TNS-12505: TNS:listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor

Question

I'm trying to connect to Oracle 10.2.0 from NetBeans, using the following connection string:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:XE

The weirdest part is that everything worked fine, until the one of the reboots. I started getting this TNS-12505 errors all the time; look at the final entries in my listener.log:

TNSLSNR for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-APR-2011 13:46:48

Copyright (c) 1991, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

System parameter file is D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\network\admin\listener.ora
Log messages written to D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\network\log\listener.log
Trace information written to D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\network\trace\listener.trc
Trace level is currently 0

Started with pid=3460
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(PIPENAME=\\.\pipe\EXTPROC_FOR_XEipc)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=Brodyaga-PC)(PORT=1521)))
Listener completed notification to CRS on start

TIMESTAMP * CONNECT DATA [* PROTOCOL INFO] * EVENT [* SID] * RETURN CODE
14-APR-2011 13:48:54 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=XE)(CID=(PROGRAM=JDBC Thin Client)(HOST=__jdbc__)(USER=Brodyaga))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=127.0.0.1)(PORT=58458)) * establish * XE * 12505
TNS-12505: TNS:listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor
14-APR-2011 13:49:00 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=XE)(CID=(PROGRAM=JDBC Thin Client)(HOST=__jdbc__)(USER=Brodyaga))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=127.0.0.1)(PORT=58481)) * establish * XE * 12505
TNS-12505: TNS:listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor
14-APR-2011 13:49:02 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=XE)(CID=(PROGRAM=JDBC Thin Client)(HOST=__jdbc__)(USER=Brodyaga))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=127.0.0.1)(PORT=58487)) * establish * XE * 12505
TNS-12505: TNS:listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor
14-APR-2011 13:50:23 * (CONNECT_DATA=(CID=(PROGRAM=)(HOST=)(USER=Brodyaga))(COMMAND=services)(ARGUMENTS=64)(SERVICE=LISTENER)(VERSION=169869568)) * services * 0

The first three entries are my attempts to connect from NetBeans. The fourth, the connection via SQL*Plus, worked just fine.

Here are the contents of my listener.ora:

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (SID_NAME = PLSExtProc)
      (ORACLE_HOME = D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server)
      (PROGRAM = extproc)
    )
    (SID_DESC =
      (SID_NAME = CLRExtProc)
      (ORACLE_HOME = D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server)
      (PROGRAM = extproc)
    )
  )

LISTENER =
  (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
    (DESCRIPTION =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC_FOR_XE))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = Brodyaga-PC)(PORT = 1521))
    )
  )

DEFAULT_SERVICE_LISTENER = (XE)

And tnsnames.ora:

XE =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = Brodyaga-PC)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = XE)
    )
  )

EXTPROC_CONNECTION_DATA =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC_FOR_XE))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SID = PLSExtProc)
      (PRESENTATION = RO)
    )
  )

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

And output from > lsnrctl services

C:\Users\Brodyaga>lsnrctl services

LSNRCTL for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-APR-2011 13:59
:45

Copyright (c) 1991, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC_FOR_XE)))
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 "PLSExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "PLSExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
    Handler(s):
      "DEDICATED" established:0 refused:0
         LOCAL SERVER
The command completed successfully

Both Oracle services are started and SQL*Plus connects fine.

Is there some workaround for this error?

Answer 1

You need to add the SID entry for XE in order to register the instance with the listener.

After installation of Oracle XE, everything looks good, but when you issue

C:\>sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL>shutdown immediate
SQL>startup

TNS-12505: TNS:listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor

the instance will not register with the listener.

So please edit your listener.ora like this:

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
     (SID_DESC =
       (SID_NAME = XE)
       (ORACLE_HOME = C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server)
     )
     (SID_DESC =
        (SID_NAME = PLSExtProc)
        (ORACLE_HOME = D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server)
        (PROGRAM = extproc)
     )
     (SID_DESC =
       (SID_NAME = CLRExtProc)
       (ORACLE_HOME = D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server)
       (PROGRAM = extproc)
     )
  )

This issue came up when I installed Oracle XE on Windows 7. I did not face this problem on Windows XP. In general, this entry should not be necessary, because the instance should register with the listener automatically. Running Oracle XE on Linux (Fedora), there is no need to add XE to the sid-list.