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Each week I check statistics for our web site, just to see if
anyone is stopping by and what they might be interested in. One
of the questions that has popped up more than once is "how do I
know if my database (instance) was started with a pfile or an
spfile?"
Probably the best way to determine if an spfile was used to
start the instance is to query the data dictionary view
v$spparameter. According to the Oracle documentation (bolded
is my note)
"V$SPPARAMETER displays
information about the contents of the server parameter
file. If a server parameter file (spfile) was not
used to start the instance, then each row of the view
will contain FALSE in the ISSPECIFIED
column."
The documentation further states that if an
spfile was not used to start the instance, then
It is possible to use both a pfile and an spfile at instance
startup. In this situation, when starting the database, you
would use a pfile, and then specify an spfile using the startup
parameter spfile. If the instance is not using an spfile
at startup, then spfile parameter value will be null.
SELECT name, value
FROM v$parameter
WHERE name = 'spfile';
NAME
----------------------------------------------------------------
VALUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
spfile
<null>
If the instance is using an spfile, then the query will
return the location of the spfile. If the instance is started
using an spfile in the default location, Oracle will default the
value, as in the query below.
SELECT name, value
FROM v$parameter
WHERE name = 'spfile';
NAME
----------------------------------------------------------------
VALUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
spfile
%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\SPFILE%ORACLE_SID%.ORA
Note: This tip was tested using Oracle9i.
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