The following error can occur when the Oracle changes machines but the tnsnames.ora file is not configured to point to the new machine name. It can also occur if this file is not configured correctly to begin with. You will get a prompt while running the interface in interactive mode or you will see the following error in the interface log file.

The following is a sample tnsnames.ora file from a working oracle database. The bolded items are some of the items to match up correctly.

# TNSNAMES.ORA Network Configuration File: c:\oracle\ora92\network\admin\tnsnames.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

ORA92 =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vmt10566)(PORT = 1521))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = ora92)
    )
  )

INST1_HTTP =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vmt10566)(PORT = 1521))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = SHARED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = MODOSE)
      (PRESENTATION = http://HRService)
    )
  )

EXTPROC_CONNECTION_DATA =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SID = PLSExtProc)
      (PRESENTATION = RO)
    )
  )