Question

My .NET application tries to connect to an Oracle database, but the connection fails to open because it cannot find “OraOps9.dll”.

xxx.CreatedbConnection() failed to open connection.
System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL (OraOps9.dll).
   at Oracle.DataAccess.Client.OpsTrace.GetRegTraceInfo(UInt32& TrcLevel)
   at Oracle.DataAccess.Client.OracleConnection..ctor(String connectionString)
   at Utilities.Database.OracleDBConnection.Open()
   at xxx.CreatedbConnection(String userName, String password)

The Oracle client is installed but that DLL is not present in my Oracle Home bin\ folder (C:\oracle\ora92\bin\). Where can I get this DLL?

Answer 1

ODP.NET contains this DLL and is part of a specific client software installer. Presumably the client is available without ODP.NET which is why I had the client installed and working but not that particular DLL.

The client with ODP.NET is available here:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/windows/odpnet/utilsoft.html
Link for 9.2 in particular is all the way at the bottom of the page, or direct download link here:
http://download.oracle.com/otn/other/ole-oo4o/ODAC92070.exe (80MB)

After downloading and extracting the 80MB client, to save a lengthy reinstall process look for the path:
Disk1\stage\Components\ODP.NET\9.2.0.7.0\1\DataFiles

Rename OraHomeBin.1.1.jar to OraHomeBin.1.1.zip and extract.
Copy the contents to your Oracle Home bin\ directory and run ODPReg.exe.
Application should now be able to connect fine.

You can run the installer and install only ODP.NET over the top of the client. This fixed lingering connection issues for me even after manually installing/registering the DLL.