ORA-12514 Error in remote office

Question

I installed and created a 10g (rel2) database while connected to my office's network. Because my company uses DHCP I had to create a loopback connector and give it a fixed IP address. Everything went as expected.
Now I've travelled to a remote location and, even though the Oracle instance is on my laptop, I'm getting an ORA-12514 error (TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect string). I'm using Windows XP Pro and this is what I get from doing a lsnrctl status:
LSNRCTL for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-JAN-2008 14:29:25
Copyright (c) 1991, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
Services Summary...
Service "PLSExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "PLSExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Handler(s):
"DEDICATED" established:0 refused:0
LOCAL SERVER
The command completed successfully
This is my listener.ora file:
# listener.ora Network Configuration File: C:\Ora10gHomes\product\10.2.0\db_1\network\admin\listener.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.
SID_LIST_LISTENER =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME = PLSExtProc)
(ORACLE_HOME = C:\Ora10gHomes\product\10.2.0\db_1)
(PROGRAM = extproc)
LISTENER =
(DESCRIPTION_LIST =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1))
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = llsmith-069940.cgifederal.com)(PORT = 1521))
As you can see, it isn't creating a service for anything other than the EXTPROC entry. I tried doing a TNSPING on the SID (LAKOTA) and got this:
TNS Ping Utility for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.1.0.4.2 - Production on 14-JAN-2
008 14:24:50
Copyright (c) 1997, 2003, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Used parameter files:
C:\Ora10gHomes\DevSuiteHome\network\admin\sqlnet.ora
Used TNSNAMES adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = llsmith-069940.cgifederal.com)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = lakota.cgifederal.com)))
OK (40 msec)
So now I'm stumped. I've tried stopping and starting the listener, but nothing changed. Is it because I'm physically connected to a different network than when I installed the software and created the database? If that's the case, is there a work-around because I'm going to be travelling a LOT more than I'm going to be in the home office and I need access to my oracle instance no matter where I am or what backbone I'm connected to. Any and all assistance gratefully appreciated.
Leigh Smith

Answer 1

You are trying to connect to a service named: lakota.cgifederal.com but from the output of the listener status it can be seen that the instance has not yet been registered against the listener. Your listener is at 1521 port, this means that can be self registered against it. Just make sure your instance is started.
There is a command to force instance registration, it is from the sql command prompt connected with either sys or system issue: alter system register Automatic instance registration should take less than a minute, if after the time has expired and issuing the command don't work, then if required, instead of relying on automatic instance registration, you can change it to be manually configured. You can do this from the network manager.
~ Madrid