Using the Tricky NID Utility

Never did like the Metalink (My Oracle Support) document that described how to use NID.  This is a very powerful utility and can be hard for someone who hasn’t attempted to use it before.

I personally like to keep the ORACLE_SID uppercase…on both UNIX and Windows, it seems to make it more distinct and noticeable above all other TEXT.  So in this case I would change test1by to TEST1BY, see what I mean?

It doesn’t seem to get as lost among other mixed case words in a command.

Subject: How to Change the DBID and the DBNAME by using NID   Doc ID: 224266.1

Most of the instructions are correct and spot on…there is a critical point that they assume that you are running on Windows….It is after Step 4 of the second example of changing both the database ID and database name. Located near the bottom of the page.

4. Shutdown immediate of the database

***********At this point..if you are on Unix, logout completely of your session.  Log back in and execute oraenv for the new DBNAME. In this example it is the ORACLE_SID test1by

***********Now continue on with the instructions…

5. Modfiy the file init.ora of the database

change the parameter BD_NAME=TEST1 TO DBNAME=TEST1BY

 

6. create a new password file

Usage: orapwd file=<fname> password=<password> entries=<users>

where

file – name of password file (mand),

password – password for SYS (mand),

entries – maximum number of distinct DBA and OPERs (opt),

 

7. mount the database

SQL> startup mount pfile=d:\oracle\admin\test1by\pfile\inittest1by.ora

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 135338868 bytes

Fixed Size 453492 bytes

Variable Size 109051904 bytes

Database Buffers 25165824 bytes

Redo Buffers 667648 bytes

Database mounted.

************************If you are using an spfile…here is where this gets changed.

************************ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_NAME=test1by SCOPE=spfile;

8. Open the databse with RESETLOGS

SQL> alter database open resetlogs;

Database altered.

9. check the dictionary view for the new DBID and DBNAME

select dbid, name, open_mode, activation#, created from v$database;