Re: ORA-12571: TNS:packet writer failure

Ed Stevens wrote:

> Platform: Oracle SE 8.0.5.2 on NT4 Advanced server

Always a good idea to run the latest 8.x Ed - there are many bugs fixed in 8.1.7.4 patch set.

This could be just one of those weird and anoying bugs...One never knows. For example, from the 8.1.7.4 read me notes: Bug 1314755 ORA-12571 inserting a NULL-TERMINATED string into NVARCHAR2 Bug 1690759 Spurious ORA-12571 possible using BEQUEATH connection if write is interrupted

> Within the last couple of weeks we've gotten a rash of ORA-12571:
> TNS:packet
> writer failure. In the past these eventually were traced to faulty
> network
> equipment -- switches going south, a mis-configured router, etc. We've
> been
> clean for some time, then last week they started up again.

How sure you are that the network hardware and network config are okay? My initial reaction would be something like "damn, we did not fix the network properly". :-)

> Something I find particularly interestng is that we have 6 db's on this
> particular server, and only 2 of them are reporting this error.

Are you getting this error on the server side? Or is the client app reporting it? If on the server.. I can not recall ever seeing this error in an alert or listener log...

If on the client side - the problem is likely then on the client. Are you not breaking an ethnernet cascade rule maybe from the client side? Through what routers and switches do this client go through? The usual network question stuff.

> If it were a fundamental networking issue, I'd expect it to show on at
> least all of the db's on this server and possibly db's on other servers
> as well.

Yeah, I agree somewhat with that. However that is not always the case. You need to be absolutely sure that this error does occur on the server and not on the client. Even with all the servers sitting on the same segment on the backend, not all IP configurations are equal. Maybe a missed DNS entry. A stuffup in the router table of one server. Unless you are 100% sure that you are comparing apples with apples, I would not think it a valid statement to say "if server A gives this error, so should server B".

When troubleshooting problems, one of the two basic things I usually aim for is repeatability and isolation. These usually go hand in hand. If you can isolate and repeat the problem on a specific config/setup/manchine/ connection, then you can easier trace and identify the problem.

--
Billy