TNS-01189 IN SCAN LISTENER LOG

OEM monitoring today generated an alert for
TNS-01189: The listener could not authenticate the user

OEM told me to check the logs but did not give me the path to the log file.

I was unsure where the scan listener log was as it is not often that I have a need to check this. lsnrctl helps out here. First change to my crs/grid home.

ORACLE_SID = [GRID] ? The Oracle base remains unchanged with value /n01/app/oracle [oracle@mybox trace]$ lsnrctl status LISTENER_SCAN3 LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 12.1.0.2.0 - Production on 01-DEC-2015 18:42:10 Copyright (c) 1991, 2014, Oracle. All rights reserved. Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=LISTENER_SCAN3))) STATUS of the LISTENER Alias LISTENER_SCAN3 Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 12.1.0.2.0 - Production Start Date 16-NOV-2015 11:44:02 Uptime 15 days 6 hr. 58 min. 8 sec Trace Level off Security ON: Local OS Authentication SNMP OFF Listener Parameter File /n01/app/grid/12.1.0/network/admin/listener.ora Listener Log File /n01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/mybox/listener_scan3/alert/log.xml .........etc

I looked at the trace version rather than the xml version of the log and found the errors.

01-DEC-2015 16:52:45 * (CONNECT_DATA=(CID=(PROGRAM=)(HOST=mybox)(USER=oracle))(COMMAND=status)(ARGUMENTS=64)(SERVICE=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=mybox)(PORT=1234)))(VERSION=202375680)) * status * 1189 TNS-01189: The listener could not authenticate the user 01-DEC-2015 16:52:45 * (CONNECT_DATA=(CID=(PROGRAM=)(HOST=mybox)(USER=oracle))(COMMAND=status)(ARGUMENTS=64)(SERVICE=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=mybox)(PORT=1234)))(VERSION=202375680)) * status * 1189 TNS-01189: The listener could not authenticate the user

Not really any more detail. So a visit to MOS required and found DocID 1665161.1

In summary the note says:

On a 11.2 RAC where SCAN listeners are configured, started and monitored in 12c Cloud Control, the following error is seen periodically in the SCAN listener logs:

TNS-01189: The listener could not authenticate the user

Error is seen on the remote scan listener log when metric lsnrParameters part of oracle_security collection is running ( when enabled ) every 24h ( by default ) and every time the agent is restarted. The error is seen in both 12c Cloud Control and DB Console.

Originally published at blog.mattdevdba.tech on December 1, 2015.