Connect Progress 8.3a with Oracle 9i

[sgandhi]

I am an Oracle expert but I have never worked on Progress. So pardon this newb question.
I am working on an Oracle EBS application. I have to extract some data from a Progress 8.3a database. I was told by local Progress person that I have to use flat files. And that we can not use ODBC to connect the two.

I refuse to accept this answer. While googling, I came across this forum. Can the gurus on this forum help me?

Can you guys tell me how it can be done so I can pass on the information to our local Progress guy?

PS: I know we are on a very old Progress version. I am told (again by the local expert) that we can not upgrade.

 

[Casper]

if the local Progress person has the sources then he can also upgrade...
With recent releases of Progress it is no problem to extract data from Progress database. I think that the sql that is used in Progress 8.3a is sql89.

some background:
http://progress.atgnow.com/esprogress/Group.jsp?bgroup=progress&id=19188

So it seems you need merant 3.1 driver to connect.

setup sql89 driver:

http://progress.atgnow.com/esprogress/Group.jsp?bgroup=progress&id=P16297

I think 9i is capable of handling sql89 connections. But you probably know more about that then I do...

HTH (a bit)

Casper.

 

[TomBascom]

You might get the SQL-89 stuff to work but you'd be a lot happier with the SQL-92 capabilities. To get those you need a release of Progress from this century, not last. (The current release is called OpenEdge 10.2B.)

Technically, upgrading is simple and straight-forward if you have the source and can compile code (most Progress shops do and can).

"Cannot upgrade" is usually code for "we haven't been paying maintenance for the last 10 years". Sometimes it is code for "our vendor is too lazy to support us but we think that this 'support' is valuable even though it is useless".

If your maintenance is up to date it costs nothing and requires very little effort.

 

[sgandhi]

Tom, you hit it on the head. The client has not paid maintenance for the last few years. And they plan to move to SAP/Oracle in a couple of years. So right now, they do not want to pay licensing fees for the last decade. (I heard $3 mil by one estimate)
So we may be stuck with the 8.3a version. What are my options in that case?
Even if I can get a read-only link from Oracle to Progress that will be a huuuuuuuge benefit.
And, if I can get a read-only link from Progress to Oracle, I will buy you a keg.

 

[Casper]

I suppose you didn't care to read my post at all? Maybe you shouldn't ask then.

Casper.

 

[sgandhi]

Casper, I certainly did read your post. I have passed on your solution to our Progress folks. They are chewing on it. I researched Merant driver too. It seems that Merant is now part of Progress Direct. I tried to speak to Progress Sales folks but they all are in Oralando for a week-long vacation (errrr...I mean sales conferance).
The Progress Direct person I did speak to mentioned that Progress Inc owns the connectivity software from Progress to other databases. And for the reasons mentioned earlier, we can't really talk to Progress support.
I will be asking for your help if the above problem materialises.

Thanks a lot for maintaining this forum and helping me out.

 

[sgandhi]

We have installed openlink. We can sit on the Oracle box ; bring up openlink SQL prompt and connect to Progress. We can also tnsping the Progress box. We have defined a dblink in Oracle to the progress box.
When we connect to Oracle Sql prompt and try to run a select on the progress database using dblink, we get the following error. Any idea on what is causing this issue?
Thanks

ERROR at line 1:
ORA-28500: connection from ORACLE to a non-Oracle system returned this message:
[Generic Connectivity Using ODBC]DRV_InitTdp: errors.h (1997): ; [iODBC][Driver Manager]Data source name not found and no default driver specified. Driver could not be loaded (SQL State: IM002; SQL Code: 0)
ORA-02063: preceding 2 lines from HSODBC

 

[OpenLink]

Hi

As you can make a connection to your Progress database using the OpenLink provided test program (iodbctest) your OpenLink ODBC configuration is setup correctly. The error message suggests that the ODBC DSN specified in your Oracle HSODBC configuration file (inithsodbc.ora) cannot be found in the odbc.ini located, thus you need to re-check your HSODBC configuration. The following document details the configuration of the OpenLink ODBC Driver for use with Oracle HSODBC, please review to ensure you have configured all necessary files:

http://wikis.openlinksw.com/dataspace/owiki/wiki/UdaWikiWeb/ConfigHSODBCr9

I hope following these steps enable you to make a successful connection from HSODBC.

Best Regards
Hugh Williams
Professional Services
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Support: http://support.openlinksw.com
Forums: http://boards.openlinksw.com/support
Twitter: http://twitter.com/OpenLink

 

[sgandhi]

We have got it partially working. The issue was with a bad path in oplrqb.ini.

We can not sit on Oracle and can read Progress tables.
However, we are not able to update them. The connection is READONLY.
If we issue an update statement to update a column on progress, we get an error.

It may be because we have specified a -RO option in some configuration files.
We are trying to hunt down the places where we need to remove the -RO option. We found one in odbc.ini. Any idea where else we should look?

edit: changed patch to path in the first line