Any Oracle client connected to the Oracle database server can access Adabas data through the gateway. The Oracle client and the Oracle database server can reside on different machines. The gateway accepts connections only from the Oracle database server.

A connection to the gateway is established through a database link when it is first used in an Oracle session. In this context, a connection refers to the connection between the Oracle database server and the gateway. The connection remains established until the Oracle session ends. Another session or user can access the same database link and get a distinct connection to the gateway and Adabas database.

Database links are active for the duration of a gateway session. If you want to close a database link during a session, you can do so with the ALTER SESSION statement. The database and application administrators of a distributed database system are responsible for managing the necessary database links that define paths to the Adabas database.