Re: SYS vs. SYSTEM

From: quarkman <quarkman_at_myrealbox.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003 21:12:14 +1000
Message-ID: <oprtk2qofezkogxn@haydn>

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 21:43:31 +0100, Paul Brewer <paul_at_paul.brewers.org.uk> wrote:

> "quarkman" <quarkman_at_myrealbox.com> wrote in message
> news:oprtja2nb8zkogxn_at_haydn...
> They also have a phrase in the documentation about 'an
>> instance of a database'. It's equally meaningless and wrong.
>>
> No, it's not. That one at least is clear and easy to understand.
>
> Regards,
> Paul

Sorry, but then you misunderstand. An instance is one thing. And a database is quite another. There is no relationship between the two, other than forged by db_name and control_files in the init.ora you specify when starting an instance (which can always be changed).

You have a database regardless of whether an instance is in existence: its just a bunch of files on disk. And the database is permanent and exists entirely of itself.

There is in short no such thing as an "instance of a database".

There are many databases. There are incarnations of databases. And there is an instance which manages a database. But there are not instances *of* a database.

~QM Received on Fri Aug 08 2003 - 06:12:14 CDT