The oracle 12c had its first release in July 2013. The ‘c’ here stands for the cloud. This is the first database offered to buy Oracle with cloud computing. It has a multitenant architecture that actually simplifies consolidation without doing any changes in the application. Other than this it has an In-Memory column store, SQL Pattern Matching, and native JSON. Version 12C has introduced 500 new features into the Oracle Database. The most notable features are the pluggable databases and multitenant architecture. Oracle 12c Release2 was released in September 2016 and retained the earlier features but some features like Exadata Cloud Service and Cloud at Customer were introduced.
Oracle 12c Client Download is available on e-delivery under the “Oracle Database 12c Release 2“.
The first step of the installation is different for Windows and UNIX.
- For Windows Run setup.exe from the downloaded Oracle Installation Media.
- For Linux/UNIX1 log in as Oracle user and start Oracle Universal Installer with the following command:
./runInstallerThe Select Installation Type screen is opened.
Then select Custom and click Next. The Download Software Updates screen is opened.
Select Skip software updates and click Next. The Select Product Languages screen is opened.
Select the language and click Next.
The Specify Oracle Home User screen is opened: the Oracle home user is different from an Oracle installation user. The Oracle installation user is the user who requires administrative privileges to install Oracle products. The Oracle home user is used to run the Windows services for the Oracle home. The Oracle home user can be the Windows built-in account or a Windows user account. For enhanced security, Oracle recommends that a standard Windows user account has to be chosen as the Oracle home user for a database client installation. If a Windows user account is used, it must be a standard Windows user account (not an administrator) and can be a local user, a domain user, or a managed services account. Specify the Oracle home user and click Next.
Specify the installation location for the Oracle base directory and the Oracle home directory and click Next: If the Oracle base location is the same as the user home directory, the following warning message appears: [INS-32008] Oracle base location can't be the same as the user home directory. If possible, avoid having the same directory for the Oracle Base and the Oracle home directory. If the selected Oracle home location is outside of Oracle base, the following warning message appears: [INS-32018] The selected Oracle home is outside of Oracle base. If possible, avoid having the Oracle home outside of Oracle base. Click Yes to override the warning.
The Available Product Components screen is opened. Select the Oracle 12c Client Download from here, along with other components. Click Next.
The Perform Prerequisite Checks screen verifies if your computer meets the minimum system requirements to install the desired product. Upon completion of the checks, the installer displays the results for review. If any of the requirements are not met, the installer displays a list of the failed checks and their actual and expected values.
Upon completion, the Finish screen is opened. Click Close to exit the Oracle Client Installer.
Alternatively, try the Oracle Instant Client Dowload. Client-server version interoperability is detailed in Doc ID 207303.1. For example, Oracle Call Interface 18.3 can connect to Oracle Database 11.2 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.