Re: spfile vs pfile in 9i

"Richard Stanton" <richardpstanton_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:87bc8a5f.0410120846.75eeb98e_at_posting.google.com...
> Hello
>
> can anyone explain to me what the advantages of using spfiles are over
> the traditional pfiles? Is it just the ability to make changes to the
> database on the fly without editing files etc?
>
> Also, why are there so many pfiles created for each database in 9i,
> and what do they all do?
>
> I have a test database and the following pfiles have been created for
> it:
>
> oracle\ora92\database\inittest.ora
> oracle\ora92\sysman\ifiles\def_TEST.domain.co.UK.ora
> oracle\admin\test\pfile\init.ora
>
> and this spfile:
>
> oracle\ora92\database\spfiletest.ora
>
> thanks for your help
>
> Richard

Hi,

For me the biggest advantage of spfiles is the fact that the changes done with ALTER SYSTEM are also directly updated server-side. With pfiles, you always had to update the pfile on the server manually. This could easily be forgotten and was subject to mistakes (typos), with all the risks involved after an instance reboot. With spfiles it's also possible to reboot an instance remotely without having a local parameter file.

Matthias Received on Tue Oct 12 2004 - 14:35:38 CDT