Thomas, thanks for your help. There is something wrong, the normal drop database link command is not working. I have an open SR on this and the problem has been reproduced. This is happening in 11.2.0.1. April Sims SELECT IOUG Contributing Editor http://aprilcsims.wordpress.com http://www.twitter.com/aprilcsims Oracle Database 11g – Underground Advice for Database Administrators http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Database-Underground-Advice-Administrators/dp/1849680000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272289339&sr=8-1#noop OCP 8i, 9i, 10g DBA Southern Utah University sims@xxxxxxx 940-484-4276 >>> Thomas Day <tomdaytwo@xxxxxxxxx> 5/13/2010 12:55 PM >>> When you log on as SYS can you see these database links in link$? I just tested this in a 10.2.0.4 database and it doesn't seem to make any difference whether the global_names equals "true" or "false". Just drop the public database link with the name as it appears in link$. Is it just giving you a database link not found message?