Currently i am using ODP.Net.Is Oracle Instant client something to replace this or an addon. Some sites talked about using this for both 64bit and 32 bit machines.
Thanks,
MY Findings:
Oracle Database Instant Client (ODIC) is not intended to replace ODP .Net or addon for .Net Apps;
ODP.Net is a client component of Oracle used to connect .Net apps to an Oracle database. Oracle Instant Client is a method of installing Oracle client components (such as ODP.Net and OO4O) on a PC and is an alternative to the full client install.
Prior to Oracle 11g, ODP.Net was not included in Oracle Instant Client. So we couldn't use Oracle Instant Client with applications that used ODP.Net. In Oracle 11g we can.
Other Explanation:
ODP.NET consists of two dll's: Oracle.DataAccess and OraOps. Oracle.DataAccess is the managed dll, which calls into OraOps which is the unmanaged dll that makes OCI calls into the Oracle client.
Instant Client consists of 3 or 4 dll's that constitute is a small footprint Oracle client that enables communication with the database from a client side application. Lots of middleware drivers can use Instant client: ODBC, OCI, OLEDB, ODP, etc.
ODP.NET relies on the Instant Client dlls to pass the OCI calls on to the database; it does not communicate with the database directly.
So.. ODP > Instant Client > Your Network > Listener/database/etc
You could certainly use Instant client with things besides ODP.NET.
You cannot use ODP.NET without some form of Oracle Client software (instant, or full).
