Rogue TNSNAMES.ORA files Revisited

[Brian McGraw]

A few days (or was that weeks??) ago, someone posted some problems they were having connecting to a database defined in their tnsnames.ora file.  The problem was resolved when they found out that there was a ‘rogue’ tnsnames.ora file residing in the same directory as the binary.  The binary file was resolving a database’s address by using the local tnsnames.ora first.   I recently had a similar issue (a long story, available on http://www.clanmcgraw.com/oracle.html for those interested) where sqlplus was resolving a database address by using a tnsnames.ora file stored in /var/opt/oracle (on Solaris 8).  I thought that was because I did not have the TNS_ADMIN environment variable set properly by the oraenv file.   I did some research on Metalink, and under Note 114085.1, found the following information that others might find useful: Windows NT/2000 running Oracle 9i     First: The directory where the application is launched.  For example, if sqlplus resides in             ORACLE_HOME\bin\sqlplus but was launched from the c:\temp directory, then             c:\temp is searched for a tnsnames.ora file.     Second: The value of the TNS_ADMIN environment variable.     Third: ORACLE_HOME\network\admin Sun Solaris running Oracle 8i or 9i     First: The oracle user's home directory is searched for a hidden '.tnsnames.ora'     Second: The value of the TNS_ADMIN environment variable.     Third: /var/opt/oracle     Fourth: $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin Some were talking about an April Fool’s joke with local tnsnames.ora files.  I think you’d have a lot more fun with the .tnsnames.ora file, if you’re on Solaris.  J   Hope that information is useful to someone out there…   Brian ---------------------------------------------- | Brian McGraw /* DBA */  Infinity Insurance | | mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | ----------------------------------------------