I need to access an Oracle database from VS.NET. I
established a Microsoft OLE DB Connection for Oracle as
suggested by VS.NET, and the Test Connection works (Test
connection succeeded). However, I couldn't establish an
oracleDataAdapter. The error message in Microsoft
Development Environment says:

The connection could not be opened because of the
following error:
ORA-00162: external dbid length 30 is greater than maximum
(16).

It is true that the Server Name is 30 characters which is
something I can't change. What can I do to overcome the
problem?

Hi Delphine,

First of all, I would like to confirm my understanding of your issue. From
your description, I understand that you got an exception says that
"external dbid length 30 is greater than maximum (16)." when try in to open
a connection in the DataAdapter for an Oracle server. If there is any
misunderstanding, please feel free to let me know.

I have checked it and found this is a known issue with our support for
distributed transactions feature and names larger than 16bits. Because we
have to prepare a connection to be enlisted even if there is no transaction
context when we open the connection this is affecting all connections, not
only dtc enabled connections.

For workarounds, I think using an alias shorter than 16bits on the
tnsnames.ora file does fix the problem.

HTH. If anything is unclear, please feel free to reply to the post.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."

Thanks for your response. Your understanding of my issue
is accurate. Just for future reference, it's 16 bytes,
instead of 16 bits.

I was able to make things work by defining an alias,
except it's done in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
file, instead of tnsnames.ora file.
>-----Original Message-----
>Hi Delphine,
>
>First of all, I would like to confirm my understanding of
your issue. From
>your description, I understand that you got an exception
says that
>"external dbid length 30 is greater than maximum (16)."
when try in to open
>a connection in the DataAdapter for an Oracle server. If
there is any
>misunderstanding, please feel free to let me know.
>
>I have checked it and found this is a known issue with
our support for
>distributed transactions feature and names larger than
16bits. Because we
>have to prepare a connection to be enlisted even if there
is no transaction
>context when we open the connection this is affecting all
connections, not
>only dtc enabled connections.
>
>For workarounds, I think using an alias shorter than
16bits on the
>tnsnames.ora file does fix the problem.
>
>HTH. If anything is unclear, please feel free to reply to
the post.
>
>Kevin Yu
>=======
>"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no
>rights."
>
>.
>

Hi Delphine,

Sorry, it was my mistake. It has to be byte.

It was nice to know that you have had the problem resolved. Thanks for
sharing your experience with all the people here. If you have any
questions, please feel free to post them in the community.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."