title: Oracle database connections - what are all the fields I need to fill in?
body: <p>I'm used to using SQL Server and I'm now faced with connecting to Oracle.  Can I get some completely unambiguous descriptions for what all the fields I need to fill in are?</p>
  
  <p>Specifically, I want to understand what these are:</p>
  
  <p>Home<br>
  Hostname<br>
  Port<br>
  SID<br>
  Service name</p>
  
  <p>Network Alias<br>
  Connect identifier  </p>
  
  <p>My basic understanding is that hostname is the pooter it's sat on, but is this different to home?
  Port is the TCP port and it defaults to 1521 - that seems pretty clear.  </p>
  
  <p>I only need to provide either SID or service name?  And what's the difference - why one or the other?</p>
  
  <p>If I have a TNS file, what is the network alias and connect identifier?  Are these in anyway the same as the other fields I have if I don't use a TNS file?</p>
  
  <p>Sorry to be such a noob, but my preliminary searching to get answers still has me very confused.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>