4 Oracle Database Client Postinstallation Tasks

4.1.1 Downloading and Installing Patches

Check the OracleMetalink Web site for required patches for your installation. To download required patches:

1. Use a Web browser to view the OracleMetalink Web site:

   http://metalink.oracle.com

2. Log in to OracleMetalink.

   
   

   Note: If you are not an OracleMetalink registered user, then click Register for MetaLink! and follow the registration instructions.

3. On the main OracleMetalink page, click Patches.

4. Select Simple Search.

5. Specify the following information, then click Go:

   • In the Search By field, choose Product or Family, then specify RDBMS Server

   • In the Release field, specify the current release number

   • In the Patch Type field, specify Patchset/Minipack

   • In the Platform or Language field, select your platform

6. Each patch has a ReadMe file with installation instructions. Some patches install with Oracle Universal Installer; others require special procedures. Oracle recommends that you always read the ReadMe before proceeding.

4.2.1 Setting Up User Accounts

For information about setting up additional user accounts, see Oracle Database Platform Guide for Windows.

4.2.2 Running Oracle Enterprise Manager Java Console

In addition to using Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control or Grid Control, you can also use the Oracle Enterprise Manager Java Console to manage databases from this release or previous releases. The Java Console is installed by the Administrator installation type.

To start the Java Console, follow these steps:

1. Click Start > Run.

2. Type oemapp console and click OK.

4.2.3 Connecting with Instant Client

If you installed the Instant Client installation type, then you can configure user environments to enable dynamically linked client applications to connect to a database as follows:

1. Set the Path environment variable to specify the directory that contains the Instant Client libraries. For the Instant Client installation type, this directory is the Oracle home directory that you specified during the installation, for example:

   C:\oracle\products\10.1.0\client_1
   
   

2. Use one of the following methods to specify database connection information for the client application:

   • Specify a SQL connect URL string using the following format:

     \\host:port\service_name
     
     

   • Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to specify the location of the tnsnames.ora file and specify a service name from that file.

   • Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable and set the LOCAL environment variable to specify a service name from the tnsnames.ora file.

4.3.1 Configuring Oracle Net Services

If you have a previous release of Oracle software installed on this system, you might want to copy information from the Oracle Net tnsnames.ora and listener.ora configuration files from the previous release to the corresponding files for the new release.