Oracle Database – How to Generate a tnsnames.ora File

As @ik_zelf mentioned, your PATH variable will need to include the "bin" directory of your Oracle software install. This will allow you to execute commonly-needed commands/utilities like "sqlplus" and "lsnrctl" without changing directories. This is typically $ORACLE_HOME/bin

Your TNS_ADMIN variable needs to be set in a similar matter, pointing to the location of your tnsnames.ora, listener.ora, etc. By default, SQL Plus checks this directory (defined by TNS_ADMIN) for tnsnames.ora. This is typically $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

If you want to connect to your database via TNS, your tnsnames.ora file (assuming a ORACLE_SID of "myDatabase", a host of "myHostname" and the default port) would look something like this:

myDatabase = 
    (DESCRIPTION = 
        (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = myHostname)(PORT = 1521))
        (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = myDatabase)))

This would allow you to connect locally simply by doing the following from a command line:

sqlplus username/password@myDatabase

Of course, as SQL Plus looks for the tnsnames.ora file in the location defined by $TNS_ADMIN, this will only function locally. To access this database via TNS (Transparent Network Substrate) from a remote machine, you would have to install the Oracle client and ensure that the TNS entry for myDatabase (as described above) is included in the remote machine's tnsnames.ora file as well.

Try to connect with

 sqlplus SYS/PASSWORD@ORCL 

If you can connect with this from command line you can connect with Sql Developer.

You have two options

1. Connection Type : Basic

   • SID = orcl
   • Username = SYS
   • Password = password
   • Hostname = YOUR_MACHINENAME_OR_IP

See Image

2. Connection Type : TNS

   • Choose SID from dropdownlist. It should read your TNS File and auto complete your dropdown list.
   • Username = SYS
   • Password = password

The catch here. Oracle Connection string for OCI expect same argument in your tnsnames.ora file. If you use basic connection you should be able to connect from everywhere without modification. But if you need to connect with other connection types, you may need to enter your IP address in your tnsnames.ora file.