Log: Oracle XE sqlstart Connection Setup (Debian VM, Sep 22, 2025)

Context:
Dennis spent several hours troubleshooting Oracle XE connection problems inside Docker with SQLPlus. The main challenge was the password containing “@”, which confused SQLPlus parsing. This caused repeated errors like ORA-12514 (listener does not currently know of service requested) and SP2-0306 (Invalid option).

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Steps & Fixes:

1. Verified running PDB services
   Command used:
   docker exec -it oraclexe bash -lc “lsnrctl services | sed -n ‘s/ Service “.∗.*.∗”./\1/p’ | sort -u”
   Output confirmed: XE, freepdb1, xepdb1, etc.
2. SYSDBA sanity test
   docker exec -it oraclexe sqlplus ‘sys/StrongPass123@//127.0.0.1:1521/xepdb1 as sysdba’
3. Reset lvydvy user password (removed @ to avoid parsing issue)
   ALTER USER lvydvy IDENTIFIED BY “HaleKalele1510”;
   EXIT;
4. Created sqlstart helper script at ~/bin/sqlstart
   Content of the script:
   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   exec docker exec -it oraclexe sqlplus lvydvy/HaleKalele1510@//127.0.0.1:1521/xepdb1
5. Made script executable and refreshed shell
   chmod +x ~/bin/sqlstart
   hash -r
6. Verified usage
   sqlstart
   Result: connected directly to Oracle Database 21c XE, PDB = XEPDB1, user = LVYDVY.
7. Quick verification inside SQL*Plus
   show con_name;
   select user from dual;
   Expected result: con_name = XEPDB1, user = LVYDVY.

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Final Status:

• sqlstart alias now works reliably.
• User lvydvy connects directly into XEPDB1 without prompts.
• Problem was due to “@” in password, which SQL*Plus misread. Using HaleKalele1510 fixed it.

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