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Note: Initially this was about installing Oracle 18c XE on a Windows machine with a long (> 15 chars) hostname. During our further tests we then noticed that Oracle 18c XE does not work properly at all on a Windows7 or Windows 10 machine with a host name longer than 15 characters.

Listener Problem

When we switch a correctly working VM machine that has Oracle 18x XE installed from a short hostname/computername (e.g. MYHOST) to a long (> 15) name (e.g. MYVERLONGHOSTNAMEXYZ) the listener stops being able to hand off the connection to the OracleServiceXE instance.

Specifically, the error we get is:

ORA-12518: TNS: Listener konnte Client-Verbindung nicht weitergeben
ORA-12518: TNS: Listener could not hand off client connection
  • This error occurs with both sqlplus SYSTEM/***@XE and sqlplus SYSTEM/***@XEPDB1 - bith entries are set up in tnsnames.ora and tnsping can see them.
  • The Oracle XE instance is up and running.
  • It is possible to connect via sqlplus SYSTEM/***(without @SID)
  • listener.ora, tnsnames.ora do not contain any hostnames, they only contain the (local) ip address.

TL;DR Question

Is anybody able to switch an Oracle Test machine with Oracle 18c (/ XE) running to a long Windows hostname (so that the hostame is then longer than the NetBIOS name) and still connect to the instance via the local listener?

Initial installer problem description:

We're having troubles getting Oracle 18c DBCA (XE or non-XE) working on Windows machines (both Win7 and Win10) where the machine name is longer than 15 characters (the NetBIOS limit).

It seems the Oracle 18 dbCA tool refuses to pass some checks when the machine name is > 15 characters. (see: https://community.oracle.com/message/15361496#15361496)

Now, without going into further details, I am currently investigating:

  • Does Oracle database 18 docs say anything about the maximum length for the computername on Windows installation?
  • Can someone provide a counterexample where Oracle 18c (preferrably: XE) has been successfully installed on a windows machine where the computer name is > 15 chars?

Note: This error halts the dbCA, effectively stopping the Oracle 18c (XE) setup from doing it's job: 18c XE setup will only install the binaries and the listener, no instance will be created and no instance can be created via dbCA afterwards. The same is true for the full 18c installer, although that one is more flexible in it's invocation options and one might get it to work somehow.

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  • I can't find anything in the documentation about this.
    – Philᵀᴹ
    May 15, 2019 at 11:26
  • Don't install Oracle on Windows... seriously, don't. I've run into situations where functional patches were never released to the Windows platform even though they were available for Linux or Unix platforms. Full disclosure: this was back in the 11g days, but I doubt Oracle has changed their ways since then.
    – John Eisbrener
    May 16, 2019 at 14:44
  • @JohnEisbrener There are still patches that have been deployed for Unix, but not for Windows. One affects the qopiprep.bat file, which is triggered by an internal job, which itself updates the external reference XML file. This XML file is then loaded back into the instances patch table. This process can fail, if all instances try to update the XML file at the same time. And this happens quite often. However, I can state from personal experience that a single Oracle instance can run without issues on a Windows Server.
    – John K. N.
    May 17, 2019 at 9:10
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    No reference material found for either NETBios name or hostname lengths in the Oracle documentation. There are a few links in Oracle Fixes regarding Listener being unable to work with hostnames longer than 15 characters, but they have been fixed. This leads me to the conclusion, that Oracle does support hostnames which are longer than 15 characters. Regarding your installation: Is the error an actual error which halts the installation or is it a warning which displays a recommendation?
    – John K. N.
    May 17, 2019 at 9:13
  • @hot2use - edited. This error prevent the dbCA from creating an instance, thereby breaking the (18c XE) installer.
    – Martin
    May 20, 2019 at 9:25

1 Answer 1

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In the absence of any Error messages when installing Oracle 18 XE on a machine (running Windows 10 Pro) with a name > 15 characters (e.g. MyLongMachineName), here are some things which are different from a successful install...

In this file in the InstallActions Log folder:

C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs\InstallActionsdate_time \ InstallActionsdate_time.log:

(Line 16)
WARNING: [21-Mar-2023 10:11:49] Could not get the hostname of : localnode
(7 other occurrences)

(Line 3236)
INFO: Calling Query w32RegQueries12.2.0.4.0 RegGetValue

Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

SubKey = System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName

Value = ComputerName
INFO: Query Returned: MyLongMachineNa
INFO: Setting variable 's_computerName' to 'MyLongMachineNa'. Received the value from the variable calculation.

Other symptoms include the OracleServiceXE not starting and this folder being empty:

C:\app\username\product\18.0.0\diag\rdbms

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  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Marcello Miorelli
    Mar 22 at 15:32
  • 1
    @MarcelloMiorelli Added the OS for the machine and tried to clarify that this message just identifies some symptoms which I found when installing on a machine with a long name. Please advise what else I should add.
    – ooyooyoodangdangdang
    Mar 23 at 17:11

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