Toad Data Point 6.1 - User Guide

Create Oracle Connections

You can create a new connection, or connect to an existing connection from the Create New Connection window. See Troubleshoot Oracle Issues for more information about troubleshooting connection issues.

Click here to view a video about creating connections in Toad Data Point

Tip: You can configure Toad Data Point to accept connection information from Toad for Oracle. See Add Connection Parameters to Open Toad Data Point from Toad for Oracle for more information.

Client Connection or Direct Connection

You can connect to your database using a native Oracle database provider in Toad using one of the following methods:

Connection Method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Client connection Client tab—Uses an installed Oracle Client or Oracle Instant Client to establish a connection to the database from Toad.	Supports LDAP See Configure Oracle LDAP Support for more information about configuring the Oracle client to use LDAP.	Requires an Oracle client Note: Toad supports Oracle clients and Oracle Instant clients using version 9i or later.
Direct connection Direct Connect tab—Uses TCP/IP to connect directly to the database.	Does not require an installed Oracle Client Recommended for connecting to Oracle 8i databases	This method only supports common data types. Some advanced Oracle object types cannot be retrieved when connecting using this method. This method does not support LDAP. (To connect using LDAP, use the Client Connection method instead.) This method cannot be used in a cross-connection query.
Note: Quest recommends using one of the methods described in this table to connect to Oracle rather than an ODBC driver. Because ODBC connectivity is generic, it is not full-featured and may not be as robust as the fully exploited native database provider.

Connection Method

Advantages

Disadvantages

Client connection

Client tab—Uses an installed Oracle Client or Oracle Instant Client to establish a connection to the database from Toad.

Supports LDAP

See Configure Oracle LDAP Support for more information about configuring the Oracle client to use LDAP.

Requires an Oracle client

Note: Toad supports Oracle clients and Oracle Instant clients using version 9i or later.

Direct connection

Direct Connect tab—Uses TCP/IP to connect directly to the database.

Does not require an installed Oracle Client

Recommended for connecting to Oracle 8i databases

This method only supports common data types. Some advanced Oracle object types cannot be retrieved when connecting using this method.

This method does not support LDAP. (To connect using LDAP, use the Client Connection method instead.)

This method cannot be used in a cross-connection query.

Note: Quest recommends using one of the methods described in this table to connect to Oracle rather than an ODBC driver. Because ODBC connectivity is generic, it is not full-featured and may not be as robust as the fully exploited native database provider.

Data Types Supported

Toad supports both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of the Oracle Client. The following table identifies which Oracle data types are supported for each client type.

Data Type	Supported Using 32-Bit Client	Supported Using 64-Bit Client
CHAR
VARCHAR2 and VARCHAR
NCHAR and NVARCHAR2
LONG
NUMBER
DATE
TIMESTAMP
BLOB
CLOB
NCLOB
BFILE
RAW, LONG RAW
ROWID
XMLType ^{1, 2}
SDO_GEOMETRY
VARRAY
Nested Table
User-Defined

Table Notes:

An XMLType that uses an XML schema is supported, but only when using Oracle Client 11.2 or later.
XMLType data that is stored as binary XML is not supported.

Configure the Oracle Instant Client

The Oracle Instant client installs only those files needed to connect to your database using OCI. Because this client does not write to the registry (no ORACLE_HOMES) or add to the environmental path, you must manually set environment variables so the client can be used with Toad.

To configure the Oracle Instant Client to work with Toad

Save the Oracle Instant Client files in any location on the computer where Toad is installed.
On your Windows desktop, right-click My Computer and select Properties.
Select the Advanced tab and click Environment Variables.

Click New under System Variables and complete the following:

Variable name	Variable Value
PATH	<Path where Instant Client is installed>;%PATH% For Example: C:\Program Files\OracleInstantClient;%PATH%
TNS_ADMIN	<Path where tnsnames.ora file is installed>

Variable name

Variable Value

PATH

<Path where Instant Client is installed>;%PATH%

For Example: C:\Program Files\OracleInstantClient;%PATH%

TNS_ADMIN

<Path where tnsnames.ora file is installed>

To use the Oracle Instant Client connection in a cross-connection query, you must also install an Oracle ODBC driver. (While the Oracle Client full install includes an ODBC driver, the Oracle Instant Client does not.)

Note: You cannot use an Oracle Direct Connection in a cross-connection query.

Create an Oracle Connection

To create an Oracle connection

Click on the toolbar (ALT+F+N).
Select Oracle from the Group list box.

Review the following for additional information:

Login Tab	Description
Database name	Select the alias to use when connecting. This list displays aliases from LDAP, as well as any local tnsnames.ora file. When you initially open the connection dialog, Toad retrieves the list of LDAP names from the LDAP server. Toad caches this list and displays it upon subsequent requests, within one Toad session. To refresh the list, click . Note: If you do not select a database, Toad uses the ORACLE_SID for the selected home. If an ORACLE_SID value does not exist and you do not specify a database, you cannot connect.
Password	Enter the password to use when connecting. Tip: After connecting, you can set a master password to further secure your connection in Tools \| Options\| Environment \| Security.
Connect as	Select whether to connect as either SYSDBA or SYSOPER if you have the appropriate permissions. Otherwise, use the default.
Schema	Select a schema if you frequently work in a different schema than the one associated with your user name.
Explain plan table	(Optional) Specify the location of an existing explain plan table to use instead of Toad automatically creating one for you when you execute a statement. This is useful if you do not have necessary permissions to create explain plan tables or want to use an existing table.
Category	Select or create a category if you want to color code Editor tabs for a specific connection. This can help differentiate between development and production databases. You can also set an option to color code the Object Explorer pane and object editor windows (Create, Alter, Drop, etc.). See Set Connection Categories for more information. Click here to view a video of this feature.
Save password	Select this check box if you plan to use this connection in a scheduled Automation script. Note: This option is disabled if Toad was installed with Prohibit saving passwords selected.
Oracle Client Tab	Description
Current home	Modify the Oracle home to use, if needed.
TNSNames Editor	Click this button to edit your local TNSNames file. Tip: You can press CTRL+F to open the Find/Replace window to locate entries in the TNS Names Editor. Pressing F3 locates the next entry that matches your criteria.
SQLNET Editor	Click this button to edit SQLNET.ORA parameters. Before editing this file, you should create a backup copy. See SQLNET.ORA Profile Parameters in the Oracle documentation for more information.
Direct Tab	Description
SID	Enter the ORACLE_SID value for the database. This value is specified in the registry under each installed home.
Advanced Tab	Description
ODBC driver	If an Oracle Client is installed, the default is the Oracle ODBC driver. If an Oracle Client is not installed, the default is the Microsoft Access ODBC driver. Tip: You can specify the ODBC driver to use for all connections for this database provider in Tools \| Options \| Database \| Oracle.

Click Connect to connect immediately while saving the connection information. Optionally, click Save to save the connection without connecting.

Note: Go to Tools | Options | Database | Oracle to specify default options to use in Oracle connections.

Tip: Connections are stored in the connections.xml file and can be found by clicking the Application Data Directory link in Help | About.

Related Topics

Configure Oracle LDAP Support

Create Snowflake Connections

Toad allows you to create a native Snowflake connection, which provides you with a full-featured Object Explorer, Query Builder and SQL Editor.

Note: You must have a Snowflake ODBC driver 2.24.2 (or later) installed before a native connection is created.

To install the Snowflake ODBC Driver

Download and install the ODBC Driver from the Snowflake Web site.

To create a new connection

Click on the Connections toolbar (ALT+F+N).

Select Snowflake from the Group list box.
Enter the connection information in the Create New Connection dialog. Review the following for additional information:

Review the following for additional information:

General Tab	Description
Host	Enter the name of the server hosting the database to which you want to connect.
Authentication	There are four types of authentication that you can use to connect to Snowflake in Toad. The required Login fields will change according to the type of authentication you select. All the authenticators are located in a dropdown list: Snowflake – User account authentication SSO – Single Sign-On via external browser OAuth – Token-based authentication MFA - Multi-Factor Authentication
User	Enter the username for your Snowflake account
Password	Enter the password for your Snowflake account
Token	Enter your authentication token (Only visible when connecting via OAuth)
Port	The default port number for Snowflake is 443
Optional	A connection can be made without providing this information
Role	Enter the user role that you would like to connect to
Database	Enter the name of the database you would like to connect to
Warehouse	Enter the name of the Warehouse you would like to connect to

Click Connect to save the connection and immediately connect to the database.

or

Click Save to save the connection without connecting to the database.

Authentication Notes

When using SSO or MFA, there is a way to maintain continuous and secure connectivity without needing to enter login credentials for each connection attempt to Snowflake (as well as to prevent additional browser loading whenever a new module is started in Toad Data Point). To achieve this, check whether the correct parameters have been set in your account by executing the query below in your Snowflake cloud interface:

SHOW PARAMETERS IN ACCOUNT;

The output that will secure login credentials caching will have these values:

For SSO

allow_id_token = true;

For MFA

allow_client_mfa_caching = true;

If these values are set to false, then the following queries need to be executed:

For SSO:

ALTER ACCOUNT

SET allow_id_token = true;

For MFA:

ALTER ACCOUNT

SET allow_client_mfa_caching = true;

Note: If a Role or Warehouse isn’t chosen, the default settings from the Snowflake User account will be applied (it is considered best practice that a user sets a default Role and a default Warehouse in their Snowflake user account).

Tip: It is strongly advised to use only the Snowflake user account authentication when creating Automation scripts to avoid unnecessary workflow interruptions.

Limitations of Snowflake Native Connections

Connecting to Snowflake through Programmatic SSO (Okta only) or by using key pair authentication with JSON Web Token (JWT) is not currently supported.
Semi-structured data types can be used for storing and analyzing purposes in Snowflake connections, but are not supported in the Data Compare/Sync Wizard because Toad will not be able to generate valid sync scripts unless they are modified before execution
At the moment, there is no support for Code Snippets in Snowflake connections
Publishing Snapshots, Views, Automation scripts, and Workbooks to Toad Intelligence Central cannot be performed when using SSO, MFA, OAuth authentication

Tip: Connections are stored in the connections.xml file and can be found by clicking the Application Data Directory link in Help | About.

Related Topics

Manage Connections

Troubleshoot SQL Server® Issues

Create SQL Server Connections

You can create a new connection, or connect to an existing connection from the Create New Connection window. See Troubleshoot SQL Server® Issues for more information about troubleshooting connection issues.

Click here to view a video about creating connections in Toad Data Point

Note: For SQL Azure connections:

To be able to utilize majority of Toad functionality please grant VIEW DEFINITION on the SQL Azure databases you want to work with.
You can login to Windows Azure Platform by selecting Tools | Cloud Computing | SQL Azure Portal and providing your credentials.
Make sure that no Azure firewall rule restricts your IP address from having access to Azure server. See Create and Alter Azure Firewall Rules for more information.

To create a new connection

Click on the toolbar (ALT+F+N).

Select Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Azure from the Group list box.

Review the following for additional information:

Login Tab	Description
Server name	Enter the name of the server to use when connecting. Click to display any servers running SQL Server that are currently active on the network. Notes: For SQL Azure connections, enter InstanceName.database.windows.net in this field. For named instances, enter the MachineName\InstanceName in this field.
Authentication	Select the type of authentication to use for this connection. You can connect to an Azure SQL database with Active Directory authentication (either Active Directory Integrated Authentication or Active Directory Password Authentication). Client configuration is required. See https:// docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-aad-authentication-configure#configure-your-client-computers You can also connect to an Azure SQL database with Active Directory Universal with MFA. Note: You cannot create a SQL Azure connection using Windows Authentication.
Password	Enter the password to use when connecting. Tip: After connecting, you can set a master password to further secure your connection in Tools \| Options\| Environment \| Security.
Application ID	Enter the application ID located in App registrations in Azure Active Directory. (This is a mandatory field when connecting to Microsoft SQL Azure via MFA.)
Redirect URI	Enter the appropriate redirect URI.(This is an optional field when connecting to Microsoft SQL Auzre via MFA which can be left empty unless you have specific requirements for configuring the Redirect URI.)
Category	Select or create a category if you want to color code Editor tabs for a specific connection. This can help differentiate between development and production databases. You can also set an option to color code the Object Explorer pane and object editor windows (Create, Alter, Drop, etc.). See Set Connection Categories for more information. Click here to view a video of this feature.
Encrypt connection	Select this option to enable encryption for the current connection provided that the certificate has been already installed on the server.
Advanced Tab	Description
Network protocol	Select one of the following: Shared Memory TCP/IP Named Pipes Note: When establishing Named Pipes connection "Poll service status in connection list" option should be cleared.
Parameter Name/Value	You can add parameters to the connection. Toad includes the Application Name parameter with value Toad Data Point by default.
OBDC driver	Select an ODBC driver to use for this connection when creating cross-connection queries. Tip: You can specify the ODBC driver to use for all connections for this database provider in Tools \| Options \| Database \| SQL Server.

Click Connect to save the connection and immediately connect to the database.

or

Click Save to save the connection without connecting to the database.

Tip: Connections are stored in the connections.xml file and can be found by clicking the Application Data Directory link in Help | About.

To import connections (including Central Management Server connections)

Click .
Specify the location where the connections currently reside.

Note: Review the following for additional information on CMS connections:
- To import CMS connections, select a server from the list where the CMS is registered. The connection to this SQL Server instance should be created beforehand.
- CMS is available beginning with Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
- User should have an appropriate login (Windows Authentication and grant to connect to selected server are required) created on the server to which he connects via CMS.
Select the connections to be imported.

Related Topics

Manage Connections