Hi Friends, I have an Oracle instance (10.2.0.4.0 ) running in Sun OS sparc. The problem is that, after a few hours, the instance restarts itself producing all the trace files shown below in bold. I cannot see anything curious / faulty in alert log, as you can see nothing has been written to alert log as its time is still 17:52 and instance restarts at 18:30. Now if I try to connect it gives me ERROR: ORA-01034: ORACLE not available ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist SVR4 Error: 2: No such file or directory -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 163925 Jul 15 17:52 alert_CEK02.log -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 954 Jul 15 18:30 cek02_m001_12790.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2315 Jul 15 19:25 cek02_lgwr_7416.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:27 cek02_mman_7408.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:27 cek02_psp0_7406.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_qmnc_7465.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_reco_7428.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_q001_7485.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_dbw0_7410.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_ckpt_7423.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_mmnl_7440.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_cjq0_7430.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_mmon_7434.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2324 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_q000_7483.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2323 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_smon_7426.trc -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 2450 Jul 15 19:28 cek02_j000_11905.trc Please see the instance stats below. When I try to connect as sys, it shows connected to idle instance, but I can see the instance is running.I couldn't figure out what is happening.. $ ps -fu oracle | grep -i CEK02 oracle 9466 1 0 18:05:03 ? 13:07 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7434 1 0 17:52:12 ? 0:02 ora_mmon_CEK02 oracle 7408 1 0 17:52:10 ? 0:01 ora_mman_CEK02 oracle 10332 1 0 18:11:13 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9486 1 0 18:05:08 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7628 1 0 17:53:02 ? 0:06 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7485 1 0 17:52:29 ? 0:00 ora_q001_CEK02 oracle 9474 1 0 18:05:04 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7632 1 0 17:53:02 ? 0:02 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9743 1 0 18:07:13 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7406 1 0 17:52:10 ? 0:00 ora_psp0_CEK02 oracle 9453 1 0 18:05:01 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7442 1 0 17:52:12 ? 0:00 ora_d000_CEK02 oracle 7426 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:02 ora_smon_CEK02 oracle 7416 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:01 ora_lgwr_CEK02 oracle 7440 1 0 17:52:12 ? 0:04 ora_mmnl_CEK02 oracle 9480 1 1 18:05:06 ? 0:37 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9488 1 0 18:05:08 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9461 1 0 18:05:01 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7400 1 0 17:52:10 ? 0:03 ora_pmon_CEK02 oracle 10658 1 0 18:13:47 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 16843 1 0 19:00:44 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9428 1 0 18:05:00 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9484 1 0 18:05:08 ? 0:01 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7410 1 0 17:52:10 ? 0:01 ora_dbw0_CEK02 oracle 7423 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:02 ora_ckpt_CEK02 oracle 7444 1 0 17:52:12 ? 0:00 ora_s000_CEK02 oracle 7619 1 0 17:53:01 ? 0:07 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 9435 1 0 18:05:01 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 11905 1 0 18:23:49 ? 0:02 ora_j000_CEK02 oracle 7430 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:04 ora_cjq0_CEK02 oracle 7469 1 0 17:52:21 ? 0:02 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7428 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:00 ora_reco_CEK02 oracle 9482 1 0 18:05:07 ? 0:00 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7636 1 0 17:53:06 ? 0:03 oracleCEK02 (LOCAL=NO) oracle 7465 1 0 17:52:18 ? 0:00 ora_qmnc_CEK02 oracle 7483 1 0 17:52:29 ? 0:00 ora_q000_CEK02 $ ps -fu oracle | grep -i smon oracle 7426 1 0 17:52:11 ? 0:02 ora_smon_CEK02 // instance running $ echo $ORACLE_SID CEK02 $ sqlplus $ echo $ORACLE_HOME /applns/oracle/ora10g ksh: sqlplus: cannot execute $ ./bin/sqlplus SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Thu Jul 15 19:33:27 2010 Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved. Enter user-name: sys as sysdba Enter password: Connected to an idle instance. // Here it says idle instance... SQL> OS : - SunOS 5.10 Generic_118822-25 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Blade-1500 Oracle Version : 10.2.0.4.0 Any help is appreciated. Many Thanks, Sreejith Nair DISCLAIMER: "The information in this e-mail and any attachment is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If you have received this e-mail in error, kindly contact the sender and destroy all copies of the original communication. IBS makes no warranty, express or implied, nor guarantees the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information contained in this email or any attachment and is not liable for any errors, defects, omissions, viruses or for resultant loss or damage, if any, direct or indirect."