ORA-12505 Error

[SPN]

We have 2 servers. Sever1 oracle 8.1.7 on VMS and server2 Oracle 7.1. on unix . Server2 is only for running reports 3.0, connecting to server1. When I try to connect to server1 as scott/tiger@server1, I get Ora-12505 error. I checked up the listener(server1) and tnsnames.ora files. Entries are fine. Where as when I connect to other servers (Oracle 8.1.5 on unix and oracle 7.3.4 on vms) it works fine.. Any thing that I should do ? Thanks,

SPN

[gandolf989]

Assuming that the listener on Server 1 is working. The problem is probably with using the domain name in the alias. If it is there try it without the domain. If the domain isn't there try it with the domain. The parameters you would look at in sqlnet.ora on server 2 are:

NAMES.DEFAULT_DOMAIN = yourdomain.com

SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)

[SPN]

Thanks. The problem was different. When I tried with tracing on (16), I found that the system was refering tnsnames.ora in a different location (/etc/tnsnames.ora). Not in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin. When I corrected the settings in /etc/tnsnames.ora, it worked. I am wondering how the /etc/tnsnames.ora file is referred. How to make it under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin? Any suggestion? Thanks

SPN