RMAN connection problems (Solaris/Oracle8i)

I trust you'll all roll your eyes and nod expectantly when I say I was having no troubles with things last week.

I'm attempting to connect to a 'demo' database (not mounted) however I seem to be ending up in 'oratest' (up and open) instead. I have no real idea what is going on with this or why I suddenly cannot connect.

I've cleaned this up a bit so it's easier to follow the bouncing ball. Also, demo is indeed still in the $ORACLE_HOME/admin/tnsnames.ora file as it should be. Lastly, I've not brought up or shutdown any instance between the first command listed here and the last; all commands were done sequentially.

# trial 1; unexpected behaviour since I pass '@demo' and 'oratest' is up
<oracle_at_skat:733>$ echo $ORACLE_SID

oratest
<oracle_at_skat:734>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target sys/xxx_at_demo;
RMAN-06006: connected to target database: oratest (not mounted) RMAN> exit

# trial 2; expected behavior based on $ORACLE_SID above; note db is up
<oracle_at_skat:742>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target
RMAN-06005: connected to target database: ORATEST (DBID=2991274011) RMAN> exit

# trial 3; unexpected behaviour since both env var and @demo are used
<oracle_at_skat:743>$ ORACLE_SID=demo
<oracle_at_skat:744>$ echo $ORACLE_SID

demo
<oracle_at_skat:745>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target sys/xxx_at_demo;
RMAN-06006: connected to target database: oratest (not mounted) RMAN> exit

# trial 4; unexpected behavior based on $ORACLE_SID above
<oracle_at_skat:746>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target;
RMAN-06006: connected to target database: oratest (not mounted) RMAN> exit

# trial 5; another documented connection method fails
<oracle_at_skat:747>$ rman target sys/xxx_at_demo catalog rman/xxx_at_rcat
Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN-06006: connected to target database: oratest (not mounted) RMAN-06008: connected to recovery catalog database RMAN> exit

# trial 6; another documented means of setting SID fails
<oracle_at_skat:748>$ ORACLE_SID=demo;export ORACLE_SID
<oracle_at_skat:749>$ echo $ORACLE_SID

demo
<oracle_at_skat:750>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target sys/xxx_at_demo;
RMAN-06006: connected to target database: oratest (not mounted) RMAN> exit

# trial 7; let's use another db; good results
<oracle_at_skat:751>$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN> connect target sys/xxx_at_vipp;
RMAN-06005: connected to target database: VIPP (DBID=134332735) RMAN> exit

# trial 8; again using another db and another approach; good results
<oracle_at_skat:756>$ rman target sys/xxx_at_vipp catalog rman/xxx_at_rcat
Recovery Manager: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production RMAN-06005: connected to target database: VIPP (DBID=134332735) RMAN-06008: connected to recovery catalog database RMAN> exit

Anyone able to offer me some clues? Much thanks if you can.

I can just feel the facial tics beginning to spread...

-- 
Error:  witty .signature file database is empty.  Change tape and re-try (Y/y)?
D. Joseph Creighton [ESTP] | Systems Analyst, Database Technologies, IST
Joe_Creighton_at_UManitoba.CA | University of Manitoba  Winnipeg, MB, Canada, eh?