On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 8:29 AM, Tim Gorman <tim@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Niall, > > As far as the SERVICE_NAMES parameter, I'm not sure why the document likes > to identify each of the instances/nodes as separate services (i.e. CHICAGO1, > CHICAGO2, BOSTON1, BOSTON2, etc). Personally, I've always tended to match > the SERVICE_NAMES to the DB_NAME, unless I'm trying to do something fancy > like host multiple applications within ... > Jeremy Schneider has a good paper on the history and use of SERVICE_NAMES http://www.ardentperf.com/pub/services-schneider07.pdf Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist