dbassist (8.1.7) vs. dbca (9.2)

Platform: Oracle EE 8.1.7 and 9.2.0 on Solaris 8

After using dbca to successfully (and surprisingly easily) create my first 'from scratch' db (9.2.0) on a Unix platform, I began to do one today for 8.1.7. (I know, but the vendor says they won't support 9.2 until their next release . . . a long story).

Surprise #1 -- couldn't find an executable file called dbca. Even the docs at tahiti weren't much help, even though a search on 'dbca' got hits that talked about 'Database Configuration Assistant'. A few minutes in the ng archives suggested I look for a 'dbassist.' Ok, it wouldn't be the first time Oracle renamed something for no apparent reason.

So, running dbassist and selecting for a 'custom' database' . ..

Surprise #2 -- dbassist would only allow me to specify 3 discreet redo log files -- no groups.

Surprise #3 -- dbassist would not allow me to specify LMT.

My solution was to have dbassist save scripts instead of creating the db directly. I then edited the scritps to make the changes I wanted -- multiplexed redo log file groups and LMT on everything except SYSTEM. Other than these changes (and placement of files on various file systems other than /u01) I pretty much took all the defaults for an OLTP database with dedicated servers.

Question #1 -- did I overlook some functionality in dbassist? Question #2 -- If anyone remembers back far enough (!) do you recall any 'gotchas' to the defaults genned by dbassist? Received on Mon Apr 05 2004 - 17:00:45 CDT