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I'm an OK dba with MySQL, passable with SQL Server, awful with Oracle.

I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 running Oracle 11g. I'd like to connect to this server with SQL Developer running on Windows XP Mode with a Windows 7 machine on the same LAN. I finally got SQL Developer running but can't connect to the server. I generally connect using TNS names. Is an Oracle client still required on the client machine or does the SQL Developer folder tree have everything I need to connect to the server?

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What errors are you getting? (SQL Developer should have everything required packaged.) –  Mat Feb 20 '13 at 16:12
SQL Developer (by default) is using the JDBC thin driver which does not require an Oracle client (and thus no tnsnames.ora). What exactly is the error you are getting? How does your connect information look like? –  a_horse_with_no_name Feb 20 '13 at 16:21
To connect to this database I was given a tnsnames.ora file info [xyz=(description=(address_list... blah blah], and user ids/passwords. I generally connect by linking an ODBC connection to a TNSnames.ora file. I see that there is a "connection type: Basic" option in SQL Developer that I assumed I'd use. I suppose Hostname can be the IP of the server, the port default is right, not sure what SID is. –  Jeff Feb 20 '13 at 17:06
I got it working with the Basic connection type. Thanks, I suppose I just needed to know it was possible without the client :-) –  Jeff Feb 20 '13 at 17:11

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