ETL and Data Integration tools - Modern ETL software for everyone

What is involved with connecting to an Oracle database? On Windows Vista or 7

It is noted that this is a 'portable' database browser, so if a tnsnames.ora is still needed, can it live alongside the portable app or still has to be in a certain location on each host machine?

More familiar with SQL Server, so this a bit new ground for me, Tx.

Two possible options

Install oracle client on client PC

Use oracle instant client (works for oracle 9i, 10g and 11g)

www.oracle.com/technology/tech/oci/instantclient/index.html

Copy all the files into the same directory as Database browser

Than use following example of conenction string

All Oracle net naming methods that do not require use of ORACLE_HOME or TNS_ADMIN (to locate configuration files such as tnsnames.ora or sqlnet.ora) work in the Instant Client mode. In particular, the connect string can be specified in the following formats:

A SQL Connect URL string of the form:

//host:[port][/service name]

such as:

//dbase-server-5:4321/ORDERS

As an Oracle Net keyword-value pair. For example:

"(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp) (HOST=dlsun242)
(PORT=5521))
(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=bjava21)))"

www.oracle.com/technology/tech/oci/instantclient/ic-faq.html

Peter