Oracle Tips by Burleson Consulting
October 26,  2008

Question:  I need a way to verify that my OEM and isqlplus and Oracle services are started.  How do you start the Oracle services?.

Answer: Oracle Windows processes are more difficult to manage as services, but there are way to monitor and start the Windows services.  For complete details on managing Oracle on a PC, see the book "".

In generic Windows, you start the Oracle service by clicking as follows:

1. 1 - Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. 2 - In Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools.
3. 3 - In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Services.

Sadly, the dbstart and dbstop shell scripts do not exist on Oracle Windows platforms. Consequently Oracle database startup and shutdown is implemented completely differently. The oradim utility is used on the Windows platform to perform these tasks.

C:\oracle11g\bin\oradim -startup -sid ORCL92 ?usrpwd manager
-starttype SRVC,INST -pfile C:\oracle9i\admin\ORCL92\pfile\init.ora

? startup ? Indicates that the specified instance should be started.
? sid ? The SID of the database to start.
? usrpwd ? The password for the database user.
? starttype ? Specifies whether to start the instance, the service, or both (SRVC, INST).
The following command can be used to shutdown the instance with oradim:

C:\oracle11g\bin\oradim -shutdown -sid ORCL92 -shutttype SRVC,INST
?shutmode A

Notice that no password is needed to perform this task.

The shuttype parameter specifies what is to be stopped ? the service (SRVC), the instance (INST), or both (SRVC, INST). The shutmode specifies the method that should perform the shutdown ? (A)bort, (I)mmediate, or (N)ormal.

Each operation, regardless of success, is logged in the oradim log file (ORACLE_HOME\database\OraDim.Log). This file should be checked for errors after each oradim command is executed.

The oradim utility provides more than just the ability to start and stop Windows databases. oradim can create and edit databases. It also allows DBAs to configure script-based installation mechanisms, bypassing the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant?s graphical user interface (GUI).

For a reference of all oradim commands, use the oradim ?help command.

References on starting Oracle Windows services: