Using Oracle Instant Client to Run SDE command line tool from Windows

WilliamD_Arcy — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 20:37:35 GMT

Recently, with the help of ESRI Support, I was able to resolve a problem we were having using the SDE command line tools on a Windows server that I thought I'd share.

We need to have the full, 32-bit Oracle Client installed to support other software that runs on top of core ESRI, but the SDE command line tools require a 64-bit Oracle client. To get around this, we installed the 64-bit version of the Oracle Instant Client in parallel with the full 32-bit client. (the Instant Client is available from ESRI Support or Oracle; and there's not actually an install involved - just need to copy the folder/files local to the workstation/server you will be running the SDE command line tools).

In order to support both clients, the path to the 64-bit client folder needs to be first in the PATH system environment variable (Start > Computer > Properties > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables, on Windows Server 2008).

To connect using the Easy Connect naming method (eliminates the need for service name lookup in the tnsnames.ora file and bypasses the 32-bit client), use the following syntax (sdeversion, in this example):

sdeversion -o describe -V DEFAULT -i sde:oracle11g -u sde -p <sde_pword>@<HOST>:<PORT>/<SERVICE_NAME>

This syntax should work for any of the tools - the critical part being the '-i ...' connection parameter info.

You can ask your DBA for the HOST, PORT and SERVICE_NAME parameters, or just view the results of a tnsping of your database.

Hope this is of some help to some folks.

topic Using Oracle Instant Client to Run SDE command line tool from Windows in Data Management Questions

Using Oracle Instant Client to Run SDE command line tool from Windows