Working with Oracle connections

We'll start by reviewing the various Oracle connection types available. We'll then look at the authentication methods supported by SQL Developer.

Using alternative Oracle connection types

SQL Developer focuses on ease of use right from the start. With a mantra of Download, unzip to install and you're ready to start, this intended ease of use means that you do not need any additional Oracle clients on your machine to connect to an Oracle database. However, in many Oracle environments, having an Oracle Home is standard. Therefore, you can access the alias in a tnsnames.ora file.

To create a new connection, navigate to File | New… | Database Connection or right-click on the Connections node and select New Connection. By now, you should be familiar with the default settings in the Connections dialog, as shown in the following screenshot:

The databases listed in the default Database Connection dialog are Oracle and Microsoft Access. Access,...