10g and Oracle Connection Manager

[DelSenato]

I have downloaded 10g and installed on a windows member server.

The server is using Windows Firewall and when it is enabled I cannot connect. If I disable Windows Firewall, I can connect.

I tried to add an exception in windows firewall to allow sqlplus to connect to no avail.

I believe that I have to use Oracle Connection Manager but I can find virtual no documentation on this product or even how to install and set it up.


Anyone got any ideas? (apart from ditching windows which isn't an option open to me)


Mick

 

[markrem]

You should not need Connection Manager. If the firewall does not allow you to specify IP addresses of "allowed" computers you should switch to the free Zone Labs firewall called ZoneAlarm. That's what I use with Oracle, and I have had no performance or connection issues once it was configured correctly.

One problem firewalls have with Oracle is redirects. When the client hits the Oracle Listener on a known port, the listener tells the client to hang up and call back on a new port number which it got from the operating system. With that in mind you need to keep every possible port number open, or use Connection Manager to force all connections through a concentrator that uses a single port number.

Alternatively, you can setup Oracle Shared Server connections, since they get fixed port numbers you can easily program into a decent firewall. Howerver, this dies if you're using SSL.

In my case I have a secure router up front and a firewall on each computer. I can hit my Oracle database from anywhere in the world without using Connection Manager.

Good luck,


MarkRem
OCP 10g/9i

 

[DelSenato]

MarkRem,

thanks for the info. However, I never mentioned that the member server is a Windows 2003 Server. Does ZoneAlarm operate on this? I can only see it certified for Win2000.

Also, I'm a bit leery of having all ports open. Does this not pose security risks?

That was the main reason I was wanting to use Connecction manager so I could force through a single port number and stealth the remaining ports.

Wrt Shared Server Connections, dont have any experience of this either so that is why I was looking into Cconnection Manager. But, I cant find any relavant documentation on hoow to configre it correctly.

Mick