Oracle 10g on Windows 7: TNS-12535: TNS:operation timed out

Question

I installed Oracle 10g (Version 10.2.0) on Windows 7 Professional on my laptop. Everything installed cleanly, but I simply cannot get an Oracle-client communication going. For some reason, TNSPing keeps timing out, as follows:
C:\Users\Bruce>tnsping orcl
TNS Ping Utility for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 13-SEP-2
010 17:00:09
Copyright (c) 1997, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Used parameter files:
F:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\network\admin\sqlnet.ora
Used TNSNAMES adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)
(HOST = Bruce-Desktop)(PORT = 1521))) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = ORCL)))
TNS-12535: TNS:operation timed out
I am using DHCP on my home network, but I turned off the firewall for this exercise. Also, I set up a static loopback connector = 192.168.100.100
Here is SQLNET.ORA:
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)
NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES)
Here is TNSNAMES.ORA:
ORCL =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = Bruce-Desktop)(PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME = ORCL)
EXTPROC_CONNECTION_DATA =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SID = PLSExtProc)
(PRESENTATION = RO)
Here is LISTENER.ORA:
SID_LIST_LISTENER01 =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME = PLSExtProc)
(ORACLE_HOME = F:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_2)
(PROGRAM = extproc)
LISTENER01 =
(DESCRIPTION_LIST =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = Bruce-Laptop)(PORT = 1521))
Any help and/or guidance on how to diagnose & fix this problem would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi Bruce,
The scenario you just provided is what you don't want. You want Bruce-Desktop to have a static address. The easiest way to have this setup properly is to look at the IP address that is assigned by the DHCP server and assign that address statically to the interface.
The way you have it now, I cannot tell which IP address Oracle will be using because that will depend on the binding order. You can control that by going to "My network places" -> "Properties" - > "Advanced" -> "Adapters and Bindings"/"Provider Order". It complicates matters though to do it that way.
Since I cannot see exactly in what state your installation is, I would suggest you start over, this time with the network setup as needed. I can help you with the setup if you are willing to go thru the installation again. Trying to guess everything that should be modified in your current installation will be too error prone.
John.
For a new, clean installation, these are the basic steps:
1. Set the computer name appropriately, something like "orahost" is a reasonable choice.
2. Set the primary DNS suffix for the computer to something like "bruce.local"
3. Set the IP address of your computer to be static (you won't even need a loopback adapter)
4. Enter the appropriate information in your hosts file, given the values I mentioned above, it should look something like:
127.0.0.1               localhost
192.168.247.120         orahost.bruce.localchange the 192.168.247.120 to whatever IP address you statically assigned in step 3
When you create the database and it wants the database name, enter <databasename>.bruce.local
Another recommendation, in that same screen, it will want the SID, I use <databasename>sid. This makes it clearer later when Oracle expects an SID instead of a connect identifier or a database name. (though most people have the sid set the same as the database name - for learning purposes, I believe you are better off with different values, in order to tell, when it wants one instead of the other - otherwise, it's hard to visualize)
This way you are mimicking an installation that is closer to a real production environment.
If you want to use DHCP, still do step 3 but reserve the IP address you assigned statically in the DHCP server, that way the static IP will match what would have been assigned by the DHCP server.
HTH,
John.