Using an OCI Oracle Data Source

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Using an OCI Oracle Data Source

If you plan to use OCI Oracle in an Iguana channel, you must ensure that Iguana has access to the correct database API for your Oracle database.


	In Iguana 4.0 or later, the path to the OCI Oracle shared library that Iguana is using is displayed on the Database Settings screen in the Iguana web interface. See Database Settings for more details.

How you will interact with your Oracle database depends on what version of Iguana you are using:

If you are using Iguana 4.0 or later, you can use a From Database component to read information from a database to generate an HL7 message, and you can use a To Database channel component to populate your database tables with information from an HL7 message.

If you are using a version of Iguana that is older than version 4.0, you can use your Oracle database to store your channel logging information. This database will also be used by any From Database or To Database channel components that you create.

In all versions of Iguana, set the following fields to ensure that your channel can access your Oracle database:

From the Database API list box, select OCI - Oracle.
In the Data source field, type the Oracle service name. This is the name that is specified in the tnsnames.ora file that is defined for your Oracle client.
In the Database username field, type the username that you use to access the Oracle database.
In the Database password field, type the password for your username.

The following is an example of a channel that uses an OCI Oracle database as its destination component:

For more details on using a database in a channel:

See From Database for information on using a database as a source component when creating a channel in Iguana version 4.0 or later.
See To Database for information on using a database as a destination component when creating a channel in Iguana version 4.0 or later.
See Configuring the Channel Level Details for information on using a database in a version of Iguana that is older than version 4.0.

In the tnsnames.ora file defined for your Oracle client, a database configuration entry looks like this:

MY_ORACLE_SOURCE =
    (DESCRIPTION =
        (ADDRESS_LIST =
            (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = hostname)(PORT = portnum))
        ) (CONNECT_DATA =
            (SID = XE) (SERVER = DEDICATED)
        )
    )

Replace MY_ORACLE_SOURCE with the name of your Oracle data source. This is the name that you specify in the Data source field in an Iguana channel. Replace hostname with the host name for your Oracle server, and replace portnum with the port on which your Oracle server is running.

The sqlnet.ora file defined for your Oracle client should contain the following:

TCP.CONNECT_TIMEOUT=5

This tells the Oracle client to time out if a connection to the Oracle server cannot be obtained within 5 seconds. (The default is to never time out, which can cause problems if the server is down or cannot be reached.) If this file does not exist, it should be created in the directory that contains tnsnames.ora.

If you are using a version of Iguana that is older than version 4.0 and you are having trouble getting it to work with your Oracle database, you may need to use an updated version of Iguana 3.3.2.

See Oracle Issues With Older Versions of Iguana for more details.

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Using an OCI Oracle Data Source