The location of tnsnames.ora in an enterprise environment?

[jbezdan]

In a enterprise environment, where would you keep the tnsnames.ora file?

In my environment, we are mostly Windows NT/2k/XP Novell clients. I think putting it on the sys\public of each Novell server for each context, then pointing the value in the registry to it using the %SERVER% env variable set by the Novell login script. So no matter where the users home context is, the Oracle client can see the file. This way, updates are easier since you can update a single file, then copy it out to the different servers. The updates are seen immediately, not having to have the users log off and on to pick up the changes.

Example: HKLM\Software\Oracle\Home0,1,2 TNS_ADMIN = \\%SERVER%\sys\public\Oracle.

There are others in the organization that feel it should be stored locally, either copying it down with the login script or distributing it with our ESD system.

What is your experience doing this, or where do you keep your file, assuming you are working with several thousand clients?

 

[SantaMufasa]

JBezdan, those "that feel it should be stored locally..." present what arguments for doing so? Although we, ourselves, store the tnsnames.ora files on local machines, I believe that if you have uninterrupted availability to "\\%SERVER%\sys\public\Oracle", then that is a good way to handle the providing of a uniform tnsnames.ora file. The reason we don't do it that way is because our variety of client operating scenarios make access to a "\\%SERVER%\sys\public\Oracle" equivalent undependable. But, barring any other "deal breakers" that your buddies at work identify, I like your idea...You're working smarter instead of harder.

Dave