On one of our Sun (development) servers, we have 8 databases running for different versions of Oracle (7.3.4, 8.0.6, 8.1.6). I am able to connect with SQL*Plus on the server, but I can't connect from a client. I get the following error
ERROR:
ORA-12500: TNS:listener failed to start a dedicated server process
The server's listener.log shows the following error:
22-MAY-2001 10:26:25 * service_died * 0
22-MAY-2001 10:27:26 * service_died * 0
22-MAY-2001 10:28:18 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=dbname)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Oracle\Ora81\BIN\SQLPLUSW.EXE)(HOST=mypc)(USER=Jacques_Kilchoer))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=xx.x.xx.xx)(PORT=4949)) * establish * dbname * 12500
TNS-12500: TNS:listener failed to start a dedicated server process
TNS-12540: TNS:internal limit restriction exceeded
TNS-12560: TNS:protocol adapter error
TNS-00510: Internal limit restriction exceeded
Solaris Error: 12: Not enough space
22-MAY-2001 10:28:28 * service_died * 0
I would think that Solaris Error: 12 corresponds to this error number from /usr/include/sys/errno.h
#define ENOMEM 12 /* Not enough core */
The Sun server has 4 processors / 4GB of ram.
ipcs shows that there should be plenty of RAM available (about 680MB being used). swap -s shows that there is plenty of swap space available (4GB). I don't have an X-windows emulator on my machine so I don't think I can run admintool (is that right?)
A search on Metalink find a forum entry with the following suggestions (1 through 5). I tried 1 (increase processes in init.ora) and 4 (disable otrace by deleting .dat files). I don't really want to run MTS so I am discounting option 5 for now. I think the answer lies in 2 (increase Unix kernel parameters).
What can I do? The System Administrator is busy so he gave me the root password and said "have at it."
-- From Metalink
Intermittent TNS-12500 errors are caused by a lack of resources on the server. Finding which resource is depleted may be difficult.
1. The TNS-12500 can be a result of the 'processes' parameter in the init<sid>.ora file being too low.
2. If the init.ora 'processes' parameter seems ok then you may need to increase the Unix kernel parameters for the maximum number of processes or users (for example, nproc or maxuprc). Check the manuals for the Unix operating system for more information on these parameters.
3. Check that you have adequate swap space.
4. Disable OTRACE. OTRACE is a tracing feature that can cause many problems. OTRACE is enabled by default. To disable OTRACE:
a. Stop the Oracle database.
b. Go to the $ORACLE_HOME/otrace/admin directory.
c. Delete all files with a '.dat' extension.
d. Restart the Oracle database.
5. Use the Multi-Threaded Server (MTS) option.
------
Jacques R. Kilchoer
(949) 754-8816
Quest Software, Inc.
8001 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, California 92618
U.S.A.
http://www.quest.com
