How SID is different from Service name in Oracle tnsnames.ora

Question

Why do I need two of them? When I have to use one or another?

Answer 1

what is a SID and Service name

please look into oracle's documentation at https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/network.102/b14212/concepts.htm

In case if the above link is not accessable in future, At the time time of writing this answer, the above link will direct you to, "Database Service and Database Instance Identification" topic in Connectivity Concepts chapter of "Database Net Services Administrator's Guide". This guide is published by oracle as part of "Oracle Database Online Documentation, 10g Release 2 (10.2)"

When I have to use one or another? Why do I need two of them?

Consider below mapping in a RAC Environment,

SID      SERVICE_NAME
bob1    bob
bob2    bob
bob3    bob
bob4    bob

if load balancing is configured, the listener will 'balance' the workload across all four SIDs. Even if load balancing is configured, you can connect to bob1 all the time if you want to by using the SID instead of SERVICE_NAME.

Please refer, https://community.oracle.com/thread/4049517