Oracle XE

1. If necessary, uninstall all the previous Oracle XE (even better - other Oracle database products). Environment variable ORACLE_HOME should not be defined; ports 8080 and 1521 should be free. Stop various network-related services (e.g. Skype). To detect those processes, which use up the ports, one can use "netstat -an" (plus a "Task Manager" that is configured to display process numbers) or a more user-friendly utility - custom.recipes.Tcpview_en).
2. Run the file OracleXEUniv.exe pick "Typical" installation and all defaults.
3. For educational environment "System" user may have password "system".

Checking the installation

1. Open Start -> Oracle Database 10g Express Edition -> Run SQL Command Line

2. Write the following command:

   connect system/system

Connecting to a database on another server

1. Edit the tnsnames.ora file (on a typical Windows OracleXE installation it is located here: c:/oraclexe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/NETWORK/ADMIN/). Add the following fragment:

   VIS =
     (DESCRIPTION =
       (ADDRESS_LIST =
         (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = oracle.riga.accenture.com)(PORT = 1524))
       )
       (CONNECT_DATA =
         (SID = VIS)
         (PRESENTATION = RO)
       )
     )
2. Open SQL Command Line window - Start -> All Programs -> Oracle Database 10g Express Edition -> Run SQL Command Line

3. Connect by using this command:

   connect myusername/mypassword@VIS

4. Create a new table in your schema by using the "CREATE TABLE" SQL command:

   CREATE TABLE mytable (NAME VARCHAR(255));

5. Check that the newly created table is visible, list its fields and delete it:

   SELECT object_name FROM user_objects WHERE object_type='TABLE';
   DESCRIBE mytable;
   DROP TABLE mytable;