Removing all datafiles doesn't bring down the database

From: Jeffrey Yee <jeffyee_at_hotmail.com>
Date: 17 Jul 2003 02:54:01 -0700
Message-ID: <ec4cec95.0307170154.5727fd96@posting.google.com>

Hi,

I'm running Oracle9i 9.0.1 on HP-UX 11i. I simulate a disk crash by removing all the datafiles. To my surprise, the database keeps running, and I can still do queries, update, commit, and alter system switch logfile.

But I'm confuse how this can happen. A switch logfile will cause a checkpoint, causing dirty buffers to be written to datafiles, which are missing.

Even better still, after I restore & recover, I can see those commit that was done after deleting all the datafiles.

Is this something new in Oracle9i? Is there anywhere I can get more information on this matter. I'm interested to know the architecture behind this. I would assume most of the stuff is stored in the redo logs.

Please advice. Thank you.

Best Regards,
Jeffrey Yee Received on Thu Jul 17 2003 - 04:54:01 CDT