Joel, I am assuming this is Oracle10gR2. If yes, when you use STARTUP on a physical standby database it mounts it as standby and opens read only. If you just use STARTUP MOUNT, it mounts in standby mode. In other words, the two methods you have included are same, as far as it is Oracle10gR2. Thanks Chandra Pabba _____ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joel.Patterson@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 2:50 PM To: Oracle-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Standy Startup READ ONLY Are these two the same? Why does startup appear to work the same? In other words I could have a start 'all' script without making exceptions for the READ ONLY standby database? What is making it start this way automatically. (which is fine if it is correct). Startup nomount alter database mount standby database; alter database open read onlyl; select open mode from v$database; READ ONLY shutdown immediate startup select open mode from v$database; READ ONLY Joel Patterson Database Administrator joel.patterson@xxxxxxxxxxx x72546 904 727-2546