I have 2 different servers with Oracle 8.1.7.2 on both.
I have a NT workstation with the same version of Oracle installed.

In my tnsnames.ora, I declare the alias as follow to connect to DB1 on server 1 :
DB1 =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = server1)(PORT = 1521))
)
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME = DB1)
)
)

I can not connect to DB2 doing the same way, I HAVE to add the name of the server in the section SERVICE_NAME, like this :
DB2 =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = server2)(PORT = 1521))
)
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME =DB2.server2)
)
)

Any clue why ?


Another question :
In 8i, when you declare an alias with the assistant, now you have to specify wherever you connect to a 8i DB or not.
I can not see any differences made in the tnsnames.ora wherever you select 8i or 8 or 7 as version of the DB.
Then, what does this option do ?

Thanks in advance.