TNSNAMES

To connect to the Oracle database, an alias needs to be added to the tnsnames.ora file.

Tnsnames.ora is located in the Oracle home folder. For example: C:\OracleClients\Administrator\product\12.1.0\client_64\Network\Admin If you don’t have one, you can copy the sample Tnsnames.ora from the sample folder.

  1. Check the following file paths:

    • C:\<oracle home folder>\Administrator\product\12.1.0\client_64\Network\Admin

    • C:\<oracle home folder>\Administrator\product\12.1.0\client_32\Network\Admin

    for the file Tnsnames.ora.

  2. If the file Tnsnames.ora can be found in both folders, open each of the files in any plain text editor and make sure that they look like the following.

    Example of a filled in Tnsnames.ora file - opened in a plain text editor:

    TOOLSNET =

        (DESCRIPTION =

            (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST =<WIN2012ToolsNetServer>)(PORT = 1521))

            (CONNECT_DATA =

                (SERVER = DEDICATED)

                (SERVICE_NAME = TNORA)

            )

        )

  3. If Tnsnames.ora can’t be found in either folder, copy the sample Tnsnames.ora from the sample folder into the folders specified above and fill in the <blanks> in the file.

    Sample file: Tnsnames.ora - opened in a plain text editor.

    <data source alias>=

        (DESCRIPTION =

            (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = <hostname or IP>)(PORT = <port>))

            (CONNECT_DATA =

                (SERVER = DEDICATED)

                (SERVICE_NAME = <database service name>)

            )

        )