Managing Listener Trace Levels in Oracle 23ai

Manual Configuration: Editing listener.ora

1. Locate the listener.ora File
   • Default path on Linux/Unix: $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora
   • Default path on Windows: %ORACLE_HOME%\network\admin\listener.ora
2. Add or Modify Listener Trace Parameters

   Open the listener.ora file in a text editor and insert the following parameters under the appropriate listener block:

   TRACE_LEVEL_LISTENER = SUPPORT
   TRACE_FILE_LISTENER = listener.trc
   TRACE_DIRECTORY_LISTENER = $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

   Sample Configuration:

   LISTENER =
     (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
       (DESCRIPTION =
         (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
       )
     )
   
   TRACE_LEVEL_LISTENER = SUPPORT
   TRACE_FILE_LISTENER = listener.trc
   TRACE_DIRECTORY_LISTENER = $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

   Accepted trace levels are: OFF, USER, ADMIN, and SUPPORT.

3. Apply the Changes

   Restart the listener for changes to take effect:

   lsnrctl stop
   lsnrctl start

   Or use a soft reload (if supported):

   lsnrctl reload

Verifying Listener Trace Configuration

• Run the following command to check active settings:

  lsnrctl status

• Inspect the trace output at the path defined by TRACE_DIRECTORY_LISTENER.
• The main file is usually listener.trc.

Best Practices and Considerations

• SUPPORT trace level generates detailed logs and should only be enabled temporarily for diagnostics.
• Confirm that the trace directory exists and has appropriate write permissions for the Oracle listener process.
• Manual configuration is ideal for CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, and version-controlled environments.