Here is where I got lost:


Extract from Oracle Metalink article : Note:1018169.6

Now what I still don't get is how could tnsping ping a service when it had been removed from the tnsname.ora file. Shouldn't it fail saying

TNS-03505: Failed to resolve name

when you had updated the tnsname.ora file. It could have been the case, the owner of this thread had been trying to give the service name which as mentioned by np70 was geting resolved through sqlnet.ora's Names.prefered_server.


But still interested to know from the poster, whether he/she had been able to solve the issue, if so what way?

Sam