Re: DBAs : SID Change ?

Nalini Vallampati <nalini.vallampati_at_daytonoh.attgis.com> writes:

>>In article <463pd4$5nv_at_news4.digex.net> Joe Nardone writes:
>>Harshan Ramarathnam (dbhayes_at_amoco.com) wrote:
>>: If you are on UNIX , you can set the environmental ORACLE_SID.
>>
>>I think they meant "change the SID of an existing database".
>>

Nope, ORACLE_SID just points to a particular instance of the database. It does not change the SID of an existing database. It merely connects you to the database with that SID.
>>Joe
>>
>
>Would it help to change the SID in all the files that has a SID ( oratab,
>init.ora/config.ora, .profile ) and then restart the database ? Or does
>the SID get into some Oracle binary file somewhere along the line and
>really cannot be changed ?
>
>Nalini
>
>Nalini Vallampati
>UNIX Admin/Oracle DBA
>AT&T Capital - GIS
>Miamisburg, OH 45342

Nope, oratab can have multiple entries for ORACLE_SID and init.ora and config.ora can be shared also. It is a good practice to have init.ora and config.ora files as follows:
init$ORACLE_SID.ora(initDB01.ora) where DB01 is your SID and confDB01.ora respectively.
When a user logs in and sets ORACLE_SID and uses oracle tools, the users is connected to the database with that ORACLE_SID. It is also recommended that ORACLE_SID not exceed more than 4 characters in case you want to move your database to a non-unix machine/OS e.g. windows/novell etc.
DBA nightmares abound when the DBA sets up the prod sid and thinks he is on test sid and says "shutdown abort" :). So be wary of it. I have a script which reads the oratab file and queries to which SID a user wants to connect to and sets up ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME at login. In case you folks are interested, send me e-mail.

Thanks
Mahesh Vallampati
Oracle Services
Internet: mvallamp_at_us.oracle.com
YellNet : 713-750-5002
// In the beginning there was Codd.... Received on Fri Oct 20 1995 - 00:00:00 CET