6.1 Prerequisites for Establishing Connectivity

The tasks in this chapter show a TCP/IP connection between a database server and a client computer.

The following conditions are assumed about the database server and client computer:

• Database server

  • The server is running on a network that can access the client

  • An Oracle database is installed

  • A listener is configured

  • TCP/IP protocol support is installed

• Client computer

  • The client computer is running on a network that can access the database server

  • Oracle Client is installed

  • TCP/IP protocol support is installed

In a TCP/IP network, each computer has a unique IP address. A name resolution service, such as Domain Name System (DNS), can be used to map the IP address of a computer with its host name. If a name resolution service is not used, then the mapping is typically stored in a centrally maintained file called hosts. This file is located in the /etc directory on Linux and the \windows\system32\drivers\etc directory on Microsoft Windows. For example, an entry for a database server computer named sales-server may look like the following:

#IP address of server     host name       alias
192.0.2.203             sales-server    sales.us.example.com