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Oracle DBA Pocket Guide
instance. The SID is a unique name that is used to identify a
particular instance across your entire environment. Typi-
cally, the INIT.ORA file is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/
dbs directory.
NOTE
Refer to the Oracle documentation for the default loca-
tion of this file for your particular operating system.
You must be sure to store the INIT.ORA file in a location
where it is accessible to the client that’s starting the database.
Because the INIT.ORA file is a simple text file, it can be
modified using any ASCII editor. However, be careful not to
use a word-processing program like Microsoft Word to edit
the INIT.ORA file; doing so can easily make the file unread-
able by Oracle. If you must use Word to create or modify the
file, be sure to save it as a plain ASCII text file.
Parameters are typically entered into the file with one param-
eter and value per line, as shown in the previous example.
Comments may be added after a parameter or on their own
line (preceded by the # symbol):
# The following line contains a comment
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT = 8 # Do not change
SPFILE: The Server Parameter File
The server parameter file, known as the SPFILE, differs from
the standard INIT.ORA file in a number of ways:
• It is a binary file, rather than a text-based file.
• It is stored on the server, rather than on a client machine.
• It can maintain changes to parameter values over