Initialization Parameters in Oracle 10g

From the bestselling Oracle10g book, Oracle Database 10g New Features by Mike Ault, Madhu Tumma, and Daniel Liu.

by Mike Ault

The following discusses the initialization parameters in Oracle 10g.

Simplified Initialization Parameters — Initialization parameters are now divided into two groups, basic and advanced. In the vast majority of cases, it is necessary to set and tune only the basic parameters, of which there are 20 to 30, to get reasonable performance from the database. In rare situations, modification of the advanced parameters may be needed to achieve optimal performance.

Old Initialization Parameters — Oracle 10g has deprecated 25 old parameters.

New Initialization Parameters — Oracle 10g has introduced more than 20 new parameters.

Basic Parameters

In previous release of Oracle, all parameters were considered equally important. This made the administration and tuning of the database very difficult because database administrators need to become familiar with over 200 parameters. Oracle 10g introduces two classes of parameter: basic and advanced. In most cases, you need only set up the basic parameters for an Oracle 10g instance.

These basic parameters include:

• cluster_database
• compatible
• control_files
• db_block_size
• db_create_file_dest
• db_create_online_log_dest_n
• db_domain
• db_name
• db_recovery_file_dest
• db_recovery_file_dest_size
• instance_number
• job_queue_processes
• log_archive_dest_n
• log_archive_dest_state_n
• nls_language
• nls_territory
• open_cursors
• pga_aggregate_target
• processes
• remote_listener
• remote_login_passwordfile
• rollback_segments
• sessions
• sga_target
• shared_servers
• star_transformation_enabled
• undo_management
• undo_tablespace

The following is an example of the parameter file generated by DBCR utility (The basic parameters are in bold):

###########################################
# Archive
###########################################
log_archive_dest_1='LOCATION=/u03/arch/grid'
log_archive_format=%t_%s_%r.dbf

###########################################
# Cache and I/O
###########################################
db_block_size=8192
db_cache_size=25165824
db_file_multiblock_read_count=16

###########################################
# Cursors and Library Cache
###########################################
open_cursors=300

###########################################
# Database Identification
###########################################
db_domain=world
db_name=grid

###########################################
# Diagnostics and Statistics
###########################################
background_dump_dest=/u01/app/oracle/admin/grid/bdump
core_dump_dest=/u01/app/oracle/admin/grid/cdump
user_dump_dest==/u01/app/oracle/admin/grid/udump
timed_statistics=TRUE

###########################################
# File Configuration
###########################################
control_files=("/u02/ctl/grid/control01.ctl", "/u02/ctl/grid/control02.ctl")

###########################################
# Job Queues
###########################################
job_queue_processes=10

###########################################
# Compatibility
###########################################
compatible=10.1.0.0.0

###########################################
# Optimizer
###########################################
query_rewrite_enabled=FALSE
star_transformation_enabled=FALSE

###########################################
# Pools
###########################################
java_pool_size=104857600
large_pool_size=8388608
shared_pool_size=104857600

###########################################
# Processes and Sessions
###########################################
processes=150

###########################################
# Redo Log and Recovery
###########################################
fast_start_mttr_target=300

###########################################
# Security and Auditing
###########################################
remote_login_passwordfile=EXCLUSIVE

###########################################
# Sort, Hash Joins, Bitmap Indexes
###########################################
pga_aggregate_target=25165824
sort_area_size=524288

###########################################
# System Managed Undo and Rollback Segments
###########################################
undo_management=AUTO
undo_retention=10800
undo_tablespace=UNDOTBS1

In Oracle9i (9.2.0.3), there are 258 parameters in the v$parameter view. In Oracle 10g (10.1.0.0), there are more than 250 parameters in the v$parameter view. There are 233 parameters in both Oracle9i Release 2 and Oracle 10g Release 1.

Old Parameters

Twenty-five of the 258 parameters no longer exist in Oracle 10g’s v$parameter view; these are:

New Parameters

There are twenty more new parameters in Oracle 10g Release 1:

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Mike Ault is one of the leading names in Oracle technology. The author of more than 20 Oracle books and hundreds of articles in national publications, Mike Ault has five Oracle Masters Certificates and was the first popular Oracle author with his book Oracle7 Administration and Management. Mike also wrote several of the “Exam Cram” books, and enjoys a reputation as a leading author and Oracle consultant.