Unable to connect as SYSDBA using connection pool with thick mode

[P-Lng]

oracledb.connect works as expected with AUTH_MODE_SYSDBA.

oracledb.create_pool also accepts mode=oracledb.AUTH_MODE_SYSDBA but it does not seem to make a difference. I still get:

ORA-28009: connection as SYS should be as SYSDBA or SYSOPER

Thanks!

---

1. What versions are you using?

   Oracle Database 23ai Free Release 23.0.0.0.0 - Version 23.5.0.24.07
   platform.platform: Linux-4.18.0-348.el8.x86_64-x86_64-with-glibc2.28
   sys.maxsize > 2**32: True
   platform.python_version: 3.10.2
   oracledb.version: 2.5.1

2. Is it an error or a hang or a crash?
   Error

3. What error(s) or behavior you are seeing?

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test_oracle.py", line 10, in <module>
    pool.acquire()
  File ".../site-packages/oracledb/pool.py", line 406, in acquire
    return oracledb.connect(
  File ".../site-packages/oracledb/connection.py", line 1194, in connect
    return conn_class(dsn=dsn, pool=pool, params=params, **kwargs)
  File ".../site-packages/oracledb/connection.py", line 579, in __init__
    impl.connect(params_impl, pool_impl)
  File "src/oracledb/impl/thick/connection.pyx", line 502, in oracledb.thick_impl.ThickConnImpl.connect
  File "src/oracledb/impl/thick/utils.pyx", line 446, in oracledb.thick_impl._raise_from_info
oracledb.exceptions.DatabaseError: ORA-28009: connection as SYS should be as SYSDBA or SYSOPER

4. Does your application call init_oracle_client()?
   Yes, thick mode.

5. Include a runnable Python script that shows the problem.

import oracledb

oracledb.init_oracle_client()  # Switch to thick mode
sys_dsn = <identifier from tnsnames.ora>

# Works as expected
oracledb.connect(sys_dsn, mode=oracledb.AUTH_MODE_SYSDBA, externalauth=True)

pool = oracledb.create_pool(sys_dsn, mode=oracledb.AUTH_MODE_SYSDBA, externalauth=True, homogeneous=False)
pool.acquire()
# oracledb.exceptions.DatabaseError: ORA-28009: connection as SYS should be as SYSDBA or SYSOPER

[cjbj]

This is a known restriction of Oracle Call Interface. Since that is technically out of scope of the python-oracledb project, I'll close this issue. However we are aware of it, and continue to track OCI enhancement request 34798599 about it.

Do you really, really need a pool of privileged connections?