Most Oracle database connects are made through the use of an Oracle process called the LISTENER which monitors a certain machine and port for connection requests to one or more database instances. There are times when a DBA or SA will want to monitor connects being made through the listener for various reasons. There also exist times when you will have to open a SAR or TAR with oracle support, if they suspect you are having issues with your listener connections, they will ask for a SUPPORT level trace of your Oracle listener. This article covers the setup of SUPPORT level tracing of you Oracle Listener and will work on UNIX, Linux, and Windows based machines.

NOTE: Even very well trained DBA’s may have a difficult time interpreting everything generated by this type of trace. When it is generated, it is normally sent to Oracle support, where someone how specializes in the Oracle LISTENER can review it.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Open up the LSNRCTL utility.

mylinux:>lsnrctl

LSNRCTL for LINUX: Version 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on 23-DEC-2009 17:17:05

Copyright (c) 1991, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Welcome to LSNRCTL, type “help” for information.

LSNRCTL>

3. If you are not using the default name of the Oracle listener (LISTENER) then define the Oracle listener name with the following command: set current_listener

LSNRCTL> set current_listener listener_orcl
Current Listener is listener_orcl
LSNRCTL>

4. If you have established a password for your oracle listener set it in the LSNRCTL session with the following command: set password

LSNRCTL> set password oracle
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

5. Turn on support level tracing by specifying 16 or support as the level with the following command: set trc_level

LSNRCTL> set trc_level 16
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to support
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

or

LSNRCTL> set trc_level support
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to support
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

6. Define the name of the trace file that will be produced by the listener process upon establishment of user connection with the command below: set trc_file

LSNRCTL> set trc_file support_access_trace
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_file” set to support_access_trace.trc
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

NOTE: You do not have to set a trace directory by default the listener trace files are placed under: $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

7. Save the changes made to the listener.ora file with the following command: save_config

LSNRCTL> save_config
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
Saved listener_orcl configuration parameters.
Listener Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.ora
Old Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.bak
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

8. Exit out of LSNRCTL utility, change directories to
$ORACLE_HOME/network/trace, list the files present and you will see that the trace has already begun.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1440
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 23 17:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 23 17:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 231352 Dec 23 19:00 admin_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 35087 Dec 23 19:01
support_access_trace.trc
mylinux:>

9. Logon to the RDBMS as an administrator, regular user and exit.

mylinux:> sqlplus system/devlmgr@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Wed Dec 23 19:03:18 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:> sqlplus joe/joe@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Wed Dec 23 19:03:33 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:>

10. Perform another listing of the files under directory
$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin and you will see that the file support_access_trace.trc has grown by recording the connection from the users in step 9.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1568
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 23 17:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 23 17:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 231352 Dec 23 19:00 admin_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 103777 Dec 23 19:03
support_access_trace.trc
mylinux:>

11 This information can be used to show where connections in you database are coming from and other statistical information about the network connections being established. However, it is designed to be used by Oracle Support.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 91, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com