ORA-00209

I was asked to move a database from a Linux server to a Solaris server today. Nobody knows who created the source database. The last update to the parameter file was made in 2006. The person who did it used one of those sample init.ora files and made the necessary changes for the database in question. However, for some reason he (or she, as we have had a couple of female DBA’s where I work in the past) duplicated a large part of the parameter file so it contained 2 copies of several parameters! To avoid confusion, the parameter file for the target database only has one copy of each parameter. However, the spare parameters in the source database never caused a problem. Oracle simply used the value from the last copy of any given parameter. So , if your parameter file includes the following:

 

open_cursors=100

open_cursors=200

 

When you open the database, it will look like this:

 

SQL> l

  1  select value from v$parameter

  2* where name = 'open_cursors'

SQL> /

 

VALUE

------------------------------

200

 

SQL>

 

It even seems to be able to handle the situation where the first parameter is wrong. So if your parameter file includes the following:

 

db_block_size=4096

db_block_size=8192

 

When you open the database, it will look like this:

 

SQL> select value from v$parameter

  2  where name = 'db_block_size';

 

VALUE

------------------------------

8192

 

SQL>

 

Obviously, if you put the incorrect parameter last, the database will not open. So, if your parameter file includes the following:

 

db_block_size=8192

db_block_size=4096

 

Your database will not open:

 

SQL> startup

ORACLE instance started.

 

Total System Global Area   76518176 bytes

Fixed Size                   733984 bytes

Variable Size              67108864 bytes

Database Buffers            8388608 bytes

Redo Buffers                 286720 bytes

ORA-00209: control file blocksize mismatch, check

alert log for more info

 

SQL>