Frequently Asked Question
This KB describes how to install the Oracle thin client driver manually for usage with the P6 Professional client and the P6 database being on an Oracle database server.
The idea of the thin client driver is to provide the bare minimum to connect to an Oracle database, instead of the full-blown Oracle database client (1 GB). This method usually works, but sometimes it does not work, possibly due to Oracle database client conflicts on the workstation.
'Works' means a P6 user can login with the P6 professional client. 'Does not work' means the P6 Professional client crashes almost instantly after the login action.
How does the Oracle thin client driver usage work with the P6 Professional client?
After the P6 professional client has received the username/password it attempts to connect to the P6 database. Assuming the database to connect to is an Oracle database, the P6 Professional client scans first the Windows registry for Oracle database client entries. If the client is not found, then it will scan each folder in the Windows system variable PATH for the file 'oci.dll'. This is the entry point of the Oracle thin client driver.
The way to install it manually is the following.
- Download the latest Oracle thin client driver from Oracle.
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/instant-client/winx64-64-downloads.html
- The architecture (x86, x64) of the thin client driver needs to be in line with the P6 Professional client; for newer P6 versions this is always 64-bit.
- It is advised to use the basic version and not the light version, since the basic version has support for other languages than English.
- It is advised to make sure that the client driver version is in line with the Oracle database version. If the Oracle database is v19.x, then download the v19.x thin client driver.
- Unzip the file into a folder, for example in C:\Program Files\Oracle\instantclient_19_4
- Copy the complete path, which should contain the 'oci.dll' file.
- Add the path as the last entry to the Windows PATH system variable.
- Test by performing a login test with the P6 Professional client.