TNSPING OK but sqlplus gives ORA-12154?

Question

I have Oracle 11 running on a Windows server and I'm logged onto the same server trying to use SQL Plus. When I try to connect I get a ORA-12154 even though TNSPING and various other diagnostics look OK.

Can anyone suggest why ? Loads of detail below.

---

I can use sqlplus if I use EZCONNECT like this ..

sqlplus EST/[email protected]/ORCL

... but if I try to connect using TNSNAMES like this ...

sqlplus EST/EST@ORCL

... I get ...

ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified

TNSPING works OK

C:\Documents and Settings\user1>tnsping ORCL

TNS Ping Utility for 64-bit Windows: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 12-NOV-2013 12:41:14

Copyright (c) 1997, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Used parameter files:
E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\network\admin\sqlnet.ora


Used TNSNAMES adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.10.15)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = ORCL))
)
OK (20 msec)

And the listener looks like this :

C:\Documents and Settings\user1>lsnrctl services

LSNRCTL for 64-bit Windows: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-NOV-2013 12:02:59

Copyright (c) 1991, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))
Services Summary...
Service "CLRExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "CLRExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
    Handler(s):
      "DEDICATED" established:0 refused:0
         LOCAL SERVER
Service "orcl" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "orcl", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
    Handler(s):
      "DEDICATED" established:55 refused:0 state:ready
         LOCAL SERVER
Service "orclXDB" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "orcl", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
    Handler(s):
      "D000" established:0 refused:0 current:0 max:1022 state:ready
         DISPATCHER <machine: MARIEL, pid: 2400>
         (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=mariel)(PORT=1045))
The command completed successfully

And this

C:\Documents and Settings\user1>lsnrctl status

LSNRCTL for 64-bit Windows: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-NOV-2013 12:29:21

Copyright (c) 1991, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for 64-bit Windows: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
Start Date                14-NOV-2013 11:41:10
Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 48 min. 11 sec
Trace Level               off
Security                  ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP                      OFF
Listener Parameter File   E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\network\admin\listener.ora
Listener Log File         e:\app\administrator\diag\tnslsnr\mariel\listener\alert\log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(PIPENAME=\\.\pipe\EXTPROC1521ipc)))
  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=192.168.10.15)(PORT=1521)))
Services Summary...
Service "CLRExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "CLRExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "orcl" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "orcl", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "orclXDB" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "orcl", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
The command completed successfully

---

Here are the various config files:

listener.ora

# listener.ora Network Configuration File: E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\network\admin\listener.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (SID_NAME = CLRExtProc)
      (ORACLE_HOME = E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2)
      (PROGRAM = extproc)
      (ENVS = "EXTPROC_DLLS=ONLY:E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\bin\oraclr11.dll")
    )
  )

LISTENER =
  (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
    (DESCRIPTION =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.10.15)(PORT = 1521))
    )
  )

ADR_BASE_LISTENER = E:\app\Administrator

tnsnames.ora

# tnsnames.ora Network Configuration File: E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\network\admin\tnsnames.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

ORACLR_CONNECTION_DATA =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SID = CLRExtProc)
      (PRESENTATION = RO)
    )
  )

ORCL =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.10.15)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = ORCL)
    )
  )

sqlnet.ora

# sqlnet.ora Network Configuration File: E:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\dbhome_2\network\admin\sqlnet.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

# This file is actually generated by netca. But if customers choose to 
# install "Software Only", this file wont exist and without the native 
# authentication, they will not be able to connect to the database on NT.

SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES, EZCONNECT)

Answer 1

Create an environment variable TNS_ADMIN that points to the directory where your tnsnames.ora file resides. Then try to connect with sqlplus.

If that works, then my guess is you maybe installed the Oracle client software too, and when you run sqlplus, it looks for the tnsnames.ora file in your client home.

-- Instructions for Adding the Environment variable TNS_ADMIN in windows
1. Go to control panel / system
2. select Advanced system settings
3. Select "Advanced" tab, and the environment variable button is at the bottom.
4. create new variable TNS_ADMIN and give the path where the .ora files are stored. e.g. C:\app\oracle\product\11.2.0\client_1\network\admin