Re: [exim] Seeking clarification about Oracle DB lookups

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Author: Philip Hazel
Date:  
To: Odhiambo G. Washington
CC: exim-users
Subject: Re: [exim] Seeking clarification about Oracle DB lookups
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004, Odhiambo G. Washington wrote:

> The spec.txt says:
> <cut>
> In the case of Oracle, the host name field is used for the 'service name',
> and the database name field is not used and should be empty. For example:
>
> hide oracle_servers = oracle.plc.example//ph10/abcdwxyz
>
> </cut>
>
> Now that seems incorrect, as far as I can see. Of course I could be damn
> wrong since I am not any familiar with Oracle either.


Well, I seem to recall that I did an Oracle experiment a very long time
ago (I do not normally use Oracle) and that text is probably my
understanding of it at that time. Most likely my MISunderstanding. You
are almost certainly more knowledgeable about this than I am.

But wait! The spec contradicts itself. It says the "host name" should be
empty, but further up it says that the data is "host name, database
name, user name, and password". Therefore the example is wrong. It
should (I presume) be

hide oracle_servers = /oracle.plc.example/ph10/abcdwxyz

which seems to agree with your experiment.

> My final question is: Who between me and spec.txt (no offense Philip)
> is right? I believe the Exim bible (spec.txt) should always be right
> when I am in conflict with it ;)


Blind faith always leads to bad experiences. :-)

> This is another very confusing part. If I start the daemon as I would
> normally, both tests above fail. It therefore appears that I must
> initialize the Oracle environment as well for Exim to be able to do the
> lookups. I would like to confirm that this is actually a requirement.


No idea, I'm afraid. I have really no knowledge of Oracle. But if you
need it, then I guess that's right.

-- 
Philip Hazel            University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@???      Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.
Get the Exim 4 book:    http://www.uit.co.uk/exim-book