Database links issue ORA-01017 ORA-02063

Question

Oracle 11g R1 , RHEL 5 64bit
HI all,
I am having this strange issue with my database links. They used to work in the past but now they are not. Here is what I have checked:
- All the TNSnames.ora file entries are there and are correct...I double checked with tnsping
- I changed all the passwords to be the same on all environments (DEV/QA/PROD)
- I have dropped and re-created all the database links
However, I still get the same error when I test them:
ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied ORA-02063: preceding line from <database_name>
Here are the links created on DEV:
SQL> select * from dba_db_links;
OWNER DB_LINK USERNAME HOST CREATED
PUBLIC FPRCQA.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU FPRCQA 01282009
FPRCHR FPRCQA.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU FPRCHR FPRCQA 01282009
PUBLIC FPRCPROD.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU FPRCPROD 01282009
FPRCHR FPRCPROD.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU FPRCHR FPRCPROD 01282009
The above links were created using the following syntax:
SQL> conn sys as sysdba
Enter password:
Connected.
SQL> create public database link FPRCQA.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU using 'FPRCQA';
Database link created.
SQL> create public database link FPRCPROD.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU using 'FPRCPROD';
Database link created.
SQL> conn fprchr
Enter password:
Connected.
SQL> CREATE DATABASE LINK FPRCQA.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU CONNECT TO FPRCHR IDENTIFIED by <passwd> using 'FPRCQA';
Database link created.
SQL> CREATE DATABASE LINK FPRCPROD.FPRC.OPHTH.WISC.EDU CONNECT TO FPRCHR IDENTIFIED by <passwd> using 'FPRCPROD';
Database link created.
Now when I do a simple query, I get the error:
SQL> select count(*) from fprchr.department@FPRCQA;
select count(*) from fprchr.department@FPRCQA
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied
ORA-02063: preceding line from FPRCQA
I have read some notes on metalink, but they were talking about situations where you have a 10g database connecting to an 11g database and the whole password case-sensitivity issue, but this is not the case here as all the databases are 11g.
I would appreciate any and all help on this issue.
Thank you much.

Answer 1

The documentation has the answer:
user IDENTIFIED BY passwordSpecify the username and password used to connect to the remote database using a fixed user database link. If you omit this clause, the database link uses the username and password of each user who is connected to the database. This is called a connected user database link.>
Since you haven't specified user/password in your public database links, then Oracle will try to create a connection on the remote db with the same user/password who is trying to use the database link. If the user doesn't exists or has a different password then you get an error (the same you mentioned in you original post)
HTH
Enrique