Forwarded for Sean Hull - he is having some email (sending) problems. Please reply to shull@xxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi All, I know it's been a very long time since I've posted. Mostly I'm just lurking, and reading these days. I'm working on a presentation for Collaborate 2007. I'm illustrating a very basica CREATE DATABASE, with only a few options. I want to illustrate the state of the data dictionary when: 1. startup nomount 2. after we have run create database (sql.bsq does what?) 3. after we have run catalog.sql I've been digging around myself, and for instance at stage #1 v$session, and v$parameter and so on are available. In face many v$ tables such as v$tablespace, and v$datafile are available, but return an error at this point because the db isn't mounted. After stage #2 those v$ tables work properly. Does anyone know of a good discussion of this, or thorough documentation on it. I would like to cover it a little better than my own investigations might. Thanks in advance, Sean -- Sean Hull, Founder Snr Consultant Heavyweight Internet Group http://www.iheavy.com Rockefeller Center, Box 5352 v: 646.827.9877x23 m: 917.442.3939 New York, NY 10185 Subs to Open Insights: http://www.iheavy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/687/638 BOOK Oracle & Open Source: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/oracleopen/ "Get Out of the Tech Hex": http://www.changethis.com/27.04.TechHex "MySQL for OracleDBA": http://dbazine.com/ofinterest/oi-articles/hull1/