Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting

Oracle Names Problems

This section describes some common problems related to the use of Oracle Names.

Discovery Does Not Work

Symptom

Automatic discovery of Names servers does not work. You issue the REORDER_NS command from Names Control, or you choose the Discover Oracle Names Servers menu option from Net8 Assistant, but no Names servers are found.

Possible solution

Autodiscovery is a Names feature that has historically been buggy. It worked for us in Release 8.1.5, but not in Release 8.1.6. You may find it more trouble than it’s worth to get discovery to work. Setting NAMES.PREFERRED_SERVERS in your sqlnet.ora file represents an easy and more reliable alternative. See Chapter 3 and Chapter 7, for more information on that parameter.

DUMP_TNSNAMES Does Not Work

Symptom

You issue a DUMP_TNSNAMES command from the Names Control utility, but with no apparent results.

Possible solution

There have been several bugs related to the DUMP_TNSNAMES command in various releases of Oracle Names. In some cases, the command simply does not work, and you either get no file or an empty file. In other cases (Release 8.1.5), you may be able to get the command to work by setting the TNS_ADMIN environment variable.

Names Servers Do Not Access the Repository Database

Symptom

Your Oracle Names repository database went down. You brought it back up, but now your Names server refuses to access the repository. Instead, it is using only the data already in its cache.

Possible solution

This is a known bug that is supposed ...