Oracle Startup Removes SAP Registry Variables in Win2003

Hi,

This is one of the strangest technical issues that I have come across......Starting Oracle
seems to remove Windows registry variables.

We are running Oracle 9i with an SAP system (v47) on Win2003.

Please...no flames about using Ora 9i. This combination of Oracle/SAP systems
is supported by SAP.

I needed to stop and start SAP and Oracle. Oracle successfully started.

However, the SAP traces indicated problems associated with missing registry/environment
variables.

I checked the registry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-SOFTWARE-SAP-<SAP system>-
Environment, and, indeed, registry entries disappeared. They were there before
because SAP/Oracle started successfully in previous weeks.

I added the necessary entries and SAP started. I then checked the registry entries after shutting down SAP and Oracle (Shutdown immediate) and
they were there. They, indeed, disappeared after I started Oracle (Startup).

I fixed the immediate issue by adding the variables that were previously in the registry
as environment variables.

I tested again with a test registry entry and, indeed, it disappeared when Oracle started.

The Event Log does not display any serious issues. Symantec runs an anti-virus daily and it displays no problems, etc.. The Oracle user traces
show sporadic network issues, but I have never seen these types of issues cause
registry problems.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
DF Received on Thu Aug 14 2008 - 15:11:51 CDT