Getting Started - Oracle RMAN for Absolute Beginners - page 11

Stopping the Database
Normally, you use the SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE statement to stop a database. The IMMEDIATE parameter instructs Oracle
to halt database activity and roll back any open transactions, for example:

SQL> shutdown immediate;
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

Table 1-3 provides a detailed definition of the parameters available with the SHUTDOWN statement. In most cases,
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE is an acceptable method of shutting down your database. If you issue the SHUTDOWN command
with no parameters, it's equivalent to issuing SHUTDOWN NORMAL .

Table 1-3. Parameters Available with the SHUTDOWN Command

Parameter Meaning

NORMAL Wait for users to log out of active sessions before shutting down.

TRANSACTIONAL

Wait for transactions to finish, and then terminate the session.

TRANSACTIONAL LOCAL Perform a transactional shutdown for local instance only.

IMMEDIATE Terminate active sessions immediately. Open transactions are rolled back.

ABORT Terminate the instance immediately. Transactions are terminated and aren't rolled back.

You should rarely need to use the SHUTDOWN ABORT statement. Usually, SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE is sufficient. Having
said that, there is nothing wrong with using SHUTDOWN ABORT . If SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE isn't working for any reason,
then use SHUTDOWN ABORT .

■ Note Stopping and restarting your database in quick succession is known colloquially as “bouncing the database.”

Starting and stopping your database is a fairly simple process. If the environment is set up correctly, you should
be able to connect to your database as a privileged user, and issue the appropriate startup and shutdown statements.

StartUp FOrCe

Sometimes in development environments, i'll quickly want to stop and start my database. For example, i might
want to do this because i've modified an initialization parameter that requires a database restart. You can
stop/start your database with one command:
SQL> startup force;

if your instance is currently running, the STARTUP FORCE command will shut down the instance (abort mode)
and restart it. This behavior may not be what you want in a production environment, but for test/development
databases, this is usually fine.