Josh, This is a very bad idea. Even if you *could* do it, how in the world would you be able to fix it? If you cant start the database, then it's basically hosed. Just what are you trying to accomplish? Tom Mercadante Oracle Certified Professional -----Original Message----- From: Josh Collier [mailto:Josh.Collier@xxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 7:42 PM To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: using system event triggers Is there a way to use a system event trigger to prevent completion of database open if a criteria isn't met some psuedo code to elaborate: CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER sys.post_dup_check AFTER STARTUP ON DATABASE DECLARE db_name VARCHAR2 (50); BEGIN db_name := ora_database_name; IF db_name ! = ' whatever .WORLD' then don't open END IF; END; /