RE: Thick vs thin client - 11g R2

Hi Sandy,

I guess the first thing I'd do is push back and say "Ok, the application 
doesn't start.  Why not?  Do you get an error?  Is it an Oracle error?  What's 
the complete error message you receive?"  Without that level of detail, it's 
all a waste of time.  You can't fix a problem if you can't identify it first.  
:)

Second, as to the non-printable characters, well, I think I'd tackle that as a 
separate problem.  Debugging character set issues can be painful.  First, 
what's the database character set?  Second, are you sure they're properly 
setting the NLS_LANG environment variable in the client?  Third, unless you can 
get them to provide examples of the problematic data, I don't think you'll be 
able to make much progress.  (Good luck!)

-Mark

From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Sandra Becker
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 1:49 PM
To: oracle-l
Subject: Re: Thick vs thin client - 11g R2

Mark,

The application is written in JAVA.  I did a full client install of 11g, not 
the instant client.  If I understand correctly, when I connected using sqlplus, 
I was using the thick client.  They are using the JDBC Thin client for the new 
app servers where I installed the 11g client.  No one has ever mentioned 
receiving any oracle errors, only that they couldn't start the application.  
They are using the thick client on the servers where the 9i client is installed.

As far as the non-printable characters, the developers tell me that what they 
are doing matches the database characterset.  I have no way to verify this 
claim.  They say it has to do with the data the customer is sending us and the 
application not stripping out the non-printable characters.  No one can even 
tell me definitively what those characters are.  Kind of a mess.

Sandy
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:53 AM, Bobak, Mark 
<Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Sandy,

I think we need some context around the questions you are asking.  In my 
experience, the terms "thin" and "thick", as they relate to Oracle clients, are 
with regard to JDBC.  Is this a JDBC application?  In that context, JDBC thick 
clients are ones that rely on an Oracle client installation on the host where 
connectivity is being provided.  A JDBC thin client does not require a full 
client installation with tnspng, sqlplus, etc.  Only a classesxx.zip file is 
required to provide Oracle database connectivity.

Since you're mentioning installation of 11gR2 client, setting up tnsnames.ora, 
and testing connections with SQL*Plus, you're clearly talking about installing 
a full standalone client on the machine in question.  So, when you say thin vs. 
thick, are you really talking about a full client install vs. an instant client 
install?

So, first, are you talking about JDBC thin vs. thick, or something else?

What more can you tell us about these "non-printable characters"?  Is there a 
characterset issue that needs to be dealt with?

Finally, specifically, what Oracle errors are you dealing with?  (ORA-xxxxx)

Hope that helps,

-Mark

From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On 
Behalf Of Sandra Becker
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:25 PM
To: oracle-l
Subject: Thick vs thin client - 11g R2

Oracle - 10.2.0.4
OS - SUSE10
Platform - IBM zSeries mainframe

The decision was made recently to install the 11g R2 client on our application 
servers.  I installed it, set up the tnsnames and tested connections to all 
databases using SQL*Plus.  No problems at any step.

Problems arose when they couldn't start the application using the thick client, 
only the thin client.  Due to the way our application was written, the thin 
client allows non-printable characters into the tables that the application 
cannot then pull back out.  They chose to ignore my advice that they thoroughly 
test and verify what was being affected.  Customers are complaining about 
"corrupted" data.  The word I get is "we don't have time to fix the app, fix 
oracle."

Many people at the company are under the impression that 11g R2 client is 
strictly a thin client.  Is that true?  How do you determine that?

--
Sandy
Transzap, Inc.



--
Sandy
Transzap, Inc.

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