Rao, Thanks for the summary. However, I thought I would offer an NT perspective for 816 / 817. In this combination on my PC, the status command does not require a password - the services command does though. Regards, Bruce eg: C:\>lsnrctl LSNRCTL for 32-bit Windows: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on 22-FEB-2001 08:53:03 (c) Copyright 1998 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Welcome to LSNRCTL, type "help" for information. LSNRCTL> LSNRCTL> services Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC0))) TNS-01169: The listener has not recognized the password LSNRCTL> status Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC0))) STATUS of the LISTENER ------------------------ Alias LISTENER Version TNSLSNR for 32-bit Windows: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production Start Date 22-FEB-2001 08:40:36 Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 12 min. 36 sec Trace Level off Security ON SNMP OFF Listener Parameter File D:\ORACLE\ADMIN\TNS_ADMIN\listener.ora Listener Log File D:\oracle\product\817\network\log\listener.log Services Summary... ACCESSLP has 1 service handler(s) BDB6 has 1 service handler(s) MI31 has 1 service handler(s) PLSExtProc has 1 service handler(s) BDB5 has 1 service handler(s) The command completed successfully LSNRCTL> set password fred The command completed successfully LSNRCTL> services Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC0))) Services Summary... ACCESSLP has 1 service handler(s) DEDICATED SERVER established:0 refused:0 LOCAL SERVER BDB6 has 1 service handler(s) DEDICATED SERVER established:0 refused:0 LOCAL SERVER MI31 has 1 service handler(s) DEDICATED SERVER established:0 refused:0 LOCAL SERVER PLSExtProc has 1 service handler(s) DEDICATED SERVER established:0 refused:0 LOCAL SERVER BDB5 has 1 service handler(s) DEDICATED SERVER established:0 refused:0 LOCAL SERVER The command completed successfully LSNRCTL> exit C:\> -----Original Message----- Sent: Thursday, 22 February 2001 8:15 List This problem is solved thanks to Chuck Hamilton suggestion. I thank all the list members who took their time in suggesting the solution. Following is the solution given by Chuck Hamilton. You can do what you want by using the setuid bit. On some version of unix you may need a kernel parameter change to allow shell scripts to run with the setuid bit turned on. 1. Log in as the "oracle" user. 2. Remove the password from the shell script and put it into a separate file protected with unix permissions. echo "mypassword" > listener.pass chmod 600 listener.pass # Now only "oracle" can read this file 3. Change the line in your shell script to read the password from the listener.pass file. For KSH something like this works. lsnrctl <<! | grep ORCL # (or whatever service you're looking for) set password $(<listener.pass) status ! 4. Change the permission on the shell script and add the setuid bit. This causes the run-time user id to be set to the owner of the shell script (which should also be "oracle"). chmod u+s check_listener.sh or chmod 4755 check_listener.sh Any user can now run the script, and even read the script, but can't see the password because he can only cat the script, not the password file. Thank You Chuk Hamilton. Rao [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi DBAs, I would like to find out whether a specific listener service is up or not without running the command ---> lsnrctl services. Is there any way I can do this through a shell script or unix command? My environment : Solaris 2.7 : Oracle 8.0.4 Thanks for your help, Rao [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Reardon, Bruce (CALBBAY) INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).