Re: ORA-12154 with Toad and Designer

rgaffuri_at_cox.net said...
> Yes, I know there are lots of posts on ORA-12154 and I read them.
> Didnt get what I want.
>
> On my new site we have:
>
> Oracle 8.1.7 database instances(several) on several Solaris v5.08
> platforms
> I have 817 client installed
> Second Oracle home Designer 2.1.2
> Also have toad installed
>
> No problem connecting to any databases with SQLPLUS. I have my
> TNSNAMES.ORA in the appropriate network/admin and net80/admin
> directories.
>
> However, when I try to connect to the database with either TOAD or
> Designer I get the ORA-12154: unable to resolve service names.
>
> In toad you can set your SQLNET and I do set it to one of my Oracle
> homes(need two homes because older version of designer needs older
> home) and its says my SQLNET is correct, but still get the error.
>
> any ideas?
>
> also, anyone got a link to a tech support forum on quest software
> site? couldnt find it.
>
You have two (or more) tnsnames.ora files. Are they identical? I mean, really identical? Recently a friend asked me to help him resolve his 12154 error ... and it turned out to be a missing right parens ... so Net8 totally ignored that particular entry (with no error message). The reason I'm not sure about how many tnsnames.ora files you have is because you use forward slashes in your example, as if your client is on Solaris; but you talk about Toad (a PC app).

Check your path to see which sqlplus is getting run. I assume you have a sqlplus (or sqlplusw) in the bin directory of both homes. Temporarily rename the one that's first in your path and see if you can still connect via sqlplus using the second home's copy. That will tell you if both tnsnames.ora are correct.

[Quoted] When you connect with sqlplus, you'll be using the tnsnames.ora in net80/admin (I assume), so it's probably the "correct one." Rename the one in network/admin and copy the net80/admin one.

-- 
/Karsten
DBA > retired > DBA