I am trying to test the connectivity to our Oracle databases. I read that Oracle released node-oracledb to facilitate this. The problem however is that you need to have the Oracle Instant Client installed. I was wondering if there is any possibility to bypass this. It would be ideal if someone would be able to pull the project and run the tests on their machine without having the Oracle Instant Client installed.

Is this feasible? Thank you in advance! Regards

I am trying to test the connectivity to our Oracle databases. I read that Oracle released node-oracledb to facilitate this. The problem however is that you need to have the Oracle Instant Client installed. I was wondering if there is any possibility to bypass this. It would be ideal if someone would be able to pull the project and run the tests on their machine without having the Oracle Instant Client installed.

Is this feasible? Thank you in advance! Regards

• javascript
• node.js
• oracle-database

• If you can use the machine that contains the DB you don't need the instant client – Sonaryr Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 13:08
• Sadly, that's not possible – Homewrecker Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 13:32

2 Answers 2

Update: As noted in the more recent answer, node-oracledb 6.0 is a pure JavaScript driver which can be used without Instant Client. See the node-oracledb 6.0 release announcement and node-oracledb installation instructions.

Node-oracledb 6 has an optional 'Thick' mode with the same API as the default Thin mode but with some additional functionality. Thick mode has the same architecture and feature set as node-oracledb 5.5. In this architecture, a node-oracledb binary add-on calls C functions in Oracle client libraries which handle connection across the network to Oracle Database. Pre-built binaries for mon operating systems are automatically installed when you install node-oracledb. You can enable Thick mode with a simple call to initOracleClient() in your application code.

If you need node-oracledb 6 Thick mode features (or are still using an older version of node-oracledb) and are running node-oracledb on a machine that does not have a database installed, then install Instant Client to get the required Oracle Client libraries. This is free to download and easy to install with unzip. Rpm's are also available for Linux. Instant Client is available from:

• https://www.oracle./database/technologies/instant-client.html

• http://yum.oracle./repo/OracleLinux/OL7/oracle/instantclient/x86_64/index.html

As of 24th of May 2023 with the release of node-oracledb : v6.0.0, you can connect to Oracle Database WITHOUT installing Oracle Instant Client

You only need it installed in case you want to have any of the Thick mode additional functionality

Node-oracledb is now a pure JavaScript ‘Thin’ driver by default that connects directly to Oracle Database. Optional use of Oracle Client libraries enables a ‘Thick’ mode with some additional functionality.

https://node-oracledb.readthedocs.io/en/latest/release_notes.html

List of Thick Mode additional functionalty can be found here

https://node-oracledb.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_guide/appendix_a.html