Your task is to interface a rather remote Oracle database with iReport.
But you are not really sure, whether you are able to successfully connect to the database at all.
And you want to “explore” the database, its tables, its “views” …
No CLI utility like sqlplus available as well.
I am trying SQLRunner.
Says something like “… cannot connect …“.
I search the web for its precise error message.
Leads me to a firewall problem, i.e. some firewall prevents me from accessing the Oracle database. Aha?!! The article (on Stackoverflow) says, I should use “telnet” in order to find out, whether I can access the port in question.
But there is no “telnet” on that Windows PC. Please see my telnet related articles:
But I have putty available, and I can make putty to react like “telnet with a GUI” – and yes, it looks like, I can’t reach the port at all. Let’s talk to the corporate network support team! But how to tell them, that using telnet I found out, I cannot reach that port? No, I can’t, because there is no telnet, and I can’t tell them of putty, because putty has not got installed properly, I “put” it there myself. What a mess! At least I know, what problem I am dealing with.
The colleague next to me had somebody solve the firewall problem for her (last week or so). She runs SQLRunner successfully (I showed her). She can properly look at the Oracle tables. She is happy. And I know, I have to get somebody to solve my firewall / network issue. And I will be happy myself “one day”.
http://Jochen.Hayek.name/wp/blog-en/tag/sqlrunner/ – my SQLRunner related articles