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ORACLE ODBC DRIVER

The Most Reliable, Best Performing Oracle ODBC Driver - for All Oracle Versions

DataDirect vs. Oracle ODBC Driver Oracle ODBC Driver
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The Progress DataDirect Connect for ODBC Oracle driver delivers the best performance and scalability for applications connecting to Oracle. One driver simultaneously supports Oracle versions 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g. Our Oracle Platinum ODBC driver is available for Windows, UNIX and Linux and for 64 bit ODBC connectivity.

Try it now – Oracle ODBC driver download. 

Unlike ODBC drivers from Oracle and other suppliers that require the use of Oracle SQL*Net client libraries, DataDirect's unique wire protocol Oracle ODBC driver connects directly to the database. Eliminating the need for client libraries translates into better response time and throughput, reduced maintenance, and faster application configuration and deployment.




Improves the performance and scalability of your applications Out-perform competitive drivers and even applications written to the native protocol of Oracle (OCI). A high-performance Bulk Load capability enables large amounts of data to be loaded very quickly. And easy tuning options optimize the rate and efficiency of data transfer.
Reduces the cost and time of deploying and maintaining applications Wire protocol Oracle ODBC driver eliminates the need for Oracle SQL*Net client libraries to connect to the database. This greatly simplifies deployment and eliminates the headache of installing, configuring, and maintaining database software on each client machine.
Provides comprehensive coverage from one vendor Available on every major platform –Windows (including v7), Linux and UNIX, including UNIX platforms such as IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris, across a wide range of processor architectures. A 64 bit ODBC wire protocol driver for Oracle enables 64 bit applications to take full advantage of faster processing speeds.
Support multiple databases / database versions One DataDirect Oracle ODBC driver 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. Numerous interoperability features such as SQL Up-Leveling simplify the task of supporting other databases in addition to Oracle, such as SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, MySQL, and more.
Reinforces your security strategy Advanced, industry standard security mechanisms such as SSL data encryption and operating system authentication via Kerberos. Supports Oracle Advanced Security (OAS), which can be configured with multiple connection options.
Ensures high availability Completely manages application failover and balancing of work load without requiring changes to application code or costly server configurations.
Guarantees quality and reliability Quality tested and certified with a wide variety of applications and environments and are proven in hundreds of leading commercial software products and thousands of the most demanding corporate environments.
Reduces total cost of ownership In contrast to database vendors and other third-party vendors, DataDirect award-winning support is focused exclusively on data connectivity and includes 24x7 phone, web, email, forum, and an extensive knowledgebase. Resolving data connectivity issues quickly reduces the total cost of ownership of software.

 

DataDirect features are 100% driver implemented, allowing you to leverage them quickly, without changes to application code or proprietary Oracle extensions.

Performance

  • Wire protocol architecture
  • Easy-to-use tuning options and automatic driver tuning via Performance Wizard
  • Performance optimized for applications that use LOB data and PL/SQL stored procedures
  • Bulk Load
  • Load balancing
  • Built-in debugging capabilities
  • Enterprise-quality driver logging
  • Advanced Connection Pooling
  • Statement pooling
  • Data conversion
  • Socket management
  • Network wire management
  • Batching and throughput optimization

Security

  • Operating system authentication (aka Single Sign-On) via Kerberos
  • SSL data encryption
  • Support for Oracle Advanced Security (OAS), which can be configured using an array of connection options

Enterprise Applications

  • Application failover
  • Windows ODBC Driver Manager for Unix/Linux
  • Unicode and ANSI character sets
  • Stored procedures – Fully supports returning result sets (including multiple result sets) generated from PL/SQL stored procedures

Comprehensive Database/Platform Coverage

Interoperability

  • SQL up-leveling - simplifies the task of supporting other databases in addition to Oracle, such as DB2, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, and more
  • Common architecture across drivers for different databases

Additional Oracle ODBC Driver Functionality

  • Supports advanced data types such as BLOB, CLOB, XML, Timestamp, and National Language character data types (NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, NCLOB)
  • Oracle TNSNames.ora support
  • Static Cursor support – Optimizes forward-only cursors to pre-fetch multiple records, reducing network traffic and improving performance
  • Table and Tablespace Compression
  • SECUREFILE LOB Storage
  • Transparent Data and Tablespace Encryption – Leverage this database-level encryption capability provided by Oracle. Certification ensures interactions work seamlessly with data that is encrypted on the Oracle server.
  • Server-side result set caching – Leverage this capability provided by Oracle for better performance and scalability. DataDirect automatically inserts hint syntax necessary to enable caching. (Oracle’s driver requires hints be added to SQL statements to use this feature.)
  • Oracle RAC support
  • Character conversion support – Supports Unicode applications and full character conversion for Oracle database code pages
  • Oracle Heterogeneous Services (Generic Connectivity) / Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC – Supports connecting to any other data source through these technologies
  • Oracle 11gR2 feature support including:
    • IPv6
    • EditionName
    • Real Application Clusters (RAC) configuration options
    • Oracle Quality of Service Management

 

Advantages of DataDirect Driver

Limitations of Oracle Driver

Best ODBC driver performance Outperforms competitive drivers and even applications written to the native protocol of Oracle (OCI).

Requires Oracle SQL*Net client libraries, creating communication overhead that can seriously degrade performance and scalability.

Eliminates the need for Oracle SQL*Net client libraries
Wire protocol architecture does not require client libraries, which reduces the time and cost of deploying and maintaining applications.

Requires the download, installation, and configuration of the Oracle SQL*Net client libraries on each machine where the ODBC driver is deployed.

One driver 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.

Four different drivers are required to support Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g. Different versions of the client libraries are also required, which can’t support simultaneous connections to different versions of the database from the same machine.

UNIX / Linux support
Only DataDirect offers an ODBC driver for Oracle on every major platform – Windows (including v7), Linux and UNIX, including UNIX platforms such as IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris, across a wide range of processor architectures.

Dependence on Oracle client libraries restricts the UNIX platforms Oracle can support.

64-bit driver available
Takes full advantage of 64-bit processing speeds for 64-bit applications.

Dependence on Oracle client libraries limits support of 64-bit applications.

Bulk Load
Includes a high-performance bulk load capability for loading large amounts of data very quickly. Does not require application code changes or additional bulk load tools such as Oracle SQL Loader.

Requires application code changes and additional proprietary bulk load tool (Oracle SQL Loader) with slower performance.

Application failover and load balancing
The DataDirect driver completely manages application failover, disaster recovery, and balancing of work load across multiple Oracle databases without requiring changes to application code. DataDirect’s unique approach can be used with or without Oracle RAC.

Requires Oracle RAC servers and proprietary changes to application code.

Reliability for demanding production environments
Quality tested and certified with a wide variety of applications and environments using the DataDirect ODBC Verification Suite (OVS), the largest, most mature ODBC testing infrastructure.

Reported issues include application crashes and hangs, threading issues, and problems handling data and data types.

Advanced security features
Our drivers include industry-standard security mechanisms: SSL data encryption to secure the integrity of your data and provide client/server authentication; and operating system authentication via Kerberos, allowing you to include database access in a Single Sign-On environment.

Security features require installation, setup, and configuration of Oracle SQL*Net client libraries.

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, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, and more).

Requires the use of Oracle-specific implementations of many common ODBC functions. This introduces "vendor lock-in" and increases the cost of developing an application to support non-Oracle databases.

Comprehensive 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.

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

 

THE INDUSTRY STANDARD FOR ODBC DRIVERS

Progress® DataDirect Connect®, Connect XE® and Connect64® for ODBC are the fastest, most comprehensive suite of ODBC drivers for all major databases— Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, Salesforce.com, Sybase, Sybase IQ, database. com, force.com, and Progress® OpenEdge® 11 MT. Our unique “wire protocol” design eliminates the need for database client libraries, which greatly simplifies installation and administration and dramatically improves performance. In fact, these clientless drivers even outperform applications that use the database’s native (proprietary) API for database access. Progress DataDirect ODBC drivers are the industry standard for ODBC drivers, providing the advanced functionality, performance, and reliability developers need to quickly deliver high-quality, database-independent applications.

MOST COMPREHENSIVE SUITE OF ODBC DRIVERS FROM ONE VENDOR

You can count on Progress Software for reliable ODBC connectivity regardless of database or platform. Progress DataDirect ODBC drivers support all major databases, on every major platform, across a wide range of processor architectures.

In addition, a single driver supports multiple simultaneous connections to all supported versions of each database. This broadens the versions of databases you can support in a commercial product and eliminates the need to change drivers every time you change database versions in an enterprise environment.

  • Supports all major databases— Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, Salesforce.com, Sybase, Greenplum, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Informix, Apache Hive and more.
  • Supports all major platforms—Windows, UNIX, Linux, and more
  • Full 32-bit (Connect for ODBC) and 64-bit (Connect64 for ODBC) ODBC application support
  • Each single-tier driver supports multiple database versions:
    • Microsoft SQL Server 7, 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2012
    • Windows Azure SQL Database
    • Oracle (8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g)
    • Multiple versions of DB2 running on Windows, UNIX, Linux, z/OS (OS/390), and iSeries (AS/400)
    • Sybase 11.x, 12.x, 12.5.x, 15, and Sybase IQ 2 www.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE WIRE PROTOCOL DESIGN

Progress DataDirect ODBC drivers are available as “wire protocol,” meaning that the drivers do not require installation and maintenance of database client software and libraries. This unique wire protocol architecture dramatically improves performance and eliminates the need to install and keep up with the various versions of database client libraries such as Oracle Net (formerly Net8 and SQL*Net) and DB2 Connect for IBM DB2. Other benefits include:

  • Simplified installation, configuration, and administration of applications
  • Fastest available application data access performance—even faster than using the database’s native interface (such as Oracle OCI)
  • Elimination of the need to test and certify against multiple versions of the database client libraries

PROVEN, RELIABLE DRIVERS OFFER BEST-IN-CLASS FUNCTIONALITY

Progress DataDirect ODBC drivers are the most widely used third-party ODBC drivers on the market and are tested under production conditions using the most comprehensive ODBC testing facility in the industry. Progress DataDirect consistently supports the latest, most complete implementation of the ODBC specification and the latest database versions and features, and offers enterprise functionality across all databases such as:

  • No database client libraries required through unique wire protocol architecture
  • Multiple performance tuning options and a Performance Tuning Wizard to achieve optimal driver performance for any application scenario
  • Performance-oriented features such as connection pooling, statement pooling, data conversion, network wire management, and batching and throughput optimization
  • 100% driver-implemented application failover and client-side load balancing, which do not require application code changes or expensive clustering software, such as Oracle RAC
  • Robust security features such as Kerberos-based operating system (OS) authentication for Single Sign-on (SSL) and SSL-based data encryption over the network
  • 100% driver-implemented, high-performance Bulk Load feature which does not require application code changes or database vendor bulk load tools
  • Advanced connection pooling which does not require application code changes to enable or configure
  • The industry’s best ODBC Driver Manager for UNIX/Linux
  • Standards-based implementations of the latest database features and functionality
  • Complete, consistent Unicode support across all platforms
  • Built-in debugging capabilities
  • Certified for leading virtualized environments

To learn more or download a free, 15 day trial of Progress® DataDirect Connect® or Connect64® for ODBC, go to www.progress.com/datadirect