ORA-12504 with Tenable Security Center connections, yet SQL*Plus and JDBC Clients are successful with the same credentials (Doc ID 2430495.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Applies to:

Symptoms

You may find that a 3rd party program / application "Tenable Security Center" cannot seem to connect to your 12.2 Database through the SCAN Listener.
However, connections using SQL*Net and JDBC with the same credentials, connects perfectly.

* Source is "Tenable Security Center"
* Target is 12.2, Grid SCAN Listener.

This is the Tenable error :

==========================================================================================
(Default): AUDIT_ERROR_DB_CONNECTION: an error happened while connecting to the database
(DESCRIPTION=(TMP=)(VSNNUM=203424000)(ERR=12504)(ERROR_STACK=(ERROR=(CODE=12504)(EMFI=4))(ERROR=(CODE=12504)(EMFI=4))
==========================================================================================

As an example, the connection data for Tenable is :

* the username (same as the SQL*Plus and JDBC one)
* password (same as the SQL*Plus and JDBC one)
* the SCAN Host <scan_hostname>, and the Port (1523), and
* the SID <instance_name>.

SQL*Plus examples that work:
sqlplus user/pwd@'(description = (address = (protocol = TCP)(Host = <scan_hostname>)(port = 1523))(connect_data = (server = dedicated)(service_name = <service_name>)))
sqlplus user/pwd@'(description = (address = (protocol = TCP)(Host = <scan_hostname>)(port = 1523))(connect_data = (server = dedicated)(sid =<instance_name>)))
sqlplus user/pwd@<scan_hostname>:1523/<service_name>

Cause

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