12c: ORA-1017 or other connection problems using the DEFAULT_SERVICE_LISTENER parameter in 12c Multi-tenant environment (Doc ID 2279545.1)

Last updated on JULY 06, 2021

Applies to:

Symptoms

The following pertains to the EZCONNECT or Easy Connect (or HOSTNAME) method of connecting to a 12.1 and higher Database.

1. When using EZCONNECT and specifying the SERVICE_NAME in the string, the connection is successful:
sqlplus username/password@//hostname:port/service_name

2. When using EZCONNECT and NOT specifying the SERVICE_NAME value, the connection fails:
sqlplus username/password@//hostname:port
ORA-12504: TNS:listener was not given the SERVICE_NAME in CONNECT_DATA
* This is expected as there needs to be a DEFAULT_SERVICE_<listener_name> = x value included in the listener.ora file to reflect a DEFAULT Service.
References:
ORA-12504 When Using (HOSTNAME) Method For 11G Client/Database (Doc ID 556996.1)
Database Net Services Reference


3. When setting the parameter "DEFAULT_SERVICE_LISTENER=*service_name*" in the listener.ora as per Oracle docs, and then connect as in #2 above, this results in an error:
sqlplus username/password@//hostname:port
ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied

* This is happening despite the username and password being the same as all of the above attempts.

Changes

 You may have recently upgraded to 12c and using Multi tenant PDBs.

Cause

My Oracle Support provides customers with access to over a million knowledge articles and a vibrant support community of peers and Oracle experts.