That was the problem with my test- I was using a non-default port so dynamic registration did not work. Here is what worked for me: The trick is- 1) Update service names parameter for db to include the additional service name (service1, service 2, etc) 2) Update the parameter LOCAL_LISTENER=LISTENER (or whatever the listener name is) 3) Update the tnsnames.ora to include the definition of the local listener- LISTENER = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = hostname)(PORT = 9101)) From: OKH [mailto:okh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 6:17 PM To: cjnewman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: CRISLER, JON A (ATTCORP); oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: non-RAC service names ? They will dynamically register if the listener is running with default name and port, i.e. LISTENER and 1521. if not tell the instance the where to look at using local_listener. I've also had the problem that even using all defaults it did not register. Just set it explicitly!! regards Felix Am 06.12.2010 um 22:47 schrieb "Newman, Christopher" <cjnewman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>: We’ve done this before, it’s just service_names=X, Y, Z in the init. They will dynamically register and you can test by connecting to each. From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of CRISLER, JON A (ATTCORP) Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 3:44 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: non-RAC service names ? Can additional service names be defined for a non-RAC 10g database, similar to how multiple service names can be configured for RAC ? This would be to support JDBC connections, so a tnsnames alias would not work. I have looked over various docs and I do not see any way of creating them- and I tried DBCA as well as that allows managing service names on a RAC db, but that option is disabled for a non-RAC db.