Ошибка cannot access nls data

I am getting this error while trying to create a connection pool, on my Oracle database, Oracle 10gR2.

java.sql.SQLException: ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified

I am able to connect to the database over sqlplus & iSQLPlus client, but when I try to connect using this Java program, I get this error just when the connection pool is to be initialised and it does not initialise the connection pool.

Can someone please help me resolving it?

DB Version: Oracle version 10.2.0.1

OS: RHEL 4.0

Here is a barebone, java code which is throwing this error, while connecting to my database.

import java.sql.*;

public class connect{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Connection con = null;
        CallableStatement cstmt = null;

        String url = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@hostname:1521:oracle";
        String userName = "username";
        String password = "password";

        try
        {
            System.out.println("Registering Driver ...");
            DriverManager.registerDriver (new oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver());

            System.out.println("Creating Connection ...");
            con = DriverManager.getConnection(url, userName, password);

            System.out.println("Success!");

        } catch(Exception ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace(System.err);
          } finally {
            if(cstmt != null) try{cstmt.close();}catch(Exception _ex){}
            if(con != null) try{con.close();}catch(Exception _ex){}
            }
    }

}

ORA-12705: invalid or unknown NLS parameter value specified

ORA-12705 tells you that your NLS settings are not correct, you have to fix them first before doing something to the database.

There’re 2 error patterns in this post for ORA-12705, they are:

1. ORA-12705 BEFORE Connected
2. ORA-12705 AFTER Connected

ORA-12705 before Connected

Let’s set a false NLS_LANG deliberately before connecting to the database, which is an environment variable that Oracle will pick up to use. As for the format of NLS_LANG, you may check NLS_LANG, How and Why

[oracle@test ~]$ export NLS_LANG=JAPAN_JAPAN.UTF8
[oracle@test ~]$ echo $NLS_LANG
JAPAN_JAPAN.UTF8

Tried to connect to the database.

[oracle@test ~]$ sqlplus /nolog
...
SQL> conn hr/hr
ERROR:
ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified

The error ORA-12705 showed that both connections were rejected by the database. Why?

Solutions

You have two choices, the first one is to unset NLS_LANG, the other is to set a correct language for your environment.

1. Unset NLS_LANG

The database will use the default NLS settings for your session if NLS_LANG is not set. Let’s see what languages are valid in the database by querying V$NLS_VALID_VALUES.

[oracle@test ~]$ unset NLS_LANG
[oracle@test ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
...
SQL> set pagesize 100;
SQL> select value from v$nls_valid_values where parameter = 'LANGUAGE' AND isdeprecated = 'FALSE' order by 1;

2. Set Correct NLS_LANG

As you can see, there’s no «JAPAN» in the complete list of valid NLS languages. The valid value that we should set is «JAPANESE». So let’s do it.

[oracle@test ~]$ export NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.UTF8
[oracle@test ~]$ sqlplus /nolog

As you can see, not only our connection is successful, but the displayed language of welcome message is also correct for Japanese now.

ORA-12705 after Connected

During the session, you still have chances to get ORA-12705 if were unaware of the NLS settings. Let’s try to change NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE setting for current session.

SQL> alter session set nls_date_language = 'Sweden';
ERROR:
ORA-12705: NLSデータファイルにアクセスできないか、無効な環境が指定されました

As you can see, we got ORA-12705 in Japanese. Next, we set NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE correctly with a valid value.

SQL> alter session set nls_date_language = 'Swedish';

The solution to ORA-12705 is always the same, just use a valid value for your NLS settings.

For more globalization support, please check Database Globalization Support Guide: Overview of Globalization Support.

Skip to content