Oracle 11g max login fail attempts workaround
The account that your application server uses to connect to the database should not lock out under any circumstances. It's a very simple security issue - it makes for the easiest denial-of-service attack in the world. Send n db login requests with random password -> application can't connect. You should definitely set this to unlimited.

(You should also talk to the manager of the DBA if he is really being so willfully unhelpful, but that's a non-technical issue that I don't think Stack Exchange can help you with. :D )