Yep, and if you add the ability to select on a dummy table created for the purpose in each tablespace that contains user objects, then you can get a nice report on which of your tablespaces are currently available. _____ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 1:29 PM To: kevinc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: ORACLE-L Subject: Re: was (RE: SGADEF file?) is How to best detect database health On 8/29/06, Kevin Closson <kevinc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I will agree with Mr. Bobak. Connect to test that the database is not only started but is accessible to a non-privileged username. As you have stated, the non-privileged username is particularly important. For those that are wondering why that is important: 10:26:57 SQL>create user scott identified by tiger; User created. 10:27:02 SQL>grant create session to scott; Grant succeeded. 10:27:48 SQL>alter system enable restricted session; System altered. 10:27:54 SQL>connect scott/tiger ERROR: ORA-01035: ORACLE only available to users with RESTRICTED SESSION privilege Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE. 10:28:00 SQL> ...this is a great thread, but it has moved more into database health than "is the instance up", which was the initial thread. So let me ask, is connecting as a non-priveledged user really good enough? So you get a session. Are the datafiles online? Can you parse a SQL statement? etc ? -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist