Connecting DBD::Oracle without using TCP/IP

[fx]

The DBD::Oracle documentation states that if your database resides on the same machine as your Perl code, then you can use a local IPC connector rather than TCP. My initial thought to this is that local IPC should be quicker.

The DBD::Oracle docs, however, do not cover Oracle 9i which is what I am using. The connection methods stated in the DBD::Oracle docs produce the error
DBI connect('','user',...) failed: ORA-06401: NETCMN: invalid driver designator (DBD ERROR: OCIServerAttach)
when I try running:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

BEGIN {
        $ENV{ORACLE_HOME} = '/app/oracle/product/9.0.1';
        $ENV{TWO_TASK}    = 'P:mydb';
}

use DBI;

$dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:Oracle:', 'user', 'pass') || die $!;
$dbh->do("select 1 from dual");
$dbh->disconnect;

The DBD::Oracle docs suggest running $ORACLE_HOME/bin/adapters to make sure that the IPC adaptor is installed - mine is:

Installed Oracle Net Tranport Protocols are:

    IPC
    TCP/IP
    BEQueath
    SSL
    RAW

I did find a reference to a problem of this sort on Usenet but the article doesn't provide much help.

Can someone please suggest how I could connect to Oracle 9i with DBD::Oracle using something other than TCP/IP? If anyone has done this before, does a non-TCP/IP connection improve performance?

As you will be able to tell from my recent posts, I am having quite a lot of difficulty getting Oracle 9i to play nicely with Perl under my circumstances :)

Many thanks,

==fx, Infinity Is Colourless

[dragonchild]

I would recommend emailing the DBD::Oracle mailing list and seeing what they say. My reading of the DBD::Oracle docs is that Oracle9i technically isn't supported. (It works, but hasn't been fully vetted yet.)

[fx]

After checking the DBD::Oracle online documentation, CPAN homepage and the README it looks like there is no DBD::Oracle mailing list. It would appear that I need the DBI mailing list.

Thanks.

[Rhose]

DBD::Oracle uses a TNS connect string to connect to the database. Depending on your Oracle client install the TNS names could be stored in a flat file called tnsnames.ora, on a names server, or in OID (Oracle internet directory) repository. Anyway, define a TNS name which will connect to the database in question and test the connection with SQL*Plus. Once you are able to connect with SQL*Plus, try connecting as below:

$dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:Oracle:'.$TNS, $User, $Pass) || die $!;

Update:
PLEASE take this with a grain of salt, as I only use TCP for connections to my databases. I played around with using the bequeath adaptor to connect to one of my test instances, and I added the following entry to the local tnsnames.ora file:

beqtst.world =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS =
        (PROTOCOL = BEQ)
        (PROGRAM = oracle)
        (ARGV0 = oraclenboprd00)
        (ARGS = '(DESCRIPTION=(LOCAL=YES)(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=BEQ)))')
      )
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = nboprd00))
  )

The ORACLE_SID of the database to which I was connecting is "nboprd00". To use this TNS name with the connection code above, set $TNS='beqtst';

One other CYA, I did not test this with DBD::Oracle... I only tested it with SQL*Plus (I do not have DBD::Oracle installed on this test system, and I am not about to play with my install an hour before I leave for holiday. *Grins*)

[fx]

After a quick search on the Perl DBI mailing lists, I found a question and its answer which seems to be the solution to my problem.

It would appear that if I want to use IPC then I need to configure a SID for the connection, but the answer that was provided cast doubt on whether IPC would be faster.

If I can get it to work, perhaps I'll report my findings. Each run of my app updates 20,000 - 60,000 entries in a 6,000,000 record database over 6 tables so any small performance gain should be noticable.

[Nenad Noveljic]

The article Making local connection to Oracle database with DBD::Oracle and instant client shows how to establish a non-tcp connection to an Oracle Database.