Re: How to find out concrete ORACLE

From: Brian Peasland <dba_at_nospam.peasland.net>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:27:47 GMT
Message-ID: <J403AK.2F9@igsrsparc2.er.usgs.gov>

Mladen Gogala wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:22:07 +0000, Brian Peasland wrote:
>

>> Actually, Bob's location, $ORACLE_BASE/admin is OFA compliant. As such, 
>> I would not consider this a "change" but a "standard". See the following:

>
> It maybe so, but I still don't see any reason for changing the default
> location. Parameter files have resided on $ORACLE_HOME/dbs since the time
> immemorial. When I acquired my first pet T-Rex, parameter files for
> Oracle 4 were in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs. Things were a bit different then,
> parameter names were "TABLES", "INDEXES" and alike and defined how many
> table and index definitions will be cached in SGA. There were views like
> "TAB" and "CAT", later replaced by ALL_TABLES and ALL_OBJECTS, but still
> fully functional. As I've said, parameter files, used by the IOR utility
> were in $SYS$ORACLE:[DBS]. I still don't see any reason to change that,
> even if somebody has updated OFA and moved spfile out of the $ORACLE_HOME
> tree. I don't follow computer religions without a reason. When you execute
> "CREATE SPFILE FROM PFILE" Oracle will look for
> $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init$ORACLE_SID.ora, process it and put the result into
> $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora. That means that $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
> is the default location at which software is looking for the parameter
> files. What would I gain by moving them out, except a very dubious
> qualification of being totally OFA compliant?
>
>

It seems to me that you are now changing your tone. In your previous post to this thread, you said "What is there to be gained by moving it to non-standard place?". All I showed was that Bob's location is a defined standard. :) In that same post, you said "What would be a reason for such a change? Why would I want to move that file elsewhere? To confuse the enemy or to make life harder for the possible new DBA?" When I would opine that putting the parameter file in $ORACLE_BASE/admin/$ORACLE_SID/pfile does not make life harder for the DBA because it conforms to a published standard that all Oracle DBA's should know. This should not be confusing to the Oracle DBA. You did add the adjective "new" to describe the DBA and that could mean one of two things to me...either a Junior DBA who has never seen Oracle before, or someone new to the company, but does have Oracle DBA experience. The individual who is new to the company but does have Oracle DBA experience should not find this confusing. The Junior DBA who has never seen Oracle before is most likely overwhelmed by a lot of things...this being one of them. But then that's what training of standards is for.

The question of whether to move the parameter file from its default location to the published OFA location is a completely different question. Why would one put the parameter file in $ORACLE_BASE/admin/$ORACLE_SID/pfile? Because 1) it centralizes all of your administrative files, 2) backups of all administrative files is as easy as backing up $ORACLE_BASE/admin, and 3) because it is a published standard. Why keep the parameter file in its default location? Because 1) all Oracle DBAs should be able to find it since they should know the default location and 2) the OFA standards were written before SPFILE's and automatic backups of such were implemented. Personally, it does not matter to me which of these two locations are used. Just don't go adding a third location that is not the default nor a published standard, and I'll be able to find the parameter file just fine. I may miss it on my first attempt to locate it, but I'll find it on my second attempt. ;)

Cheers,
Brian

-- 
===================================================================

Brian Peasland
dba_at_nospam.peasland.net
http://www.peasland.net

Remove the "nospam." from the email address to email me.


"I can give it to you cheap, quick, and good.
Now pick two out of the three" - Unknown

Received on Mon Aug 14 2006 - 13:27:47 CDT

Re: How to find out concrete ORACLE_HOME via SQL?