Steve, I think you need to explain the issue in a little more detail. The referenced article "Error when creating and using an approval rule not based on USD" does not give me an understanding of the issues you face and how 11g will overcome them. -- Mark D Powell -- Phone (313) 592-5148 ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of steve montgomerie Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 12:47 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: hetergenous connection to silly server Good day, We're doing some data conversion on Oracle 10g 64 bit (OEL L64 bit as well) where the developers would like to compare against a similar environment running under sql server. They db_links and or some combination of synonyms so that they do their compares. What I have found is that hetergenous services will do the trick but..... Only works on 11g or I can buy a third party driver for $$$$ Is that what I am stuck with? Have a seperate install for Oracle 11 or buy a driver? fyi the metalink reference is doc 261676.1