1. Using a text-based client:
a.) ssh into the following Sun machine: botev.cs.uchicago.edu
b.) Run:
sqlplus cspp51035@${ORACLE_DB}
(the password can be found in the following file: ~mark/pub/51035/oracle/password.txt). You can view the contents of this file by typing: cat ~mark/pub/51035/oracle/password.txt from any cluster machine (including botev).
c.) More information on using sqlplus and SQL is available here. (Please ignore "Getting an account" and "Logging-in" sections)
Ask questions! Sun's JDBC tutorial or Mark's JDBC slides might be helpful to understand what's going on.