Re: db cache size in oracle 9ir2

"Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message news:1069539193.545809_at_yasure...
>
> Come on Howard there are two other things the SPFILE is good for.
>
> 1. On-line permanent parameter changes

Achievable by remembering to edit your init.ora. Quite why 'alter system' plus edit init.ora is any worse than 'alter system and remember to scope=spfile if you *don't* want it to be permanently changed', I can't work out.

In other words, all the spfile does is shift the 'burden of proof', as it were. In the old days, I could dynamically alter something and be assured that such a change would NOT automatically become permanent. Now, I have to explicitly ask it not to be.

Your argument is that it was a pain to have to remember to make something permanent in the old days, but it's good that you don't have to any more.

It's two sides of the same coin, and I don't think that "heads" is any better, particularly, than "tails".

> 2. Keeping incompetent DBAs from making changes because they change the
> init.ora and think they've changed the database.

I don't believe it wise to design a system to deal with the incompetent, and I know you don't really believe that either.

> You have no idea how many times I've been saved from these people by the
> fact that they never learned about recompiling the sp file.

When there is a CLI tool that can directly edit the spfile in a supported fashion; when the init.ora is completely abolished so that there can be no confusion about where a parameter change should be made; when there are no bugs in its implementation such that dispatchers (for one) can be set correctly with 'alter system' commands; when the system polices itself such that it becomes impossible to set illegal values in the spfile; ...when all of that is done, then I will like the spfile. Until then, it's optional except in the case I outlined, and I see no need for one for most people most of the time.

But when they've done all of that, you have to ask why you need an spfile at all. If you are going to store parameters in a binary file, why not stick them in the control file itself and have done with it? Guess what I reckon will happen around 13.5z??

Regards
HJR Received on Sat Nov 22 2003 - 16:51:58 CST