The JDBC Thin driver does not require Oracle client software to be installed, but does require the server to be configured with a TCP/IP listener. We recommend all of our customers to use JDBC Thin driver as most of the new features are developed only on JDBC Thin driver.

Is Jdbc a client?

JDBC drivers are client-side adapters (installed on the client machine, not on the server) that convert requests from Java programs to a protocol that the DBMS can understand.

Does JDBC work with Oracle?

The JDBC OCI driver requires an Oracle client installation of the same version as the driver. The use of native methods makes the JDBC OCI driver platform specific. Oracle supports Solaris, Windows, and many other platforms.