Server Information

The server we will be using for this class is cs.calstatela.edu, which has Redhat Enterprise V 3.0 AS installed. Thirty student account have been created, with user names cs422stu01, cs422stu02, cs422stu03, ..., cs422stu30. Each account also comes with an Oracle database account with the same user name and password. Each student enrolled in the class will be assigned one of these accounts.

[Server Access]

The server supports remote access through SecureShell (SSH). To access the server, it is recommended that you use the non-commercial version of SSH Secure Shell for Workstations, which can be downloaded from http://www.ssh.com/support/downloads/secureshellwks/non-commercial.html free of charge. This is the same SSH software installed on the lab machines, and it includes both a Secure Shell client which can be used to log on to the server, and a Secure File Transfer client which can be used to transfer files to and from the server. Note that Telnet and FTP are NOT supported.

[Oracle Database Access]

The easiest way to access the Oracle database is using iSQL*Plus, a web-based Oracle database client available at http://cs.calstatela.edu:5560/isqlplus/. You can connect to the database this way without installing any additional software, as long as you have access to a browser and the internet. The only catch is that you may need to use .txt as the file extension of your SQL scripts, unless you know how to add MIME types to your favorite browser.

For those of you who prefer the old-fashioned command-line client SQL*Plus, you may download the Oracle Instant Client from Oracle Technology Network (free registration required) or here, and follow these steps:

Unzip all the files. By default all the uncompressed files go into the same directory, for example, c:\instantclient10_1.
Download tnsnames.ora and put it under the same directory. This file tells SQL*Plus where to look for the database server.
Still under the same directory, create a shortcut for sqlplus.exe. Modify the shortcut (right-click it and select Properties) so the Target field looks like c:\instantclient10_1\sqlplus.exe cs422stu31@orc. Note that you should replace cs422stu31 with the actual Oracle account name assigned to you.
Double click on th shortcut, enter the password, and you are connect to the Oracle server.

If you are sure that nobody else can access the shortcut, you may even add the account password to the Target field, e.g., c:\instantclient10_1\sqlplus.exe cs422stu31/abcd@orc, so you don't have to type in the password every time.