Banner ODBC Driver (Oracle 11g) - Installation Instructions

Transcription

1 Banner ODBC Driver (Oracle 11g) - Installation Instructions Latest update (by Paul M Baxter): 05 Mar 2010 This document explains how to install the new ODBC driver software, which is intended to work with Banner 7 and 8 (and possibly higher). The new driver is part of the Instant Client package produced by Oracle specifically to work with version 11.1(g) of their database, on which Banner 8 is based. The main reason for introducing a new ODBC driver is that some tables in Banner 8 do not return data correctly when queried in a certain way when using the old version of the driver (which is based on Oracle v9.2). If you see the value #DELETED appear in the data returned via ODBC, then you are likely to be using the old v9.2 driver and linking to one of the affected baseline tables. The best solution to this issue is to switch to the new 11g driver. Incidentally, all future ODBC installations will use the new 11g driver, and ODBC users are generally recommended to upgrade the driver on their PCs when it is convenient. Unfortunately, the data source names (DSNs) generated by this driver are not interchangeable with the previous version of the driver. So, to avoid confusion and software conflicts, the new PRODuction DSN is called BANNER_ODBC_PROD. (It was previously called SIMS_ODBC_PROD or SIMS_ODBC ). Therefore, the new driver also requires that MS Access users update their links to ODBC tables or views that were set up using the old driver, although this is a simple one-off process. The rest of this document explains how to upgrade the ODBC driver from version 9.2 (if installed) to version 11g, and how to switch MS Access to use the new driver [1] Preparing For Installation NOTE: If the new driver has already been installed on your PC and you are just looking for instructions on changing your table-links in Access, then please continue from section 3. [1.1] Administrator Privileges: You must be logged on to the PC with Windows administrator privileges to install or upgrade the Banner ODBC driver. If you do not have admin privileges, then please contact your PC support person before continuing any further.

2 [1.2] Previously Installed Banner ODBC Drivers: If your PC has the previous version of the Banner ODBC driver installed (identified in the list of ODBC drivers as OraHome92 ), the 11g driver software will automatically remove it before setting up the new version. Also, you also need to ensure that no Access databases or other MS Office applications are open before starting to install the new ODBC driver. [2] Installing The New Banner ODBC Driver (11g) Start the installation process by clicking on the following link: [2.1] You will then need to click "Run" (twice) when the Windows security questions appear: [2.2] You should then see the following stages of installation, although some of them may run minimised or hidden behind other windows:

3 Please note that the following window runs minimised, although it should still be visible on the Windows Task Bar at the bottom of the screen:

4 [2.3] When the Winbatch processing window closes (or disappears from the Task Bar), the installation has completed and the Oracle 11g ODBC driver should now be operational. Be aware that there is no notification message when the installation finishes as the package was designed to run silently for when it is deployed remotely. [3] Using The New 11g ODBC Driver The only obvious difference between the old (9.2) and new (11g) drivers is at the point where you first log on to an ODBC connection in an Access session. The first field in the log-in box (i.e. the Service Name) used to default to PROD : However, the new Service Name will now default to //simsvprod.leeds.ac.uk:1521/prod (even though it is not all visible at once): But the rest of the log-in process remains unchanged. And once the table-links in Access have been updated (where/if required), ODBC will behave the same for both versions of the driver.

5 The other obvious difference is that the new driver uses a DSN called BANNER_ODBC_PROD rather than SIMS_ODBC_PROD, which is to avoid potential confusion between versions. This is covered in section 4 (below) [4] Converting An Existing Access Database To Use The New ODBC Driver Before you can use the new (11g) ODBC driver in any of your existing MS Access databases that link to Banner, you will first need to modify them so that they recognise the new driver. Until you do this, you will not be able to run any previously created ODBC queries. [4.1] This is quite simple to do and uses the Linked Table Manager within Access, which conveniently avoids having to re-create all the existing links to views and tables. There is a short demo that describes this, which can be started from HERE. Or alternatively, the steps involved are described as follows, using Access 2007 for the example: [4.1.1] Open the database to be converted and select the Database Tools ribbon, then click on Linked Table Manager. (Alternatively, you can right-click on any linked table and select Linked Table Manager from the pop-up menu).

6 [4.1.2] This will open the manager, which will contain a list of all linked tables with their current parent DSN shown next to it. In this example, all tables are connecting to Banner via the old SIMS_ODBC DSN: [4.1.3] Tick each table that you wish to re-connect to the new driver s DSN. This will typically be all of them, in which case click on Select All :

7 Then click on OK [4.1.4] Select Machine Data Source in Data Source window that appears: Then select BANNER_ODBC_PROD and click OK NOTE: Sometimes, the DSN selection window might not appear at this point, and the Linked Table Manager may skip directly to step 4.1.7

8 instead. If this does happen, resume from step and tick the Always prompt for new location box before clicking OK again. This will then force the DSN selection list to appear. [4.1.5] Enter your Banner username and password in the Driver Connect dialogue (leaving the Service Name as it is), and the click OK : [4.1.6] NOTE: If your list of tables to be converted (i.e. the ticked ones) contains even just one table with a different DSN to the others, then you will be asked to log-on (i.e. steps 4 & 5) for each table in your list. For example, you may have 10 tables using DSN SIMS_ODBC and 4 using SIMS_ODBC_PROD, so you will need to log on 14 times! Therefore, if you do have ODBC table-links using SIMS_ODBC and SIMS_ODBC_PROD, it will be quicker to select all of one type first and then the other one separately. This means you will be asked to log on just once for each type (i.e. twice!). [4.1.7] There will be a delay while the tables are converted to the new driver s DSN, and then you should see a success message: Click OK

9 [4.1.8] The Linked Table Manager should reappear with the list of tables again. But this time, the tables should be attached to the new BANNER_ODBC_PROD DSN: Click Close to complete the process. Your database links should now work again, but connecting to Banner via the new 11g driver. [4.2] In some isolated cases, the Linked Table Manager may not work, and you may receive an ODBC error message when trying to run it. (An understanding of this problem and its solution are both still pending). The workaround in these cases is to individually delete each ODBC link to a Banner table or view, and then to recreate it using the new driver, ensuring that the names are identical. (For example, do not replace PUBLIC_SWCSTUD with BANINST1_SWCSTUD by selecting it from the wrong place in the list of tables). If you encounter this problem and need more information, please contact the SIMS Team via the ISS Helpdesk. [5] If You Encounter Any Problems If you encounter any problems installing or using the new ODBC driver, please let the SIMS Team know via the ISS Helpdesk.