True. I believe there is a comments column. I haven't done this, but this is where wrapping the call to ALTER SYSTEM in a PL/SQL package would elegantly solve the documentation problem. You pass in your parameter, value, comments for the change, since your prompted for all of it, and all the information is stored in tables that are queryable, reportable, blah, blah. The tables could also hold the before parameter values, and you can use it to generate ALTER commands to undo parameter changes. And so on, and so on. Again, spfiles are not pfiles, therefore you have to change your way of thinking and the way you administrator. -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Mercadante, Thomas F Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:54 AM To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: RE: Shooting yourself in the spfile Niall, Aren't you glad that you still have the init.ora file? :) As for the SPfile, Chris's example is the only one that I've seen so far that makes any sense for using the Spfile. When you are managing hundreds of databases across many remote sites, the Spfile makes sense. I just wish that the Spfile had a way of documenting when something was changed. When I change the Init.ora, I leave notes within the file detailing what changed and when for histories sake. The Spfile is just a mish-mash of the params not suitable for viewing. So now, I would need to update two things - the Spfile (via OEM or SqlPLus) and a Word document keeping track off changes. I'm not sure if this is better or worse. Tom Mercadante Oracle Certified Professional -----Original Message----- From: Niall Litchfield [mailto:n-litchfield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:36 AM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: Shooting yourself in the spfile Don't you just love it when a demo goes even better than you anticipated ORA-00381: cannot use both new and old parameters for buffer cache size spe= cification SQL> oops SP2-0042: unknown command "oops" - rest of line ignored. SQL> create spfile from pfile 2 ; create spfile from pfile * ERROR at line 1: ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [908], [], [], [], [], [], [], [] :(=20 Niall Litchfield Oracle DBA Audit Commission +44 117 975 7805=20 ********************************************************************** This email contains information intended for the addressee only. It may be confidential and may be the subject of legal and/or professional privilege. Any dissemination, distribution, copyright or use of this communication without prior permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------