Try double quotes around "user/pass as sysdba". From: David Fitzjarrell [mailto:oratune@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 05:34 PM To: nadeem.m.khan@xxxxxxxxx <nadeem.m.khan@xxxxxxxxx>; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: ORA-01031 while connecting to ASM instance. Are there any special characters, such as /, in the password? David Fitzjarrell ________________________________ From: Nadeem M. Khan <nadeem.m.khan@xxxxxxxxx> To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wed, May 11, 2011 2:31:18 PM Subject: ORA-01031 while connecting to ASM instance. $ sqlplus sys/XXXX@ASM1 as sysdba SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production on Thu May 12 01:27:10 2011 Copyright (c) 1982, 2006, Oracle. All Rights Reserved. ERROR: ORA-01031: insufficient privileges What could I be missing? This is on Linux. Am not using a password file. oracle is part of the dba group. I can tnsping ASM1. TIA. Nadeem. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l NOTICE: Confidential message which may be privileged. Unauthorized use/disclosure prohibited. If received in error, please go to www.td.com/legal for instructions. AVIS : Message confidentiel dont le contenu peut être privilégié. Utilisation/divulgation interdites sans permission. Si reçu par erreur, prière d'aller au www.td.com/francais/avis_juridique pour des instructions.