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Difference Between These Two Files

The SPFILE and PFILE are Oracle's two parameter files. The PFILE is a text file that must be edited manually and requires a database restart for changes to take effect. The SPFILE is a binary file introduced in Oracle 9i that allows for dynamic parameter changes without restarting the database through the ALTER SYSTEM command. The SPFILE avoids errors from manual PFILE editing and allows parameters to be changed in memory, just the SPFILE, or both. SAP recommends using the SPFILE over the PFILE.

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85 views2 pages

Difference Between These Two Files

The SPFILE and PFILE are Oracle's two parameter files. The PFILE is a text file that must be edited manually and requires a database restart for changes to take effect. The SPFILE is a binary file introduced in Oracle 9i that allows for dynamic parameter changes without restarting the database through the ALTER SYSTEM command. The SPFILE avoids errors from manual PFILE editing and allows parameters to be changed in memory, just the SPFILE, or both. SAP recommends using the SPFILE over the PFILE.

Uploaded by

Subramani Sambandam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Difference between these two files SPFIE and PFILE?  What are their advantages?

I will answer the second part of your question first (the difference between SPFILE
and PFILE). Oracle provides two different types of parameter files that you can use,
PFILE and SPFILE.

THE PFILE

Until Oracle 8i, we were using a text file called the PFILE (parameter file) for setting
the database initialization parameters. This PFILE is read at instance startup time to
get specific instance characteristics. The PFILE is text based, and can be edited in
an editor like vi on UNIX or Notepad on Windows. Any changes that were made in
PFILE would only take effect when the database is restarted

Since SAP/Oracle recommends using SPFILE over PFILE, I will provide some details
on SPFILE to answer your question in more detail.

THE SPFILE

In Oracle9i, a new feature called SPFILE (server parameter file) was introduced.
SPFILE is a binary file that contains the same information as the old PFILE. SPFILE
permits dynamic changes without requiring you to restart that instance.

By default, if you do not specify PFILE in your STARTUP command, Oracle will use
server parameter file (SPFILE). If you choose to use the traditional text initialization
parameter file (PFILE), you must specify the PFILE clause when issuing the
STARTUP command.

The SPFILE is different from the PFILE in that it can not be directly edited. This is
because it has a header and footer that contain binary values. Since you can not
change a SPFILE directly, Oracle allows you to manage the SPFILE via the ALTER
SYSTEM command.

When you execute the ALTER SYSTEM command, the parameter change is validated
immediately, which helps avoid errors associated with entering an incorrect
parameter name or an invalid value. In addition, the ALTER SYSTEM allows you to
specify whether you want to update the parameter immediately, update just the
SPFILE, or both. All these features help avoid human error associated with manually
updating a PFILE.
The following example shows how to change the current value of SESSIONS and
store the value in the SPFILE.

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET SESSIONS=200 SCOPE=SPFILE; The new part in this
command is the parameter SCOPE. You have the following options for this.
SCOPE = SPFILE

(For both static and dynamic parameters, changes are recorded in the spfile, and
will take effect in the next restart.)
SCOPE = MEMORY

(For dynamic parameters, changes are applied in memory only. No static parameter
change is allowed.)
SCOPE = BOTH

For dynamic parameters, the change is applied in both the server parameter file
(SPFILE) and memory. No static parameter change is allowed.)
For dynamic parameters, we can also specify the DEFERRED keyword. When
specified, the change is effective only for future sessions.
Now for the first part of your question. Since you are using Oracle 10G, you have to
use the ALTER SYSTEM command to change the Oracle parameters as
recommended by the SAP Early Watch Alert.

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