shared memory realm does not exist

From: No Spam <nospam_at_home.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 16:50:15 -0000
Message-ID: <kmVMb.3361$1q3.224@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk>

When I installed oracle 9.2i on redhat linux 9 I created usergroups for user oracle as stated in the manuals
# groupadd dba
# useradd oracle
# mkdir /opt/oracle
# mkdir /opt/oracle/product/9.2.0/
# chown -R oracle:dba /opt/oracle

Now whatever I type at the sqlplus I get shared realm does not exist even logging in as sysdba
sqlplus /nolog
connect as sysdba

I get connected to an idle instance

trying sqlplus oracle/oraclepassword_at_thenameofmydatabase I created with dbca gets me the shared realm does not exist
I am at loggerheads what could be wrong, everything seemed to have installed ok Received on Tue Jan 13 2004 - 10:50:15 CST