definition of database

I had understood from reading here and from 3rd party books on Oracle that the term "database" is used interchangeably with "instance". However, after we installed one instance of Oracle and created the default database, I had access to the online Oracle documentation and read in the Oracle8 Administrator's Guide (we installed Oracle 8 Enterprise Edition on a Unix Sun OS 5.6) that we "can use this initial database and customize it to meet your information management requirements, or discard it and create one or MORE new databases to replace it".

Does this mean that I can create an additional database on the same instance? The potential advantage I see is a smaller unit of recovery (i.e., faster) if only one logically related group of datafiles needs to be recovered, since each database has its own control files, redo logs, System tablespace, dictionary, etc. It would appear that administration of multiple databases in one instance with the Oracle architecture might be more complex, however.

I am a DBA from the DB2/MVS world, with some Sybase (yuck) experience, and the same terms have very different meanings, depending on the environment.

Can MORE than one Oracle "database" be created in one instance? If not, is the Oracle8 Administrator's Guide paragraph above referring to creating MORE than one database on a *server*???? Thanks in advance. Please respond to mailto:pburke_at_ibm.net or mailto:pburke_at_american.edu, thanks.

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own Received on Wed Nov 18 1998 - 13:21:13 CST