ArcSDE for Oracle - Net Service Name and Passwords

[BrooksKelley]

I�??m having a bit of trouble with ArcSDE 10 SP2 running atop Oracle 11g (11.2.0.2) and SUSE Linux 11.1. The database server has multiple Oracle databases, one of which is a geodatabase. Its net service name is GIS1. Whenever I use ArcSDE command line tools (sdemon, sdeconfig, etc), I have to specify a password in the form of -p password@net service name e.g. if the sde user�??s password were sdepwd, it would be -p sdepwd@gis1. This all fine and dandy but a bit annoying and I�??d like to find a way around it. I also believe this is presenting problems when defining connections from clients such as ArcGIS Desktop. Any info would be appreciated.

[VinceAngelo]

There are two ways to connect to an ArcSDE instance, application server connects (via the ArcSDE
network protocol) and Direct Connect (via a database client library). In the fomer the "instance"
parameter is the port number or "port:<number>", or the service name (from .../etc/services).
In the latter, the instance is "sde:<rdbms_key>[:parameters...]".

The nominal notation for an Oracle 11gR2 connect is "sde:oracle11g". Since no indication of which
Oracle instance is provided, the password parameter was modified to support the format password@instance .
This is the way ArcSDE was designed to function, so I'm having difficulty seeing how this syntax
would cause ArcGIS clients difficulty (the '@' symbol is forbidden from Oracle passwords, so this
is unlikely to conflict with actual passwords).

If you are having connection problems from ArcGIS clients, the cause is more likely to involve the
Oracle client configuration. Can you provide details on the exact errors you are seeing?

- V

[BrooksKelley]

I'm trying to connect to ArcSDE using the serice, not a direct connect. If possible, we would like to avoid installing the Oracle client on the client computer.

1. If I do not specify the @gis1 bit after the password, this is what I see when trying to setup the Spatial Database Connection in ArcCatalog:

Failed to connect to the specified server.
Underlying DBMS Error [ORA-12547: TNS:lost connection]

As for the sde_esri_sde.log:
DB_open_instance()::db_connect (OCI8) error: 12547
CAN'T OPEN INSTANCE: esri_sde.
Spatial Engine Connection Failed (-51).
Cannot Get Access to Instance esri_sde
[Fri Oct 14 09:17:46 2011] [0] [GIOMGR] Error (-51):Couldn't Start Server Task.
DB_open_instance()::db_connect (OCI8) error: 12547
CAN'T OPEN INSTANCE: esri_sde.
Spatial Engine Connection Failed (-51).
Cannot Get Access to Instance esri_sde
[Fri Oct 14 09:17:49 2011] [0] [GIOMGR] Error (-51):Couldn't Start Server Task.

And the giomgr_esri_sde.log:
Fri Oct 14 08:30:35 2011 - ALL SDE Servers Stopped.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:35 2011 - ********** SDE System Shutdown **********

Fri Oct 14 08:30:43 2011 - ****** Spatial Database I/O Manager ******
Fri Oct 14 08:30:43 2011 - SDE System Startup Initiated . . .
Fri Oct 14 08:30:43 2011 - Validated System Paths.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:43 2011 - SDE IOMGR going into background . . .
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - ****** Spatial Database I/O Manager ******
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - SDE System Startup Initiated . . .
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Validated System Paths.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - SDE IOMGR going into background . . .
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - System Parameter table 'SERVER_CONFIG' Read.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Initialized Shared Memory Segment.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Validated License.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - IOMGR Process ID (PID):           28067
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Initialized Client Tables.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Server Validated.
Fri Oct 14 08:30:56 2011 - Waiting for Client Requests . . .

Fri Oct 14 08:33:04 2011 - Process 28272, no shared information block established

Fri Oct 14 08:33:04 2011 - SDE Server 28272 exit'd with status 3
Fri Oct 14 08:33:19 2011 - Error (-51):Couldn't Start Server Task.

Fri Oct 14 08:33:19 2011 - Process 28313, no shared information block established

Fri Oct 14 08:33:19 2011 - SDE Server 28313 exit'd with status 3

2. On the other hand, if I do specify the @gis1 bit, I get this:

Failed to connect to the specified server.
Bad login user.

As for the sde_esri_sde.log:
Same as above

And the giomgr_esri_sde.log:
Same as above

[VinceAngelo]

So you're having issues starting the application service?  That sounds like a listener issue.

What's the contents of the files in your $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin directory (*.ora files)?
What does your start script look like?  Does it set ORACLE_SID or TWO_TASK?  What about
your $SDEHOME/etc/dbinit.sde file?

- V

[BrooksKelley]

Nope. I can start the service using the following command:

sdemon -o start -p sdepwd@gis1

My problems are when connecting from a client such as ArcGIS Desktop.

As for your other questions, on the server side:

1. There are the usual files in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin including an entry for the GIS1 database in the tnsnames.ora file
2. I have not yet written a start script
3. I have an entry in dbinit.sde that reads "set ORACLE_SID=gis1" but believe this is irrelevant.

[VinceAngelo]

If you can't start giomgr without the '@instance', then the listener configuration is incorrect,
and nothing else is going to work correctly, either. Please contact Tech Support to get this
straightened out.

- V