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On my desktop I have an Oracle client and and Oracle ODAC installed in different homes. I need ODAC because there ADO components off the Client installation don't work correct with CLOB data.

I think I can't go without the client installation, because I need some odbc components.

Now I have to maintain to copies of the tnsnames.ora file. The nest thing I know to do is carefully keep the both tnsnames.ora in sync.

Are there better solutions for a scenario like this?

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

Assuming that you don't want multiple tnsnames.ora files, the simplest option would be to set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to point at the one tnsnames.ora file you wanted to maintain on the machine. All the Oracle Homes on the machine would then use the tnsnames.ora file in the directory specified by the TNS_ADMIN setting before looking for an entry in the local Oracle Home's tnsnames.ora file.

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+1 That sounds very promising. Going to check it, when I'm back at work. –  bernd_k Jun 6 '11 at 18:03
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On windows Oracle Locator Express is a simple (and free) tool to handle setting the oracle home and/or the TNS_ADMIN environment variable.

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I would really prefer, to install all the components into one Oracle folder, than to have to switch homes. –  bernd_k Jun 7 '11 at 13:04
@bernd_k I understand, this was just something that might help in some small way. –  Leigh Riffel Jun 7 '11 at 15:26
@Leight Riffel. It's OK. In some cases one wants to evaluate different client releases and than is the hour for such tools. –  bernd_k Jun 7 '11 at 15:35
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