Fred, One thing to consider is "Why is the database down?" If it is down for backups, maintenance, etc. starting up in the middle of the process would have an impact on the work and probably render it useless. If the database has 'crashed', attempting to bring it back up can cause serious problems (been there...had to fix it). These scenarios are something you will need to plan for and have some mechanism for addressing. Regards, Daniel Fink Fred Smith <fred_fred_1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I'm looking to make a cronjob that will every 5 minutes check if the database is up, and if not, start it. Does anyone have a script that does this available? Thanks. _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l