Re: Remote login password file questions.

Michael J. Moore wrote:

> Thanks Howard,
> I confess that I have not read ALL of the Oracle documentation, but I have
> read the 9i Concepts and various other books. I have never seen
> "writing/updating to the password file" documented as part of the server
> process function. I wonder why this functionality is mostly undocumented.
> It seems rather important to me.
>
> The fact that the server process does some updating also begs the question
> - what about recovery?
> What happens if you recover the database to a point in time prior to the
> password file update?
> Will SMON update the password file?

Bit of a misconception here, I fear. The password file is not part of an Oracle database. Only control files, datafiles and online redo logs are technically part of the database, and thus have recovery mechanisms designed for them ('backup to trace' or 'using backup controlfile' for the controlfile; 'recover database/datafile/tablespace' for the datafile; and 'open database resetlogs' for the online logs... well, it *sort* of gets you some online redo logs back again, I suppose!!).

But for archive logs, password files, init.ora's and the Oracle executables themselves, there is no recovery mechanism provided by Oracle, and no backup mechanism either (qualification: the alert log contains a copy of non-default init.ora parameters, and is thus recoverable with a bit of manual cut-and-pasting from there. And RMAN will back up spfiles).

So you use O/S-supplied backup tools to back those up (Veritas, MS Backup, ArcServe etc etc). Or, you resign yourself to the loss of an archivelog by either doing an incomplete recovery if the loss is discovered late, or performing a new whole database backup if its discovered early). Or, you re-install Oracle completely (if you lose the executables). Or you re-create the password file from scratch if you lose it (that's what orapwd is provided for).

So the answer to your specific question is: SMON doesn't touch it at all, and there's no recovery done to it. If it gets lost or corrupted, delete it and re-create it.

Regards
HJR
>
> If you can direct me to any documentation that contains this level of
> detail, I would love to read it.
>
> Howard, if you choose to answer, please reply to the group so that
> everybody can benefit.
> Regards,
> Mike
>
> "Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> news:3f764f67$0$14559$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au...

>> Michael J. Moore wrote:
>>
>> > Assume REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE=EXCLUSIVE.
>> > A DBA issues "grant sysdba to mike;".
>> > So, question #1 is: What process updates the password file? DBWR? SMON?
>> > PMON? etc, Which one?
>>
>> The server process of the person issuing the grant SQL statement.
>>
>> As is ever the case: if you ask for something, be it data from EMP, to
>> update a salary column, or to modify the password file, it's your server
>> process that does your bidding.
>>
>> Regards
>> HJR