Using the SPFILE in a VCS cluster


Using the SPFILE in a VCS cluster
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Oracle versions earlier than Oracle9i used an initialization file initSID.ora, a text file, to start database instances. Changes that were applied to instance parameters during a database session were not saved to the file. You had to manually apply them to the initialization file.

When using the Cluster Server agent for Oracle, you can start a database instance by specifying a PFILE. If you do not specify the PFILE, the database instance starts up using the default SPFILE.

The agent attribute Pfile must specify the location of the PFILE. If your configuration uses the SPFILE, the contents of the PFILE must specify the location of the SPFILE, which must be created from the PFILE.

Note:

If you want the SPFILE's session parameter changes be persistent across an instance failover, then recommends you to save the SPFILE on shared storage.

To create the SPFILE from a PFILE

The SPFILE must be created from the PFILE. You must have the sysdba or the sysoper system privileges to create an SPFILE.
You can run the following command to create the SPFILE:
```
    CREATE SPFILE [= spfile_name] FROM PFILE [= pfile_name ];
```
If you do not specify the complete path for the SPFILE, this command creates an SPFILE at the default location ($ORACLE_HOME/dbs on Linux).

To specify the SPFILE location in the PFILE

To specify the location of the SPFILE in a PFILE, create a PFILE and specify the following entry in the PFILE:
```
    SPFILE = spfile_location
```
The variable spfile_location represents the complete path of the SPFILE. For example:
```
    SPFILE = /database/startup/spfileora1.ora
```
In this case, to start the database use the following command:
```
    startup pfile=location_of_pfile
```

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