RE: Client not using tnsnames.ora?

Do you have several Oracle Homes on the client? If so you need to modify the tnsnames.ora in each
%ORACLE_HOME%/network/admin directory.
Do you have any tnsnames.ora files outside the %ORACLE_HOME%/network/admin directory?
If I remember right, the search order is: a) use tnsnames.ora in the current directory of the executable b) use tnsnames.ora in the directory specified by the TNS_ADMIN environment variable
c) use tnsnames.ora in %ORACLE_HOME%/network/admin

Is the alias specified more than once in the tnsnames.ora? Each alias should only be defined once. (search for FTST.HARPER.CC.IL.US in the tnsnames.ora file).
Does the tnsnames.ora file contain an "ifile=" parameter including entries from another file?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Stefick [mailto:sstefick_at_harper.cc.il.us]
>
> DB=8.1.7.4.0
> DB Server OS=HPUX 11i
> Client: Windows NT 4.0
>
> I have 3 Oracle instances that were installed on one machine
> "prod". They
> are FPRD, FTRN and FTST. I moved FTST to a different machine
> "dev". I
> changed the tnsnames.ora files on the clients and the servers, and I
> changed the listener.ora on the servers.
>
> Now I cannot connect to the FTST instance on the "dev"
> machine from the
> clients. The TNS_ADMIN env variable is not set either. I
> tried to set it
> on one of the clients and it broke all of the other
> instances. When I do a
> TNSPING from the clients, it still shows that the client is trying to
> connect to the "prod" machine even though the tnsnames.ora
> file on the
> client is pointing to "dev". I don't know where the client
> is getting that
> the FTST database is still located on "prod". I checked the
> sqlnet.ora
> file on the clients and servers and they all have
> "names.directory_path=(TNSNAMES)"
>
> The twist to all of this is that if I try to connect using
> sqlplus from
> "prod" to "dev" and vice versa, I can connect all day long
> with no problems
> at all. So that leads me to believe the issue lies on the
> Client side.
>
> Example:
> C:\ tnsping ftst.harper.cc.il.us
> Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=prod)(PORT=1521))
>
> and it should read:
> C:\ tnsping ftst.harper.cc.il.us
> Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=dev)(PORT=1521))
>
> Because the tnsnames.ora file reads:
> FTST.HARPER.CC.IL.US =
> (DESCRIPTION =
> (ADDRESS_LIST =
> (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = dev)(PORT = 1521))
> )
> (CONNECT_DATA =
> (SERVICE_NAME = ftst)
> )
> )

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