Re: ORA-12571 TNS Error

Hi maxem, thanks for writing this:
> Hello NG,
>
> i am only a user and looking for some Help.
>
> We hava a LAN with a Oracle-Server ( LSNRCTL for Solaris V 8.0500 ).
> We have also a application that use via TCP/IP the installed Oracle8
> Client-Software ( 8.0500 ) on a Windows XP client.
> The connection to the DB was functional for some weeks and suddenly it
> is unable to connect to the server ( only from my computer - it seems
> ).
>
> I can ping the server, but can't TNSPING it.( ORA-12571 error also )
> Other XP-Clients dont have the problem.
> i tried other logins but have the same error ORA-12571.
> my login on other computer is working fine.
> -
> i re-installed the client 2 times allready.
> what else i can check ? help please.
>
> thank you
>
> Matthias Lach
>

You don't seem to be alone in getting this error (a Google search for ora- 12571 turned up quite a number of hits). Since it was working and suddenly quit, usually that means something changed ... but your post doesn't give too many details, so it's hard to guess and I can't sit down at the computer or look over your shoulder.

Do you have multiple Oracle homes as a result of installing multiple Oracle products? If yes, is the correct one set? If no, did you recently install any non-Oracle software recently that might have changed a DLL? If no, have you recently changed any network settings? If no, then please give a bit more info. Did you generate a sqlnet.log file on the PC (one is often created when there's a net error)? Are there any errors in the listener.log file on the server that might give you a clue (though it's sometimes hard to find the error among all the noise in that log)?

-- 
[:%s/Karsten Farrell/Oracle DBA/g]