16.3 Resolving the Most Common Error Messages for Oracle Net Services

Due to the complexity of network communications, network errors may originate from a variety of sources, for a variety of reasons. If an error occurs, then applications such as SQL*Plus, that depend on network services from Oracle Net Services, normally generate an error message.

For information about the specific error messages, use the Oracle error tool oerr, by entering the following command at any command line: 

oerr code error_number

In the preceding command, code is the type of message, such as ORA and TNS, and error_number is the number associated with the error message.

The following is a list of the most common network error messages:

  • ORA-03113
    Indicates that an error has occurred on the database server.
  • ORA-12154
    Indicates that the specified connection alias cannot be resolved.
  • ORA-12170
    Indicates that the connection failed with a timeout, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connect timeout, Outbound connect timeout, or Receive timeout.
  • ORA-12241
    Appears on Microsoft Windows systems to indicate that a particular service is either not available or not running.
  • ORA-12261
    Indicates that the specified connection alias cannot be resolved due to errors in the Easy Connect syntax.
  • ORA-12262
    Indicates that the specified connection alias cannot be resolved due to invalid host name in the Easy Connect syntax.
  • ORA-12500
    Indicates that the listener failed to start the Oracle program.
  • ORA-12505
    Indicates that the listener cannot identify the system identifier (SID) specified in the connect descriptor.
  • ORA-12514
    Indicates that the listener cannot identify the service requested in the connect descriptor.
  • ORA-12516
    Indicates that the listener is unable to find an available handler with the matching protocol stack.
  • ORA-12520
    Indicates that the listener cannot find an available handler for the requested server type.
  • ORA-12521
    Indicates that the listener cannot identify the instance requested in the connect descriptor.
  • ORA-12525
    Indicates that the client failed to complete its connect request in the time specified by the INBOUND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_listener_name parameter in the listener.ora file.
  • ORA-12533
    Indicates that the ADDRESS section parameters are incorrect.
  • ORA-12540 and TNS-00510
    Indicate that an internal limit has been exceeded.
  • ORA-12541
    Indicates that the listener cannot be reached.
  • ORA-12549 and TNS-00519
    Indicate that a quota or hard limit imposed by the operating system has been exceeded.
  • ORA-12560
    Indicates that a lower-level communication protocol adapter error has occurred.
  • Directory Naming Errors

See Also:

Oracle Database Error Messages for a complete listing of error messages

Parent topic: Troubleshooting Oracle Net Services