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I have a database called NEWSDB running in a unix environment.
Under my $ORACLE_HOME/dbs, I have about 10 different init.ora files saved under different names. I am wondering which exact one is my database is using or if it's using all of them. Is it using all of them? The impression that I am having is that, any time a changed is made to the init.ora files, it's numbered in order to identify how many times changes where made to the init.ora file. I am trying to find out if the database uses all of init.ora files or not.
init.newsdb.ora001
init.newsdb.ora002
init.newsdb.ora003
init.newsdb.ora004
init.newsdb.ora005
init.newsdb.ora006
init.newsdb.ora007
init.newsdb.ora008
init.newsdb.ora009
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It would have a symbolic link to the correct init file. The correct one shout look something like initnewsdb.ora no qualifier after that. Thats what would be the one your instance be using.
do
ls -la
Sam
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each database instance uses one and only one parameter file when starting up.
Depending upon in what mode you want to run the database (DSS, OLTP or a mix) you can create many different copies of this parameter file and make necessary changes in there.
Then you can start the instance by a command like following --
STARTUP PFILE=c:\oracle\ora81\init.newsdb.ora003
(or choose whatever init file you want to start te instance with)
Sambavan is right in that in most cases the init file looks like initSIDName.ora but it could be any name as long as your OS supports that naming convetion. In Windows you can use a init file like "init.newsdb.ora003" without any problem
- Rajeev
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Rajeevi, Thanks for pointing out the things that I missed. One otherway to find out which parameter file is being used by the current instance (BIT TEDIOUS APPROACHE)
do the query:
spool out.txt
select name, value from v$parameter;
spool off;
exit;
From the out.txt you can figure out which one is being used by matching the values to the existing parameter files.
Sam
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I forgot to tell you there is another one named initnewsdb.ora so all of them looks like this
initnewsdb.ora
initnewsdb.ora001
initnewsdb.ora002
initnewsdb.ora003
initnewsdb.ora004
initnewsdb.ora005
initnewsdb.ora006
initnewsdb.ora007
initnewsdb.ora008
initnewsdb.ora009
So are you saying that initnewsdb.ora is the actual one? So what about all the rest?
I did ls -la and it showed like I said above
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As they had made changes to the original one, they would have saved the previous working copy, to revert back incase the new one fails to start the instance. So in your case, it looks like the one with initSID.ora is the actual current one. Check the dates of creation of the old ones and you would be able to find out the order in which they had been incarnated.
Sam
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So incase I need to modify(add some stuff to) the parameter file, which file should I be modify that will have effect on the database? The initNEWSDB.ora or I have to modify all of them.
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you need to modify the fine that you plan to use to startup the database (the changes will take effect only when you shutdown and startup the database)
The only way to know what file was used to startup the database the last time is the method Sambavan mentioned...get the parameter values and compare with each one of the init files (chances are high that it would be initnewsdb.ora )
But you have to understand this that if you (or someone else) plan to startup the database in future using some other init file, you will need to make the changes there as well.
- Rajeev
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