I believe that feature was introduced with 10g, that Oracle automatically detects wether it's a standby controlfile or not, and mounts it accordingly after a standard "ALTER DATABASE MOUNT;" Cheers Stefan ========================= Stefan P Knecht CEO & Founder s@xxxxxxxx 10046 Consulting GmbH Schwarzackerstrasse 29 CH-8304 Wallisellen Switzerland Phone +41-(0)8400-10046 Cell +41 (0) 79 571 36 27 info@xxxxxxxx http://www.10046.ch ========================= On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 10:03 AM, Ahbaid Gaffoor <ahbaid@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Thanks Jeremiah, > > that's a very valid concern, Oracle being able to change the format at will > could blow the script away unexpectedly. > > I don't know why, but for some reason I always thought a standby needed to > go from a NOMOUNT state to MOUNT via "ALTER DATABASE MOUNT STANDBY > DATABASE".... > > I verified that I could go to MOUNT via. "STARTUP MOUNT" directly and start > MRP. Just shows you (read "me") can get stuck in your ways and not realise > the obvious, Ha! > > going to MOUNT and then querying V$DATABASE does the trick... > > now should I go to bed (1am) or muck around with the script..... :) > > thanks for the help > > Ahbaid > > > > > Jeremiah Wilton wrote: > >> Ahbaid, >> >> I strongly suspect you would be able to work out how to tell a standby >> controlfile from a normal controlfile using tools like dd and od. With >> some >> study of controlf traces and od output, I think you could figure it out. >> The problem with this approach is that you are assuming Oracle will not >> change the location, format or value of this flag in future versions and >> in >> different platforms. >> >> The easiest solution to your problem is to simply use 'startup' on any >> database you are trying to start up. A primary will (hopefully) make it >> all >> the way open. A standby will fail to open with " ORA-16004: backup >> database >> requires recovery" and remain in mount mode, ready for recovery. >> >> If this lacks the elegance you seek, how about you startup mount any >> database, then: >> >> select controlfile_type from v$database; >> >> If it is CURRENT, then 'alter database open;' >> If it is STANDBY, then start recovery. >> >> Regards, >> >> Jeremiah Wilton >> Blue Gecko, Inc. >> http://www.bluegecko.net >> >> Ahbaid Gaffoor wrote: >> >> >> >>> thanks for the feedback, what I'm trying to do is write a controlling >>> script for all of my dbs, and I was wondering how would I get the >>> standbys started? >>> >>> On a primary I usually do a "STARTUP" but on a standby I do: >>> >>> STARTUP NOMOUNT; >>> ALTER DATABASE MOUNT STANDBY DATABASE; >>> >>> ... then start the managed recovery processes, etc. >>> >>> the problem here is that I'd like to know the controlfile type to >>> figure >>> out which set of mount commands to use.... >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> > > -- > //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l > > >