What is the difference between pfile, spfile and init.ora
502286May 11 2006 — edited May 11 2006Hi everybody,
I don't understand the difference between init.ora and spfile.
When I created my database I had a file that seemed to be an init.ora in /home/oracle/admin/iscream/pfile/ and I have another file in ./dbs/spfileiscream.ora and another here ./dbs/initiscream.ora.
Can you tell me which one has precedence to the other, what are their purpose?
Is there a view where I can see which init.ora is used?
At backup time two of these files are saved, I know the init.ora is used to start the database but I don't know what the other file is for (spfile).
Thanks fro precisions :)