TNSNames File

TNSNamesFile (TNF)

Specifies the name of the TNSNAMES.ORA file. In a TNSNAMES.ORA file, connection information for Oracle services is associated with an Oracle net service name. The entry in the TNSNAMES.ORA file specifies Host, Port Number, and Service Name or SID.

TNSNames File is ignored if no value is specified in the Server Name option. If the Server Name option is specified but the TNSNames File option is left blank, the TNS_ADMIN environment setting is used for the TNSNAMES.ORA file path. If there is no TNS_ADMIN setting, the ORACLE_HOME environment setting is used. On Windows, if ORACLE_HOME is not set, the path is taken from the Oracle section of the Registry.

Using an Oracle TNSNAMES.ORA file to centralize connection information in your Oracle environment simplifies maintenance when changes occur. If, however, the TNSNAMES.ORA file is unavailable, then it is useful to be able to open a backup version of the TNSNAMES.ORA file (TNSNames file failover). You can specify one or more backup, or alternate, TNSNAMES.ORA files.

path_filename

where:

To specify multiple TNSNAMES.ORA file locations, separate the names with a comma and enclose the locations in parentheses (you do not need parentheses for a single entry). For example:

The driver tries to open the first file in the list. If that file is not available, then it tries to open the second file in the list, and so on.

Connection Retry Count and Connection Retry Delay are also valid with TNSNames failover. The driver makes at least one attempt to open the files, and, if Connection Retry Count is enabled, more than one. If Connection Retry Delay is enabled, the driver waits the specified number of seconds between attempts. Load Balancing is not available for TNSNames failover.

None. If no values is specified for either the LDAP Distinguished Name, SID, Service Name, or TNSNames option, the driver attempts to connect to the ORCL SID by default.

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