Oracle.ManagedDataAccess with Oracle 8.1.7 DB

Question

Is it at all possible to use Oracle.ManagedDataAccess with Oracle DB v.8.1.7? I\'ve searched for hours, but failed to find a definitive answer anywhere.

Answer 1

No. ODP.NET Managed Driver only supports databases back to 10.2. As it is a relatively new product, there aren't old versions to fall back on.

The problem is the networking protocol changes over time and Oracle promises backward compatibility for two major versions.

If you must use ODP.NET and Oracle Database 8.1.7, consider using ODP.NET Unmanaged driver version 10.2. It is still available here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/dotnet/utilsoft-086879.html Of course, using a very old version of ODP.NET introduces it's own limitations, such as lack of Entity Framework support and other things.

Answer 2

I can't find any definitive on this, but there is a single line on this page on Managed ODP.NET that says:

You will also need access to Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) or later, ...

If that is just for the demo, or is a requirement for the driver isn't said.

Also this page says:

Each ODP.NET client supports connectivity to any currently supported Oracle Database version, such as 10g, 11g, or 9i. That means your ODP.NET 11g (or 10g) client application can access any of these Oracle database versions.

I would suggest to give it a try.