ora-03113: end-of-file on communication channel

[Neha94]

Hello everyone, I was importing data from oracle client (U_90) via ODBC in power bi. While doing so, following error popped up. Has anyone come across this type of error? If so, what would be resolution for this? Same error occurs while using Alteryx too, so might be related to ODBC connection. Being a new user, I have googled this multiple times, but no luck! I am desparate.

ERROR: oracle ora-03113: end-of-file on communication channel.

Thanks for the help!

[vvegapulp]

SOLVED: Power BI to Oracle Refresh Fails with ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel

I'm posting this detailed answer because my team and I finally solved this exact issue. The solution was not in Power BI or a database permission, but a specific conflict between our Oracle Client's protocol and our corporate firewall.

This was the final step after a long troubleshooting process, and hopefully, it can help someone else.

The Symptoms
We were connecting Power BI Desktop to an Oracle database.
The initial connection and small data previews in the Power Query Editor worked fine.
The ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel error appeared only when performing a full data refresh on large tables.
The Diagnosis: Firewall vs. Oracle Protocol
After working with our IT department, we found the root cause in our Check Point firewall logs. The firewall was dropping packets with the following message:

"TCP segment with urgent pointer. Urgent data indication was stripped."

The problem was a conflict:

Oracle's Protocol (SQL*Net): Uses TCP packets with the URG flag for its "Out-of-Band Break" mechanism, which can be used to cancel long-running queries.
Our Firewall's Policy: By default, our Check Point firewall considered packets with the URG flag a security risk and was terminating the connection whenever it detected them during the large data transfer.
Our Solution: Modifying the Oracle Client Configuration
Instead of changing the corporate firewall policy, we chose to fix this on the client side, as it was faster for us to implement. We instructed our Oracle client to simply not use this "out-of-band" mechanism.

Here are the exact steps that worked for us:

Identify the Correct Client Software: The machine running Power BI Desktop was using the Oracle Client for Microsoft Tools (OCMT).

Locate the sqlnet.ora File: We needed to edit the sqlnet.ora configuration file. We found it inside the OCMT installation directory. The path was:
[ORACLE_CLIENT_INSTALL_DIRECTORY]\network\admin (For example: C:\oracle\product\19.0.0\client_1\network\admin)

Note: If the sqlnet.ora file does not exist in this folder, you can simply create it as a new, empty text file.

Add the Configuration Parameter: We opened the sqlnet.ora file with a text editor and added the following line:

DISABLE_OOB=ON
Apply Changes: We saved the sqlnet.ora file and then restarted Power BI Desktop.

After this change, the full data refresh worked perfectly without any ORA-03113 errors.

Alternative Solution (Firewall-Side)
For completeness, the other possible solution is to have the network security team create an exception in the firewall. This would involve modifying the security policy (in our case, for Check Point) to allow TCP packets with the URG flag, but only for the specific traffic between the Power BI client/gateway and the Oracle database server.

I hope our experience helps other users facing this frustrating issue

[vvegapulp]

SOLVED: Power BI to Oracle Refresh Fails with ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel

Body of your Stack Overflow answer:
I'm posting this detailed answer because my team and I finally solved this exact issue. The solution was not in Power BI or a database permission, but a specific conflict between our Oracle Client's protocol and our corporate firewall.

This was the final step after a long troubleshooting process, and hopefully, it can help someone else.

The Symptoms
We were connecting Power BI Desktop to an Oracle database.
The initial connection and small data previews in the Power Query Editor worked fine.
The ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel error appeared only when performing a full data refresh on large tables.
The Diagnosis: Firewall vs. Oracle Protocol
After working with our IT department, we found the root cause in our Check Point firewall logs. The firewall was dropping packets with the following message:

"TCP segment with urgent pointer. Urgent data indication was stripped."

The problem was a conflict:

Oracle's Protocol (SQL*Net): Uses TCP packets with the URG flag for its "Out-of-Band Break" mechanism, which can be used to cancel long-running queries.
Our Firewall's Policy: By default, our Check Point firewall considered packets with the URG flag a security risk and was terminating the connection whenever it detected them during the large data transfer.
Our Solution: Modifying the Oracle Client Configuration
Instead of changing the corporate firewall policy, we chose to fix this on the client side, as it was faster for us to implement. We instructed our Oracle client to simply not use this "out-of-band" mechanism.

Here are the exact steps that worked for us:

Identify the Correct Client Software: The machine running Power BI Desktop was using the Oracle Client for Microsoft Tools (OCMT).

Locate the sqlnet.ora File: We needed to edit the sqlnet.ora configuration file. We found it inside the OCMT installation directory. The path was:
[ORACLE_CLIENT_INSTALL_DIRECTORY]\network\admin
(For example: C:\oracle\product\19.0.0\client_1\network\admin)

Note: If the sqlnet.ora file does not exist in this folder, you can simply create it as a new, empty text file.

Add the Configuration Parameter: We opened the sqlnet.ora file with a text editor and added the following line:

DISABLE_OOB=ON
Apply Changes: We saved the sqlnet.ora file and then restarted Power BI Desktop.

After this change, the full data refresh worked perfectly without any ORA-03113 errors.

Alternative Solution (Firewall-Side)
For completeness, the other possible solution is to have the network security team create an exception in the firewall. This would involve modifying the security policy (in our case, for Check Point) to allow TCP packets with the URG flag, but only for the specific traffic between the Power BI client/gateway and the Oracle database server.

I hope our experience helps other users facing this frustrating issue

[vvegapulp]

SOLVED: Power BI to Oracle Refresh Fails with ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel

Body of your Stack Overflow answer:
I'm posting this detailed answer because my team and I finally solved this exact issue. The solution was not in Power BI or a database permission, but a specific conflict between our Oracle Client's protocol and our corporate firewall.

This was the final step after a long troubleshooting process, and hopefully, it can help someone else.

The Symptoms
We were connecting Power BI Desktop to an Oracle database.
The initial connection and small data previews in the Power Query Editor worked fine.
The ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel error appeared only when performing a full data refresh on large tables.
The Diagnosis: Firewall vs. Oracle Protocol
After working with our IT department, we found the root cause in our Check Point firewall logs. The firewall was dropping packets with the following message:

"TCP segment with urgent pointer. Urgent data indication was stripped."

The problem was a conflict:

Oracle's Protocol (SQL*Net): Uses TCP packets with the URG flag for its "Out-of-Band Break" mechanism, which can be used to cancel long-running queries.
Our Firewall's Policy: By default, our Check Point firewall considered packets with the URG flag a security risk and was terminating the connection whenever it detected them during the large data transfer.
Our Solution: Modifying the Oracle Client Configuration
Instead of changing the corporate firewall policy, we chose to fix this on the client side, as it was faster for us to implement. We instructed our Oracle client to simply not use this "out-of-band" mechanism.

Here are the exact steps that worked for us:

Identify the Correct Client Software: The machine running Power BI Desktop was using the Oracle Client for Microsoft Tools (OCMT).

Locate the sqlnet.ora File: We needed to edit the sqlnet.ora configuration file. We found it inside the OCMT installation directory. The path was:
[ORACLE_CLIENT_INSTALL_DIRECTORY]\network\admin
(For example: C:\oracle\product\19.0.0\client_1\network\admin)

Note: If the sqlnet.ora file does not exist in this folder, you can simply create it as a new, empty text file.

Add the Configuration Parameter: We opened the sqlnet.ora file with a text editor and added the following line:

DISABLE_OOB=ON
Apply Changes: We saved the sqlnet.ora file and then restarted Power BI Desktop.

After this change, the full data refresh worked perfectly without any ORA-03113 errors.

Alternative Solution (Firewall-Side)
For completeness, the other possible solution is to have the network security team create an exception in the firewall. This would involve modifying the security policy (in our case, for Check Point) to allow TCP packets with the URG flag, but only for the specific traffic between the Power BI client/gateway and the Oracle database server.

I hope our experience helps other users facing this frustrating issue

[nitishsh91]

Hi @Neha94 

This is a very generic error and your issue needs some deeper analysis as ORA-03113 might have various reasons, but typically it means that the 'oracle' executable has terminated unexpectedly once there was an existing connection. You should try to isolate the SQL command that is executing when the error occurs. It can be done either by checking the trace files on the server or by using SQL*Net trace if you don't have access to the server. If a statement can be isolated which consistently raises the ORA-3113 error, then it can be further analysed (like execution plan, triggers, etc).

Have a look at below link:

https://www.toolbox.com/tech/question/ora-03113-end-of-file-on-communication-channel-1-030513/