There should be no problem accessing Oracle from Win XP as long as you install the Orcle Client software on that machine. Then you can use ODBC to connect to the Oracle database to retrieve the data into cursors. Create a second connection to SQL Server and, using SPT, you can scan the cursor, creating your own SQL Insert strings to load the data into the SQL Server tables.

To connect to Oracle:

lcConString = [Driver=Microsoft ODBC for Oracle;] ;
            + [UID=user_id_here;PWD=password_here;] ;
            + [Server=host_name;]
lnHandle = SQLSTRINGCONNECT(lcConString)

When you install the client, you will need an entry in the TNSNAMES.ORA file that contains the connection info needed to find the Oracle instance. For example:

host_name = 
   (DESCRIPTION = 
      (ADDRESS_LIST = 
         (ADDRESS = 
            (PROTOCOL = TCP)
            (Host = 123.45.678.90)
            (Port = 1521) )
      )
      (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = orcl) )
   )

This file would be in the Oracle home folder where you installed the Oracle Client in a sub-folder tree like .\Network\Admin.

>Hi All,
>
>I have used SQL Server a lot but never touched Oracle. Now I have an Oracle 7.3 database that I want to transfer to SQL Server. Since my development machine is Win XP, I am told that I cannot access Oracle from it and I cannot find old Win 98 machines to use. Are there anyway I can use MS SQL Server DTS to transfer the dada? Also, I don’t mind to pull the Oracle data into dbf first. What is the trick to set up the connection? After I get the data I will simply forget Oracle, so quick and dirty solutions are most welcome! TIA
>
>Chen