oratab syntax

[kburrows]

Hello everyone,
I need help with the entry in this file.
Current system has it set up for this and it works, but i am wondering what each means.

# Multiple entries with the same $ORACLE_SID are not allowed.
#
#
default:/oracle/product/8.0.5:N
dev009:/oracle/product/8.0.5:Y:oracle dev:DEV009
*:/oracle/product/8.0.5:N
#

Questions:
mulitple entries not allowed, why does it look like there are three entries.

What does the default: mean?

What does the * mean in front of the last one?

Why does one have dev009 in from of it and :oracle dev:DEV009 at the end of it.

syntax in the book shows only one entry
ORACLE_SID:ORACLE_HOME: (Y|N)

Which one is correct or which line do you think I am using?

Thanks
Kathy

[sreddy]

I don't think default means anything. Someone made an entry. thats it.

* means there is no instance on the box and has just binaries.
When you install binaries it makes an entry like this.

*:/xyz/abc/..../817:N

Say you create an instance 'devt', you have to update oratab entry as

devt:/xyz/abc/..../817:Y

" dev009:/oracle/product/8.0.5:Y:oracle dev:DEV009 " doesn't makes any sense to me. If someone, iam curious to know.

ORACLE_SID:ORACLE_HOME: (Y|N) is correct.

[kburrows]

Thank you for the explanations, that makes sense.

After further investigation: I found out the :oracle dev:DEV009 was appended to the line of the oratab file by the createdb script that we use.

echo "Please Enter a Brief Description For The New Database"
read desc
dbcap=`echo $db | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'`
cat >> $ORATAB <<EOF
$db:$ORACLE_HOME:Y:$desc:$dbcap
EOF

Thanks again,

[sreddy]

What that strikes me from your posting is they were traying to give some description/comments about that particular instance over there thru auomated database creation script.

It should be in the comment forma not like that. Else you need to check and modify the script to make more sensible comments that starts with '#' for each entry. Otherwise modify manually.

Automated scripts for database creation should be as simple as possible but not complex as you don't run those scripts not so often. It worth to have a script that makes more sense for you when you creating the database than using someone else script and very simple to write one.