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ORACLE DATA PROVIDER FOR .NET

The Only 100% Managed Code Oracle Data Provider for All Oracle Versions

100% Managed vs. Unmanaged Provider Oracle Provider
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The Progress DataDirect Connect Oracle data provider for .NET is thoroughly proven in data transaction intensive environments in which high performance, stability and security are mission-critical requirements.

Try it now – Oracle data provider download.




Exposes the Full Range of Oracle Features to ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF 4.0 and 1.0) Applications
  • All supported versions of the Oracle database available with a single provider
  • Support for overloaded procedures and REF CURSORS (Implicit & Explicit)
  • Support for Oracle database security features such as Transparent Data and Tablespace Encryption
  • Support for catalog features such as schemas, stored procedures, REF CURSORs, and packages
  • Support for data types such as BINARY, BINARY_DOUBLE, BINARY_FLOAT, BLOB, CLOB, and XML
Improves the Performance and Scalability of .NET Oracle Applications
  • Outperforms other providers in throughput capacity and memory / CPU utilization
  • 100% managed, making no calls outside the .NET runtime environment. Completely eliminating reliance on non-managed components dramatically improves application performance and scalability.
  • High-performance Bulk Load capability enables loading large amounts of data into Oracle very quickly, without requiring application code changes or additional bulk load tools.
Provides Comprehensive Database / Platform Coverage from One Vendor DataDirect can serve all your data connectivity needs, for any API (JDBC, ODBC, .NET) for any major database—SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Sybase, and more, while offering extensive platform support.
Enables Faster, More Flexible Deployment Because it doesn't require database client libraries, the DataDirect provider supports "side-by-side" installation, allowing you to run multiple applications using different versions of Oracle on the same machine. This eliminates the need to re-qualify unrelated applications if an application is updated.
Makes It Easy and Cost Effective to Support Multiple Databases and Database Versions One DataDirect provider supports simultaneous connections to Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g, which significantly reduces the costs of deploying and testing applications against multiple versions of Oracle and its client libraries.
Ensures Secure, End-to-End Application Data Access

DataDirect providers include advanced, industry-standard security mechanisms:

  • SSL data encryption to secure the integrity of your data and provide client/server authentication
  • Operating system authentication via Kerberos, allowing you to include database access in a Single Sign-On environment

In addition, 100% managed code ensures no reliance on components outside the .NET managed environment, allowing the application to take full advantage of the security controls in .NET.
Guarantees Reliability for Demanding Production Environments DataDirect providers are quality tested and certified using our extensive ADO.NET Verification Suite (ADOVS), verifying all supported Windows platforms and Oracle database versions. We also test ADO.NET conformance using the Microsoft LTM (Local Test Manager). This comprehensive testing ensures that you can develop the most robust Oracle .NET application.
Offers 100% Specification Compliance and Robust Functionality

DataDirect providers are certified for use with .NET Framework versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 (32-bit and 64-bit), are fully compliant with ADO.NET 3.5, and offer advanced functionality such as:
Reduces Total Cost of Ownership through Superior Technical Support Focused on database connectivity, our award-winning support includes 24x7 phone, web, email, forum, and an extensive knowledgebase. Superior technical support is essential to resolve data connectivity issues quickly, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership of software.

 

Performance

Security

  • Operating system authentication (aka Single Sign-On) via Kerberos
  • SSL data encryption
  • Optimal use of .NET Framework security controls

Enterprise Application Functionality

  • Connection failover and load balancing
  • Bulk load operations via ADO.NET Bulk APIs
  • Side-by-side installation
  • Load balancing
  • ClickOnce deployment
  • SQL up-leveling
  • Interoperability between databases and different versions of each database
  • Single Sign-On
  • Statistics in Entity Framework

ADO.NET Programmability

  • ADO.NET 3.5
  • ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF 4.0 and 1.0) support - Quickly develop robust enterprise applications using LINQ and Entity SQL Queries (view tutorial), and ADO.NET Data Services (view tutorial)
  • Enterprise Libraries 5.0 including the Data Access Application Block (DAAB) and the Logging Application Block (LAB)
    NHibernate

Provider Functionality

  • Support for LINQ, Entity SQL, and Microsoft Enterprise Libraries
  • Seamless integration with Visual Studio 2005, 2008, and 2010
  • One provider supports all versions of Oracle
  • Statistical counters integrated with Windows perfmon
  • Full Unicode and ANSI character set support
  • Built-in runtime troubleshooting and tracing capabilities
  • Advanced data type support
  • Distributed transaction support

Oracle Features

  • Broad support for Oracle data types: all timestamp data types, NChar, NVarchar, NClob, ROWID, Binary Float, Binary Double
  • Oracle RAC support
  • TNSNAMES.ORA support
  • Tunable and fine-grained control of meta-data schema options
  • Oracle-style REF Cursors support – Can use overloaded stored procedure using REF Cursors. This allows Oracle-based applications to more easily migrate to DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET.
  • Ability to execute PL/SQL upon connection
  • Ability to use native Named Parameter format in stored procedure calls
  • Support for PL/SQL Associative Arrays (Table type) as input parameters to Stored Procedures
  • Support for multiple TNS Names files for failover purposes
  • Supports the ability to execute a single SQL statement using multiple rows of values
  • SYSDBA / SYSOPER login support – Associates the SYSDBA and / or SYSOPER role with a user. This is necessary since some database operations require privileged access.
  • Server-side result set caching to boost performance for specific application operations connecting to Oracle 11g without changes to the application code
  • Transparent Data and Tablespace Encryption support
  • SECUREFILE LOB Storage support

.NET Framework

  • Support for .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0
  • 32-bit and 64-bit version support
  • Support for .NET Framework 1.x
  • Silverlight Support

 

Advantages of DataDirect's Oracle Data Provider

Limitations of Oracle's Data Provider

100% managed code
Only DataDirect providers are 100% managed, making no call outside the .NET runtime environment.

This improves application performance, scalability, stability, and security by eliminating the application’s reliance on components that reside outside the managed environment.

ODP.NET is not a 100% managed solution. The provider contains a managed component, but all of the communication with Oracle is handled by client libraries (Oracle SQL*Net), which means it makes calls to unmanaged code in the provider libraries.

If you’re deploying many .NET applications, or if your applications need to handle large amounts of data, these numerous calls outside the CLR can seriously degrade performance and become a scalability nightmare.

No database client libraries required
Cost to develop, test, and deploy are significantly reduced because the database client isn’t needed. It also eliminates application issues related to client version conflicts.

Oracle providers require native database clients be installed.

Best ADO.NET provider performance and scalability
DataDirect providers outperform other providers in throughput capacity and memory and CPU utilization.

DataDirect providers are optimized for best possible performance in the most common application scenarios, especially those handling large amounts of data.

The provider is tunable for an infinite variety of application usage scenarios so your application will always run faster and support more users with the same hardware resources.

Requires Oracle SQL*Net client libraries, causing it to bridge into unmanaged code. Client libraries are not optimized for ADO.NET and create communication overhead on the network that degrades performance and impacts scalability.

Supports application development with the ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF 4.0 and 1.0)

Although Oracle has announced support for the Entity Framework (EF 4.0 and 1.0), at this time, Oracle’s provider does not offer any support for the Entity Framework at all.

Faster, more flexible application deployment
Because it doesn’t require database client libraries, the DataDirect provider supports “side-by-side” installation, allowing you to run multiple applications using different versions of the database on the same machine. This eliminates the need to re-qualify unrelated applications if an application is updated.

Requires different Oracle SQL*Net client libraries on each machine where the data provider is deployed.

If multiple applications are running on the same machine, they will all be forced to use the same underlying client libraries. This can be painful if there are several applications that need to be certified for a particular version of the client libraries.

Robust security features
100% managed code ensures no reliance on components outside the .NET managed environment, and allows your application to take full advantage of the security controls in .NET.

DataDirect providers include advanced security features such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) data encryption and operating system authentication (aka Single Sign-On) via Kerberos.

ODP.NET calls unmanaged code in the Oracle client libraries, which bypasses the .NET CLR security. This opens a door to potential compromise via code that uses pointers or has direct access to memory or machine registers. Once that unmanaged code is executing, the CLR can no longer check it.

One provider supports multiple Oracle versions
Supports simultaneous connections to Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g, which significantly reduces the costs of deploying and testing applications against multiple versions of Oracle and client libraries.

Four different providers are required to support Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g. Different versions of the client libraries are also required, which can not be used simultaneously on the same machine.

DataDirect Bulk Load
Includes a high-performance bulk load capability for loading large amounts of data very quickly. This can boost application performance for parameter array insert operations without requiring code changes or additional bulk load tools.

Requires a proprietary tool from Oracle or your own homegrown tool.

Complete interoperability between databases
SQL up-leveling and other interoperability features make it easy and cost effective for an application to support multiple databases (Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, and Sybase).

This interoperability reduces the total cost of development, testing, and deployment for heterogeneous environments.

Interoperability is not provided between different databases and database versions. And Oracle does not support access to other databases such as DB2, Sybase and SQL Server.

Organizations that need to access more than Oracle will be forced to use providers from different vendors, requiring a learning curve for each one.

Reliability for demanding production environments
DataDirect providers are quality tested and certified using the DataDirect ADO.NET Verification Suite (ADOVS).

This comprehensive testing ensures that you can develop the most robust Oracle .NET application.

Oracle’s testing infrastructure for data access components is unknown.

Comprehensive Technical Support
Focused on database connectivity, our award-winning support includes 24x7 phone, web, email, forum, and an extensive knowledgebase.

Fast, high-quality technical assistance from data connectivity experts is essential for critical systems.

Because Oracle is not focused on data connectivity, troubleshooting can be more difficult and may take longer.