Where is SPFILE Location in Oracle

Here is a quick glance at the default locations of SPFILE and PFILE in different platforms. For instance, Linux and Windows.

Linux/Unix

SPFILE

<ORACLE_HOME>/dbs/spfile<ORACLE_SID>.ora

PFILE

<ORACLE_HOME>/dbs/init<ORACLE_SID>.ora

Windows

Please note that, for Windows, directory name and filename are case-insensitive.

SPFILE

<ORACLE_HOME>\database\spfile<ORACLE_SID>.ora

PFILE

<ORACLE_BASE>\admin\<ORACLE_SID>\pfile\init.ora.<n>

There's no typos in the above path. The default location of PFILE on Windows truly depends on ORACLE_BASE. As you can see, they're somewhat different on path between SPFILE and PFILE on Windows.

Create Parameter Files

CREATE PFILE FROM SPFILE

If you create the parameter file without specifying any location, the default SPFILE will be used to create PFILE to its default locations.

SQL> CREATE PFILE FROM SPFILE;

File created.

Or vice versa.

CREATE SPFILE FROM PFILE

SQL> CREATE SPFILE FROM PFILE;

File created.

Oracle use the default files to operate with.

ASM

I don't see anyone use PFILE to startup a RAC database, PFILE is just a pointer to the location of SPFILE for a RAC node. So we focus only on SPFILE below.

The location of SPFILE may be different from version to version.

OMF

+<DISK_GROUP>/<DB_UNIQUE_NAME>/PARAMETERFILE/spfile.<m>.<n>

Non-OMF

+<DISK_GROUP>/<DB_UNIQUE_NAME>/spfile<DB_UNIQUE_NAME>.ora;

Where is SPFILE

Show Parameter Spfile

If you want to know the current SPFILE location, you can query the instance.

SQL> show parameter spfile;

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
spfile                               string      /u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0
                                                 /dbhome_1/dbs/spfileORCLCDB.or
                                                 a

Find PFILE

In some situations, DBA use a PFILE with non-conventional path to startup the database. You need more skills to find the location of PFILE.

Change Location of SPFILE

Normally, parameter files should stay where they are, but the location of SPFILE can be changed somehow, as long as you know how to do it.