How to Revert OMF Spfile and Password File in RAC

Even though I chose NOT to use Oracle Managed Files (OMF) during Oracle 19c RAC database creation, I still got OMF spfile and password file with system-generated names like the following.

[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl config database -d orclcdb
Database unique name: ORCLCDB
Database name: ORCLCDB
Oracle home: /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/db_1
Oracle user: oracle
Spfile: +DATA/ORCLCDB/PARAMETERFILE/spfile.271.1055166363
Password file: +DATA/ORCLCDB/PASSWORD/pwdorclcdb.256.1055163645
Domain:
Start options: open
Stop options: immediate
Database role: PRIMARY
Management policy: AUTOMATIC
Server pools:
Disk Groups: DATA
Mount point paths:
Services:
Type: RAC
Start concurrency:
Stop concurrency:
OSDBA group: dba
OSOPER group: oper
Database instances: ORCLCDB1
Configured nodes: node1
CSS critical: no
CPU count: 0
Memory target: 0
Maximum memory: 0
Default network number for database services:
Database is administrator managed

I really like to virtualize the two files.

Solution

The best solution is to make a symbolic link that points to the original file, but we have no ln command in ASMCMD. Luckily, we can use mkalias instead.

For revert this setting, I first make alias files for current spfile and password file.

1. Make File Alias for Spfile

ASMCMD> cd +DATA/ORCLCDB/PARAMETERFILE
ASMCMD> ls -l
Type           Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
PARAMETERFILE  UNPROT  COARSE   OCT 30 14:00:00  Y    spfile.271.1055166363
ASMCMD> cd ..
ASMCMD> mkalias PARAMETERFILE/spfile.271.1055166363 spfile
ASMCMD> ls -l spfile
Type           Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
PARAMETERFILE  UNPROT  COARSE   OCT 30 14:00:00  N    spfile => +DATA/ORCLCDB/PARAMETERFILE/spfile.271.1055166363

2. Make File Alias for Password File

ASMCMD> cd +DATA/ORCLCDB/PASSWORD
ASMCMD> ls -l
Type      Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
PASSWORD  UNPROT  COARSE   OCT 30 13:00:00  Y    pwdorclcdb.256.1055163645
ASMCMD> cd ..
ASMCMD> mkalias PASSWORD/pwdorclcdb.256.1055163645 pwfile
ASMCMD> ls -l pwfile
Type      Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
PASSWORD  UNPROT  COARSE   OCT 30 13:00:00  N    pwfile => +DATA/ORCLCDB/PASSWORD/pwdorclcdb.256.1055163645
ASMCMD> exit

3. Modify Both File Locations for Database

[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl modify database -d orclcdb -spfile +DATA/ORCLCDB/spfile
[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl modify database -d orclcdb -pwfile +DATA/ORCLCDB/pwfile

Let's check the result.

[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl config database -d orclcdb
Database unique name: ORCLCDB
Database name: ORCLCDB
Oracle home: /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/db_1
Oracle user: oracle
Spfile: +DATA/ORCLCDB/spfile
Password file: +DATA/ORCLCDB/pwfile
Domain:
Start options: open
Stop options: immediate
Database role: PRIMARY
Management policy: AUTOMATIC
Server pools:
Disk Groups: DATA
Mount point paths:
Services:
Type: RAC
Start concurrency:
Stop concurrency:
OSDBA group: dba
OSOPER group: oper
Database instances: ORCLCDB1
Configured nodes: node1
CSS critical: no
CPU count: 0
Memory target: 0
Maximum memory: 0
Default network number for database services:
Database is administrator managed

Let's restart the database to verify the new file.

[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl stop database -d orclcdb
[oracle@node1 ~]$ srvctl start database -d orclcdb
[oracle@node1 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
...
SQL> show parameter spfile;

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
spfile                               string      +DATA/ORCLCDB/spfile

It works.

By the way, if you want to remove the alias files, don't use rm, use rmalias to remove the links instead.