in your Windows, make him sufficiently privileged. ("Admin" rights will do fine. :-))
Log in as the new user.
Set up ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, NLS_LANGUAGE and PATH environment variables for that particular user (not globally for the whole Windows!) to point to your Oracle server.
Log in as the original user.
Start the Services management console ("services.msc").
Change "Log On" credentials for the OracleServiceSOMETHING and Oracle SOMETHING VSS Writer Service and OracleJobSchedulerSOMETHING and OracleOraDb11g_home1TNSListener to that new user+password you just created. (... where SOMETHING is usually the name of your instance)
Stop all Oracle services.
Set up ORACLE_HOME and PATH env var to point to your ODP.NET root and root\bin folders respectively; set up the ORACLE_SID and NLS_LANGUAGE vars to whatever values you need.
Start all Oracle services. (After this moment they should be running under their own credentials.)
Let's pray that it works.
I myself would have to improvise, too, if this scenario didn't work. But so far I have successfully run two Oracle servers and one Oracle client on the same machine this way with no problems, so I hope it works for you too. If it does not, then there's still the option of reinstalling your Oracle server completely.
Don't forget about backing up your database ... just in case something horrible happens.
I have Informix version 11.50 installed on my Windows machine. According to this link, in order to start the server, it should be done through Windows services, look for Informix IDS - instance_name. It is supposed to start when Windows is started up, but for my case it is not, and it wasn't started. Thus I start it up manually by double clicking on it, and it prompt me an error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a
timely fashion.
May I know is there any solution in order to start up the local Informix DB on windows?
You will have to check what went wrong in Informix log. It is located in Informix dir and has server name with .log extension (for example c:\informix\ol_test.log). In this file there is information about running server like:
12:42:36 IBM Informix Dynamic Server Started.
Check this file and give us more details if you will not know how to solve reported problems.
Installation of Informix in Windows Vista has been failed. Due to the reason this Informix thing is not able to uninstall and not even allow me to configure a database. Even though I have manually delete the whole folder from Program Files, when trying to install a new copy of Informix, it prompt me the "Invalid ISV name" thing which I totally running out of clue with.
I found a post mention that Vista is not a good platform for Informix. Forget about Windows as a Server a.k.a. WAAS.
xD