Re: Why are people so afraid of underscore parameters ?

"Bass Chorng" <bchorng_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:bd9a9a76.0208221016.3f3f9dcf_at_posting.google.com...
> My boss does not allow DBAs to use any underscore parameters.
> He seems to be unreasonably freaked out upon hearing one.
>
> Some also advise that you should never use it without being
> instructed by Oracle Support.
>
> A lot of good tuning parameters in 8i have gone undergound in 9i.
> Some parameters have stayed undergound since Oracle 7 but really
> should be normalized, such as _trace_files_public which I see
> no reason to be hidden. I have never seen a single
> production site not using that (except current one). It is a no
> brainer parameter.

Then I obviously have no brain since we do not use it. On the other hand as this parameter does not appear in a search of the Oracle Documentation the idea that the majority of sites set it to something seems unlikely. In addition now that I have found it documented elsewhere I have a couple of further questions

1. Does it apply to all operating systems? Seems likely it would be irrelevant on NT.
2. Why are non-dba users looking at trace files on a Production system anyway? That is the DBA's job.

In short even this 'no-brainer' of a parameter illustrates that *in general* hidden parameters are hidden for good reasons (much better than reducing the number of visible parameters).

--
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK
*****************************************
Please include version and platform
and SQL where applicable
It makes life easier and increases the
likelihood of a good answer
******************************************