[SGVLUG] Probably OT: an oracle question...

[Greg Stark]

Copy a working tnsnames.ora file to her system.  If Oracle Client was
installed she might have the SQL-Plus Client application.  You can use that
to see if the PC can login to your Oracle DB.  Otherwise; best to
uninstall/install the Oracle Client package on her system and config it as
if it were a new system.


-----Original Message-----
From: sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net [mailto:sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net] On Behalf
Of Emerson, Tom
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 3:06 PM
To: Sgvlug discussion list (E-mail)
Subject: [SGVLUG] Probably OT: an oracle question...

Since I'm not anywhere near "guru" status in regards to Oracle, I'm looking
for a little enlightenment on something that has me really scratching my
head.

In our setup, we are NOT using any centralized name services [yeah, seems
dumb to me too, but that's what we're stuck with...] Instead, we are
maintaining a "tnsnames.ora" file on each and every client [think "hosts"
file...]  (*)

One of our end-users recently had a viral infestation that resulted in her
receiving a new windows XP setup -- everything locally was "wiped out",
including [you guessed it] the tnsnames file.  She is, of course, now
complaining about errors she gets in our application when it tries to refer
to an oracle database.

As it turns out, she doesn't even HAVE a "tnsnames" file anymore -- it seems
the technician that re-installed the software for her overlooked the need
for an oracle client or whatever would have created said file.  Now, here it
the funny part: she DOES have an ODBC driver for Oracle databases, so the
program will load, but fails to "find" our database.

What can or should I do for this user?  The instructions we give our
installers includes one or two "stanzas" of hostname/configuration
information to add to the tnsnames file, but without a tnsnames file to
update in the first place, this gets rather difficult...

Tom

[reply offline to tom.emerson at wbconsultant.com unless you think your
response would benefit others as well]

(*) It -is- entirely possible that WB is using a centralized tns "name
server", so to speak, but if so our particular group hasn't been added to
the "A-list" of users, so we're relegated to the backwaters around here...