Using Oracle TNS Names

All information for connecting to an Oracle database may be stored in a tnsnames.ora file, with each database instance defined by a TNS alias. If you want to create a connection in DbVisualizer that uses the information from this file, you must first tell DbVisualizer where it is stored by setting either the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to the path of the folder holding the file, or making sure it is located in the ORACLE_HOME/network/admin folder and that the ORACLE_HOME environment variable is set.

When this configuration is done, you can select TNS from the Connection Type list for the Oracle connection and then pick the TNS alias from a list of all aliases found in the file.