Re: Q: Length of SID name on Unix systems

As a matter of interest, I just ran the Oracle Custom Database Creation process, and the application would not allow me to enter a SID of more than 4 characters. I am running Oracle 8 on NT.

On 3 Oct 1997 00:21:29 GMT, "Jeff Gentry" <jlgentry_at_worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>Don,
>
>It is possible that the impression of a four character limit on the
>ORACLE_SID is based on slightly out-of-date Oracle Flexible Architecture
>(OFA) documentation. Only a few years ago, OFA recommended a four
>character uppercase SID for all databases even though most (but not all)
>systems supported larger SIDs and database names. This may also be
>reflected in some older Oracle installation software that automatically
>created databases.
>
>The newest OFA definition I have (September 1995) changed this with the
>statement "Use a descriptive 8 character or shorter name." I have found
>that this and other OFA recommendations contribute to manageability,
>performance, and reliability of Oracle databases.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jeff Gentry Carpe Diem!!!
>Computer Systems Authority Systems Consultant
>jgentry_at_csac.com jlgentry_at_worldnet.att.net
>
>--
>Steve Adams <steve.adams_at_acslink.net.au> wrote in article
><34333027.287034624_at_newsserver.trl.oz.au>...
>> Hi Don,
>>
>> Internally, Oracle allows 9 bytes for the database name and 16 bytes
>> for the instance name. These are null terminated strings, so the
>> available length is one less. For the instance name, all characters,
>> even beyond 15 are significant for distinguishing instances, but if an
>> instance name exceeds 15 characters Oracle gives up and does not
>> record its name internally at all. This is fine in a single instance
>> configuration, but I would not be confident to try it in an OPS
>> environment, although logic says that it should be OK.
>>
>> Anyone else?
>>
>> Regards, Steve Adams
>> ----------
>> On Thu, 02 Oct 1997 03:33:55 GMT, myname_at_myisp.usa (The Kid) wrote:
>>
>> >We are bringing up Oracle on a SUN Solaris box
>> >
>> >It looks like the ORACLE_SID is limited to 4 characters. Is that
>> >true? That seems REALLY short, especially since we are going to have
>> >a number of instances running.
>> >
>> >Don
>>
>>
Received on Fri Oct 03 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST