Re: ora-01516 on alter database rename file

I have found a workaround to this problem to get my instance up and running but the underlying issue is still there.

In 8.0.4 you can issue a create tablespace command as follows

create tablespace fred datafile 'fred.dbf' size 2MB etc.

The tablespace will be created for you. If you then look in v$datafile you will see that the file is just called fred.dbf with no path specified.
the physical file will be in the same dir as the init.ora for the instance

The command alter database rename file 'fred.dbf' to 'path\fred.dbf' also works

In 8i if you try the same create statement it barfs on you and will not create the tablespace, and as stated previously, the alter database command will not work.

You can do an alter database close in 8i and copy the file to the new location of init.ora, but the alter database command will still not work. At least this way you get your instance up and running.

NB if you get an ora-01516 error with the data migration wizard on upgrading this could be down to this problem also!

The moral of the tale is, if doing an 8.0.4 upgrade to 8i check the name of the datafiles before attempting the upgrade in case some clown has created a datafile with no path specified Received on Tue Feb 26 2002 - 09:31:14 CST