The TNS_ADMIN environment variable contains the path to the TNS files.

It is recommended (but not required) to set the environment variable TNS_ADMIN. If this environment variable is not set, then Oracle GoldenGate looks for the $HOME/.tnsnames.ora or /etc/tnsnames.ora file. In addition, the environment variable must be set before starting the Admin Client or GGSCI. Otherwise, this variable is not detected.

If you are not using TNS_ADMIN, then you can use connection qualifiers such as (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=( ...)), with TNS aliases.

A preferred technique for configuring database connections is using the EZconnect syntax. You need the username, password, hostname, port number, and service name connection information to use the EZConnect syntax.

Syntax that you need to specify in the User ID field: username@hostname:port/service_name

Here's an example for setting the User ID with EZConnect: c##ggadmin@dc.example.com:1521/dc1.example.com