Toad for Oracle Unleashed

Oracle Client Software

Regardless of whether your database is running on a remote server or on your local Windows PC, Toad needs to talk to Oracle’s application-to-database communication interface known as Oracle Net Services (also known as SQL*Net). There are no exceptions. Yet many people routinely ask “Can’t Toad connect to the database using ODBC?” The answer is “no.”

Oracle Net Services functions essentially as a client/server architecture as shown in Figure 1.6. Toad’s data access component communicates with the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) to link with Oracle Net Services on the client machine, while the database links with Oracle Net Services on the server machine in the same fashion. Lastly, Oracle Net Services transfers all data back ...