That's because you tried to do an ALTER SYSTEM ... SCOPE=3DBOTH or SCOPE=3D= SPFILE. To do either of those you needed to start up with an SPFILE, IIRC.= = Pete = "Controlling developers is like herding cats." Kevin Loney, Oracle DBA Handbook = "Oh no, it's not. It's much harder than that!" Bruce Pihlamae, long-term Oracle DBA -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] = On Behalf Of Goulet, Dick Sent: Saturday, 25 September 2004 3:43 AM To: Mercadante, Thomas F; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: 9i poll on spfile feature Tom, That's odd because I tried that on an instance that I had started from =3D= a pfile(by mistake) & it yacked saying an spfile had not been used at =3D startup. Dick Goulet Senior Oracle DBA Oracle Certified 8i DBA -----Original Message----- From: Mercadante, Thomas F [mailto:thomas.mercadante@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 1:40 PM To: Goulet, Dick; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: 9i poll on spfile feature Dick, Sure I can. I can alter any SGA param on the fly wether I have an =3D spfile or not. The "alter system" commands work just fine. I think I'm missing your point. Tom Mercadante Oracle Certified Professional -----Original Message----- From: Goulet, Dick [mailto:DGoulet@xxxxxxxx]=3D20 Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 1:32 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: 9i poll on spfile feature Tom, If you rely soly on a PFILE, no you can't unless you restart the =3D3D instance which is a pretty hard thing to do in the middle of the day, =3D =3D3D especially when there are robots that are your clients. Dick Goulet Senior Oracle DBA Oracle Certified 8i DBA -----Original Message----- From: Mercadante, Thomas F [mailto:thomas.mercadante@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 1:21 PM To: Goulet, Dick; BSpears@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: 9i poll on spfile feature Dick, What do you mean you can't modify system params? I can modify any =3D3D =3D= system param on the fly. I just have to also to update the init.ora file. Again, I'm not losing any functionality. And the number of times I =3D3D =3D= modify the init.ora params I can count on one hand every three months. I also added a database shutdown trigger to issue an "alter database =3D3D backup controlfile to trace" in all my databases. Tom Mercadante Oracle Certified Professional -----Original Message----- From: Goulet, Dick [mailto:DGoulet@xxxxxxxx]=3D3D20 Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 1:11 PM To: BSpears@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: 9i poll on spfile feature Well, I'll disagree with Rachel. True having an INIT file is not =3D3D3D currently broke, but without it you can't modify system parameters, like =3D= =3D3D =3D3D3D shared_pool_size on the fly. So yes I have migrated to them, of =3D= course =3D3D =3D3D3D I'va also added "create pfile=3D3D3D3D<name> from spfile" to = my =3D shutdown =3D3D3D =3D3D script, along with "alter database backup controlfile to =3D trace". Save that there bacon, it's mine!! Dick Goulet Senior Oracle DBA Oracle Certified 8i DBA -----Original Message----- From: Spears, Brian [mailto:BSpears@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 11:17 AM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: 9i poll on spfile feature Just wanted to see what people have resorted to using in real world practice with the spfile. With 9i, are you still using the init file or have you migrated to =3D =3D3D3D =3D3D using the spfile ? If still using the Init file.. What is the main reason for continuing to using the init file. Brian -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l