>>>After my Oracle client was updated from version 8 to 9 it takes much longer to connect to my Oracle database. I am using Windows 2000 on Novell network. Can someone explain that?
>>
>>Why are you using Oracle Client 9?
>
>Good question.
>
>Our network administrator upgraded all the clients to version 9. The reason must be (in his opinion) that the latest version works best.

One other thing to look at is which version of the Novell client you are using. Apparently NetWare client 4.83 and 4.83 SP1 have speed problems when connecting to Oracle running on IP. You can download SP2 from Novell's website to see if this solves your problem.