Re: Role of ORACLE_SID?

Volker Hetzer wrote:

> Hi!
> I've been debugging a log on problem for the last few days and I think I'm
> in the process of finding the error in my idea of how the oracle connection
> is established.
> So, can anybody explain to me the role of the environment variable ORACLE_SID
> in a scenario where the client sits on a different machine from the db server?
>
> I had assumed, when I set ORACLE_SID to the Db SID then sqlplus would,
> when called "sqlplus name/passwd" check the environment for the SID,
> consult tnsnames on where to find a db with that sid and then connect to it.
>
> Is this wrong?
> From my experiments it seems to be that I *always* have to call sqlplus
> like "sqlplus name/passwd_at_networkDbName". Is this correct?
>
> Lots of greetings!
> Volker
> --
> --
> While it is a known fact that programmers
> never make mistakes, it is still a good idea
> to humor the users by checking for errors at
> critical points in your program.
> -Robert D. Schneider, "Optimizing INFORMIX
> Applications"

Are you assuming that ORACLE_SID has a value on the client, the server, or both?

Assuming the client and server are on separate machines. It is used server side to identify which instance. It bears no relationship to client connection.

--
Daniel Morgan
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/extinfo/certprog/oad/oad_crs.asp
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with a 'u' to reply)