Hi You dont need to start the instance to create pfile/spfile from spfile/pfile. I have however found the culprit. In the beginning I thought RAC was using a spfile but it turns out it was using a pfile which contains a single line pointing to a spfile located in the raw device and that is why it was saying ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status please note how creating pfile and spfile works when instance is not started: Single Instance: [oracle@rac01 oracle]$ sqlplus "/ as sysdba" SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Mon Mar 20 14:14:28 2006 Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved. Connected to an idle instance. SQL> create spfile from pfile; File created. SQL> create pfile = '/tmp/init.ora' from spfile; File created. RAC: [oracle@rac01 oracle]$ sqlplus / as sysdba SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Mon Mar 20 14:17:23 2006 Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved. Connected to an idle instance. SQL> create spfile='/tmp/spfile.ora' from pfile; File created. SQL> create pfile='/tmp/pfile.ora' from spfile; create pfile='/tmp/pfile.ora' from spfile * ERROR at line 1: ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status Linux Error: 2: No such file or directory Additional information: 3 Cheers On 3/20/06, sol beach <sol.beach@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > >connected to an idle instance > > What part of the above do you NOT understand? > The database is DOWN. > You must have the database up & online to create a pfile. > > oerr ora 4030 > 04030, 00000, "out of process memory when trying to allocate %s bytes > (%s,%s)" > // *Cause: Operating system process private memory has been exhausted > // *Action: > > What did you change prior to shutdown? > > > > > On 3/19/06, LiShan Cheng <exriscer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > Hi > > > > I have modified some SGA related parameters in a RAC installation, two > > nodes and modified in both through spfile located in a raw device (ASM). The > > problem is after restarting the database both instance failed to start > > because it caused ORA-04030. > > > > I have tried to create pfile using pfile by performing following > > procedure: > > > > > > connect / as sysdba > > connected to an idle instance > > > > create pfile from spfile; > > > > Error: Not logon > > > > This same operation works in single instance database so I guess this is > > expected behaviour in RAC? > > > > > > TIA > > > > > > > > >