ORA-12514 TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor

I had this issue and the fix was to make sure in tnsnames.ora the SERVICE_NAME is a valid service name in your database. To find out valid service names, you can use the following query in oracle:

select value from v$parameter where name='service_names'

Once I updated tnsnames.ora to:

TEST =
   (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = *<validhost>*)(PORT = *<validport>*))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = *<servicenamefromDB>*)
    )
)

then I ran:

sqlplus user@TEST

Success! The listener is basically telling you that whatever service_name you are using isn't a valid service according to the DB.

(*I was running sqlplus from Win7 client workstation to remote DB and blame the DBAs ;) *)

I know this is an old question, but still unanswered. It took me a day of research, but I found the simplest solution, at least in my case (Oracle 11.2 on Windows 2008 R2) and wanted to share.

The error, if looked at directly, indicates that the listener does not recognize the service name. But where does it keep service names? In %ORACLE_HOME%\NETWORK\ADMIN\listener.ora

The "SID_LIST" is just that, a list of SIDs and service names paired up in a format you can copy or lookup.

I added the problem Service Name, then in Windows "Services" control panel, I did a "Restart" on the Oracle listener service. Now all is well.

---

For example, your listener.ora file might initially look like:

# listener.ora Network Configuration File: C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\network\admin\listener.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (SID_NAME = CLRExtProc)
      (ORACLE_HOME = C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1)
      (PROGRAM = extproc)
      (ENVS = "EXTPROC_DLLS=ONLY:C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\bin\oraclr12.dll")
    )
  )

LISTENER =
  (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
    (DESCRIPTION =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
    )
  )

... And to make it recognize a service name of orcl, you might change it to:

# listener.ora Network Configuration File: C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\network\admin\listener.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (SID_NAME = CLRExtProc)
      (ORACLE_HOME = C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1)
      (PROGRAM = extproc)
      (ENVS = "EXTPROC_DLLS=ONLY:C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1\bin\oraclr12.dll")
    )
    (SID_DESC = 
        (GLOBAL_DBNAME = orcl)
        (ORACLE_HOME = C:\app\oracle_user\product\12.1.0\dbhome_1)
        (SID_NAME = orcl)
    )
  )

LISTENER =
  (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
    (DESCRIPTION =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
    )
  )

In my circumstances the error was due to the fact the listener did not have the db's service registered. I solved this by registering the services. Example:

My descriptor in tnsnames.ora:

LOCALDB =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = LOCALDB)
    )
  )

So, I proceed to register the service in the listener.ora manually:

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
    (SID_DESC =
      (GLOBAL_DBNAME = LOCALDB)
      (ORACLE_HOME = C:\Oracle\product\11.2.0\dbhome_1)
      (SID_NAME = LOCALDB)
    )

Finally, restart the listener by command:

> lsnrctl stop
> lsnrctl start

Done!