QUESTION: Latest CPU thinks I have a db running

I'm on 8i on AIX.

My question isn't 8i specific (good thing); but I need to understand the mechanism by which the CPU patch detects active databases in the current home before patching that home.

Let's say I have 2 homes and 3 databases on my server.

My DBs are all running against HOME1. I am updating HOME2, and will move the databases to HOME2 and redo their catalogs one by one. I set my ORACLE_HOME to HOME2, and my ORACLE_SID to DB3 in preparation for patching. ORACLE_SID should play little part in the 'binaries' part of the CPU, so at this point I don't really care what the SID is.

When I run installcpu.sh, I get a warning:

"Seems that some databases in /home/oracle/product/8.1.7 are active Found instance: DB1 open"

When I set my ORACLE_HOME to HOME2 (which I am trying to patch) and my ORACLE_SID to DB1, and then open a sqlplus session, I get a 'connected to idle instance' message - as I would expect, because this database is not running against this HOME. So I see no evidence of this db running against the home I am patching.

Conversely, if I set my ORACLE_HOME to HOME1, leave my SID as DB1, and start a sqlplus session, I get in - as expected.

So why does the CPU installer think I have this DB1 database running against HOME2?

I have tried to grep for the text of the warning message in various files in the CPU install folder, in hopes of learning what it is looking for - but found nothing.

Mildly confused...

Thanks!

BD Received on Mon Mar 13 2006 - 18:29:03 CST