It makes sense to me that these views would exist because they point to x$tables which are basically just sql friendly representations of structs in the oracle code (someone please feel free to correct or elaborate on this). I've never actually done this but I would expect every v$view to be present at startup nomount. That's not to say that you can actually select from all of them as ones relying on data in the controlfile will fail until the controlfile id mounted. Also, these views and tables are part of the oracle binary itself. There are some v$views and x$tables that will basically let you map the address of every struct that is backed by a table in the SGA. There is an excellent paper on this written by a guru who's name escapes me. Kyle something? Does anyone on this list know the paper and author to which I am referring? On 2/28/07, Jared Still <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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/