Configuring Oracle as a Data Source for SQL Server
Steve Callan, stevencallan@hotmail.com

Steve Callan explains what happens within SQL Server during and after the configuration process. Quite a few objects are created, including a system-level database, numerous jobs running under the SQL Server agent, and flat files created on the file system.

Upon completion of the steps provided by Microsoft, a new database - named distribution - is created. The distribution database contains numerous tables related to replication activity. Without a detailed map of what the various tables contain, you're pretty much left on your own to dig through these tables for information that may be relevant for or to you.

As you go through the distribution database tables, it becomes obvious that the contents of the database are more for MSSQL than for you. Overall, this is in line with the purpose of other MSSQL-oriented databases.