Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide

Chapter 10. Administration with SQL*Plus

Beginning with the release of Oracle8i, SQL*Plus has been enhanced to allow you to perform several administrative functions that previously required the use of Server Manager. Using SQL*Plus, you can now perform the following tasks:

• Start up or shut down an Oracle instance

• Turn archive log mode on and off

• View memory usage of the System Global Area (SGA)

• Look at the settings for various initialization parameters

• Initiate media recovery for a database

Server Manager is still around, at least in the initial release of Oracle8i, but Oracle’s strategy is to make SQL*Plus the sole command-line interface to Oracle. Look for Server Manager to be desupported in some future release.

Connecting for Administrative Purposes

In order to start up, shut down, change archive log settings, or recover an Oracle database, you must log into the database in a way that is different from your normal approach. Usually you connect as yourself, but to do many of the tasks described in this chapter, you need to log in either as an operator or as a database administrator. Section 10.1.3, later in this chapter, shows you how to do this. In addition to logging in correctly, you must have the system privileges needed for the task you are performing. These are described next.

Privileges You Will Need

To perform administrative tasks, you need to have been granted one of the following two roles:

SYSOPER

SYSDBA

Exactly what you can do depends on which of the two roles has ...