Can anyone tell me what error 12203 is?

Question

i cannot find this error in the online documentation. i am getting this from a debug i have ran trying to find out why i can no longer backup a database.

Answer 1

Hi, Joe,
The "ORA-12203 - unable to connect to destination" has the possible causes (and solutions):
1) Invalid TNS address supplied.
a)Verify that the service name is correct.
b) Verify that the name of the host computer (defined as part of the TNS address) is valid and correct.
2) Destination not listening.
a) Ensure that the listener is running at the remove node. This can be verified on the server by using the command lsnrctl80 status and also by looking at the services and checking that the service OracleService<Sid> is running.
b) If the listener service is not running, does not exist and the database has just been created anew on the machine by restoring it from a backup, then the listener service will need to be created:
Oradim80 new sid <SID> -intpwd Oracle startmode AUTO pfile <full-path-of-init-file>
This should only be done in the circumstances outlined above.
3) Possibly because of underlying network transport problems.
a) Check that the remote node is visible on the network.
To gain more information in diagnosing the problem, enable tracking on the client, try making the connection again and then look at the trace file SQLNET.LOG.
4) There are multiple databases on the server and the database alias was not supplied as part of the connection string. This will only arise if connecting to the database on the same machine, since normally in this instance the database alias is optional if there is only one instance. Try:
a) Setting the environment variable ORACLE_SID to the SID of the desired instance. (Consider setting ORACLE_SID in the registry.)
b) Explicitly specifying a database alias when connecting to the database.
a) Setting the environment variable LOCAL or REMOTE to the SID of the desired database. The service name does not then need to be specified.
Note: Using the utility TNSPING may help in identifying any problems. As well as identifying whether a successful connection can be made, it also indicates whether the TNS name supplied is valid and if so then the host computer that it is trying to connect to. Syntax:
TNSPING <tns-name>
That4s all!
Regards
Fabiano Paulo da Silva
Technical Support Analyst
AEROChain