Kenneth Koenraadt wrote:

> On 29 Apr 2004 21:52:23 -0700, myfam@surfeu.fi (Andrew) wrote:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>I am setting up new Oracle 9.2 DB on my laptop.
>>problem is that I can connect as SYSDBA using
>>
>>connect sys/sys as sysdba
>>
>>but when I am using
>>
>>connect / as sysdba
>>
>>I am always getting ORA-01031: insufficient privileges
>>
>>I have created instance using
>>oradim -new -sid OPWVDB1L -startmode manual -pfile
>>c:\oracle\ora92\database\initOPWVDB1L.ora
>>
>>in sqlnet.ora I have
>>SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)
>>
>>my Win2K account is a member of ORA_DBA group
>>
>>remote_login_passwordfile = EXCLUSIVE
>
>
> You appear to have read the doc. about O/S authentication, but have
> got it wrong :
>
> remote_login_passwordfile = EXCLUSIVE means
>
> "Use the password file, thus disregard O/S authentication"
>
> Change it to
>
> remote_login_passwordfile = NONE
>
> Which means "Ignore the password file, use O/S authentication".
>
> Your sqlnet.ora setting is right (right, Howard ;-) ? )
>
>
> - Kenneth Koenraadt

We are all allowed to make mistakes, but that, unfortunately, is an
absolute howler, and completely and utterly untrue. Whatever the setting
for remote_login_passwordfile, Oracle *always* checks the O/S for
appropriate group membership, and if it finds it, doesn't bother
checking the password file, even if the parameter tells it to.

Remote_login_passwordfile=NONE means "there is no password file". It
does NOT mean 'use O/S authentication'.

Proof? Well, how about this?

C:\>sqlplus "/ as sysdba"

SQL*Plus: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on Fri Apr 30 16:53:13 2004

(c) Copyright 2000 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle8i Enterprise Edition Release 8.1.7.3.0 - Production
With the Partitioning option
JServer Release 8.1.7.3.0 - Production

SQL> show parameter remote_login

NAME TYPE VALUE
------------------------------------ ------- ------------------------
remote_login_passwordfile string EXCLUSIVE

Now, I can do that on 9i and 10g too if you want me to. It's been that
way since version 7, in fact.

Incidentally, I got it wrong too. The above example is taken from a
system on which SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES has indeed been set to
NTS, so my earlier advice to get rid of the line was just daft. I can
only ask of the original poster: are you sure you're looking at the
right SQLNET.ORA? And are you certain that your user account you use to
log onto the server is a member of the ORA_DBA LOCAL group (domain
groups won't do it).

Regards
HJR