Hi,
TNS_ADMIN used in command prompt is somehow ignored (added comment afterwards: mapped drive used in TNS_ADMIN may not be accessable, use UNC path in TNS_ADMIN instead).
Create TNSNAMES entry through Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.

Test Connection on Linked server must work before any SELECT can work.

To use insert from linked server data change provider options:
Allow inprocess = checked

Restart SQL server windows service and try again.

Best regards,
Alex

Edited by: user4580124 on Dec 15, 2010 1:40 PM

Edited by: user4580124 on Nov 15, 2011 2:56 AM

Thanks Alex. I installed Oracle client 10.2.0.1, created linked server and followed the steps above and it worked. But get the following error for some selects..

SELECT * FROM
testlink..user.table

Invalid data for type "numeric".


I researched on this error that it is fixed in ODAC 10.2.0.2.21. I first installed Oracle client (Oracle10g_client_64bit.zip) and then tried installing ODAC (Oracle 10g Release 2 ODAC 10.2.0.2.21) but get a "runtime error" during the install.. Not sure if I'm missing something...


Please help

Hi,
Whenever I detect strange behavior of an Oracle installation I first check the paths:
Installation folder and destination paths should not have blanks or empty space characters.
I can tell you for 11g x64 client installation. It does not work if the installation folder contains blank.

Do you have only problem with numeric tables? How about tables with string values only?

Best regards,
Alex

You get this error because the Oracle data dictionary is case sensitive. Oracle object names are all uppercase by default. The linked-server query must exactly match the case of all referenced Oracle metadata, such as schema and table names. So, the following query works:
SELECT * FROM oradb..SCOTT.DEPT WHERE deptno = 10