Hi,

Is there a way to check if a database is open and available on unix without connecting to the database. I know that in 7.3 you can check for the sgadef*.dbf file and 8i you can check for PMON. But I also foud out that sometimes, if the db is mouted in restricted mode or was shutdown improperly a "ps -ef | grep ora_pmon" command will still show PMON even though users cannot access it. Even the sgadef*.dbf file sometimes is not deleted when the instance shuts down.

What's the most accurate method of performing the db check?

Thanks in advance,
Leo