ORA-00959

ORA-00959: tablespace 'string' does not exist

Cause: A statement specified the name of a tablespace that does not exist.

Action: Enter the name of an existing tablespace. For a list of tablespace names, query the data dictionary.

ArcSDE:
shp2sde returns the following error without using -k option:
SDE code 959: *** INVALID_ERROR_CODE ***

The reason is that in $SDEHOME/etc/dbtune.sde, in the #DEFAULTS keyword section, one of the tablespace names is not spelled correctly, that is, it does not match the name of the desired tablespace name.

Refer to http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=13763

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All ESRI ArcSDE errors in the blog can found at: ArcSDE Errors