No listener.ora nor tnsnames.ora files

Hi,

We're using Oracle 9.2.0 on Linux RH9 and have tailored/modified the Oracle install for use with one of our products. As part of the changes we make to the install, there is no "listener.ora" file, nor is there a "tnsnames.ora" file. However, everything is working fine regarding the Listener. That is, I can stop and restart it and I can also perform listener functions like "tnsping". In addition, our own product which is installed on a separate machine, can communicate with the Oracle DB. Since there is no "listener.ora" nor "tnsnames.ora" files, how does Oracle provide connectivity to its clients?

Thank you,

where are you lookig for the files? is TNS_ADMIN set?

You should search it two ways:
1. in the directory, specified by TNS_ADMIN environment variable. like dave said.
2. in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin directory
If they are not there, may be you have two or more Oracle homes and you checking in the wrong one

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I've looked everywhere for these 2 files. $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin is the first place I looked. I can't find them anywhere on the machine, much less in $ORACLE_HOME. I do have ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_BASE & ORACLE_HOME set, but no TNS_ADMIN variable. These 2 files do exist in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/samples, but as the directory name implies, they're just sample/template files, and not used at all by Oracle. Oracle must use some other file or files for this functionality that I am unaware of.

Two other (relatively unused) places where tnsnames info is located are /var/opt/oracle and a "dot" tnsnames file, but that's just trivia.

You say you can stop and start the listener. If so, what does the output show on a restart? On a Solaris (real UNIX, not this RH wanna-be stuff), the output shows:

TNSLSNR for Solaris: Version 9.2.0.1.0 - Production
System parameter file is /opt2/ora9201/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1/network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /opt2/ora9201/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1/network/log/listener.log

Hi,

Good points. However, we're only using Linux right now. Sorry. The /var/opt/oracle directory is empty - no dot(.) files, nothing. The output to starting the listener shows this:

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 9.2.0.1.0 - Production on 07-SEP-2004 10:40:56

Copyright (c) 1991, 2002, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.

Starting /opt/oracle/product/9.2.0/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...

TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 9.2.0.1.0 - Production
Log messages written to /opt/oracle/product/9.2.0/network/log/listener.log
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=pike)(PORT=1521)))

Connecting to (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(PORT=1521))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 9.2.0.1.0 - Production
Start Date 07-SEP-2004 10:40:56
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level off
Security OFF
SNMP OFF
Listener Log File /opt/oracle/product/9.2.0/network/log/listener.log
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=pike)(PORT=1521)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully

The last few lines of the "listener.log" show this:

Started with pid=28879
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=pike)(PORT=1521)))

TIMESTAMP * CONNECT DATA [* PROTOCOL INFO] * EVENT [* SID] * RETURN CODE
07-SEP-2004 10:40:56 * (CONNECT_DATA=(CID=(PROGRAM=)(HOST=pike)(USER=oracle))(COMMAND=status)(AR
GUMENTS=64)(SERVICE=LISTENER)(VERSION=153092352)) * status * 0
07-SEP-2004 10:41:49 * service_register * S9DB * 0
07-SEP-2004 10:51:51 * service_update * S9DB * 0
07-SEP-2004 11:01:53 * service_update * S9DB * 0

Thanks again for the info.

In 9i they're not always required, are they? In the absence of listener.ora and tnsnames.ora, automatic service registration is handled by PMON and default parameters are used, no?