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CHAPTER 5
Managing Oracle Processes

In this chapter you will learn how to • Control the database • Start and stop iSQL*Plus • Start and stop Enterprise Manager Database Control • Start and stop the Oracle Listener • Start up and shut down Oracle Database 10g • Describe startup and shutdown options for the Oracle database • Handle parameter files • Locate and view the database alert log

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A number of processes are required for an Oracle server to be working, and usable. To begin with, you need a user process. This is the process that the end user runs: in the last chapter, you saw SQL*Plus and iSQL*Plus, but of course for a production system with a full user interface, the user process will be much morecomplicated than either of those. Then there is the management process, in our case Database Control; the Database Listener, a process that responds to connection requests from remote user processes; and finally, the background processes that make up the instance itself. In this chapter, you will go through starting these processes and then look at how the database itself is opened for use.

StartingSQL*Plus
This couldn’t be simpler. SQL*Plus is just an elementary process for issuing ad hoc SQL commands to a database. It is a client/server tool. On Windows systems, you have a choice between the character-based version, SQLPLUS.EXE, and the graphical version, SQLPLUSW.EXE. Both can be launched from a command prompt, or the standard installation of Oracle will have created a shortcut toSQLPLUSW.EXE in your Start menu. On Unix, there is just the one version, called sqlplus. On either operating system you will find the executable program in your ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. A variation you need to be aware of is the NOLOG switch. By default, the SQL*Plus program immediately prompts you for an Oracle username, password, and database connect string. This is fine for regular end users, but it isuseless for database administrators because it requires that the database be already open. To launch SQL*Plus without a login prompt, use the /NOLOG switch:
sqlplus /nolog

or for the Windows GUI version:
sqlplus w /nolog

This will give you a SQL prompt, from which you can connect with a variety of syntaxes, to be detailed in the sections that follow.

Starting iSQL*Plus
The iSQL*Plusprogram is a graphical version of SQL*Plus that runs as an Application Server service. End users connect to it from a browser, such as Internet Explorer. Conceptually, it is identical to SQL*Plus: it is a user process for issuing ad hoc SQL. The difference is that whereas the SQL*Plus user process is a single process on the client machine, iSQL*Plus divides the user process into two layers: a userinterface layer running in the user’s browser, which handles the bare bones of the graphical user interface (local window management, tracking mouse movements, keyboard control, and so on), and the application layer, which runs (typically) on a central server. It is

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this application layer product that we need to launch. Once running, it can be used byany browser anywhere. On Unix or Windows, launch the iSQL*Plus server with
isqlplusctl start

PART I

and stop it with
isqlplusctl st op

Alternatively, on Windows, you can start the iSQL*Plus server as a service, either through the Windows or from the command line with net start. To contact iSQL*Plus, issue the URL
http://:/isqlplus

GUI as shown in Figure 5-1, where is the addressof the machine hosting your Oracle installation, and is the IP port on which the iSQL*Plus server is listening. By default, this will be port 5560, but if your installation is nonstandard, it may be something different. Check the file portlist.ini in your ORACLE_HOME/install directory to see which port was

Figure 5-1 The iSQL*Plus logon screen—note the URL.

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