# RazorSQL

## Query, Edit, Browse, and Manage Databases

- razorsql.com
- Contact

# Oracle Connection Help

RazorSQL can connect to Oracle via either JDBC or ODBC. RazorSQL ships with the JDBC drivers necessary to connect to Oracle. Users can also connect via ODBC by setting up an ODBC data source for Oracle on their machine via the Windows data sources control panel. See below for more information on each of these connection types.

Connecting to Oracle via JDBC
Connecting to Oracle via ODBC

## Connecting to Oracle via JDBC

There are two different types of JDBC connections for Oracle. These are Thin and OCI. Thin connections require no additional software to be installed other than the JDBC drivers that ship with RazorSQL. OCI drivers require the installation of the Oracle client on the machine being used to connect to Oracle. The version of the client should match up with the version of Oracle being connected to.

Connecting with the Thin Driver
To connect with the thin driver that ships with RazorSQL, you need to know the host, port, and service name or SID of the Oracle database.
RazorSQL provides three options for connecting to Oracle via the thin driver. These options are displayed in the "Connection Type" drop-down on the add connection screen. The basic option is the default. Other options are LDAP and TNS.
If using the LDAP option, RazorSQL needs the name of the LDAP server and the LDAP context in addition to the service name of the database to connect to. RazorSQL will try to load the LDAP.ora file from the local machine to pre-populate this data. If the LDAP.ora file is not present or does not contain the necessary information, the LDAP connection information would need entered manually.
If using the TNS connection type option, RazorSQL will connect by reading information from the tnsnames.ora file. RazorSQL will search the tnsnames.ora file on the machine to try to pre-populate the information on the add connection screen. If RazorSQL can not find the tnsnames.ora file, the information will need to be entered manually.
Connecting with the OCI Driver
RazorSQL currently ships with the Oracle 10g drivers. If the Oracle 10g client is installed on your machine, you can use the 10g drivers to make an OCI connection. The only information need for an OCI connection is the name of the database to connect to.

## Connecting to Oracle via ODBC

Oracle provides an ODBC driver that users can use to connect to Oracle from a Windows machine. The Oracle ODBC driver needs to be installed and an ODBC data source needs to be configured on the user's machine before connecting. ODBC drivers for Oracle can be downloaded from oracle.com.

For more information about setting up an ODBC data source, see the following link:

ODBC Setup

## Manual Oracle JDBC Information

If manually configuring your connection for JDBC, see the following for JDBC driver class and JDBC URL format. Manual JDBC Information