Shutting down the Database System (SAP Library - Database Administration (Oracle) with SAPDBA)

Shutting down the Database System

You can shut down ORACLE databases with one instance (non-OPS configuration) and databases with several parallel instances (OPS configuration) with SAPDBA.

Non-OPS Configuration

From the initial SAPDBA screen, choose Startup/Shutdown instance ® Shutdown.... You can stop the database system in one of the following modes:

Shutdown normal : Select Shutdown normal to shut down the database system normally. Make sure only one process is connected to the database instance (status: Connected Programs: 1 - that is, SAPDBA is the only user process) if you want to use this option. You should shut down the database instance normally whenever possible.

Shutdown immediate : When more than one process is logged on to the database instance, you can use Shutdown immediate to close the database instance.

SAPDBA will not carry out a shutdown as long as the following conditions apply:

User sapr3 is still linked to the database system (the SAP System is still running).

Database contents are currently being backed up (the SAP program BRBACKUP is currently running).

If the database system is currently archiving online redo log files to the archiving directory (process ARCH is just backing up this online redo log file), the shutdown process may take several minutes.

If you use shutdown immediate to close the database instance, the links to all database users will be terminated as soon as their current commands have been processed. The ORACLE database system makes sure all open transactions are terminated and rolled back.

When the database instance has been shut down (with shutdown normal or shutdown immediate ), the state of the database instance is consistent. As a result, when you continue using the database system at a later time, no recovery procedures are required.

Shutting down the SAP System before the database system shuts down the background processes that are part of the SAP System. To find out whether background processes from other database instance users exist, enter the following command (depending on the operating system; here is a UNIX example):

OS> ps -eaf | grep ora

When the database system has been shut down, no "ora*" processes should appear. If background processes are still active, they should be shut down in order to avoid problems during reorganization and other operations (for example, using the UNIX command kill <process number> ).

End backup: During the shutdown procedure, SAPDBA carries out an ALTER TABLESPACE END BACKUP command for all the tablespaces involved. This command guarantees that every tablespace is closed in a consistent status. This can be necessary if the tablespace was prepared for saving with ALTER TABLESPACE BEGIN BACKUP but was not released with END BACKUP. Otherwise, the database system would require you to restore the tablespace in question during the next system startup.

Shutdown abort : Select Shutdown abort in the following cases:

You could not close the database instance with shutdown normal or shutdown immediate .

You know that a problem has occurred and that you must therefore close the database instance with shutdown abort .

If you are not quite sure, always attempt to shut down the database first with shutdown immediate before you use shutdown abort . In general, shutdown abort is only used for serious problems, such as data loss in connection with a volume or other volume-related problems.

When shutdown abort is used, the database instance is stopped immediately, with no regard for active transactions. The stopped database system therefore will have an inconsistent status.

Do not use shutdown abort to attempt to "kill" the database instance quickly if you can use shutdown immediate instead. After shutdown abort, there will be an immediate automatic recovery of the ORACLE instance (instance recovery) when starting again. Data changed after successful completion of a transaction is recovered automatically, but data changed by terminated transactions will be lost. The automatic instance recovery can significantly slow down the next startup operation. The overall time taken to stop and start the database instance is then significantly greater than with shutdown immediate and database instance startup.

OPS Configuration

From the initial SAPDBA screen, choose Startup/Shutdown instance ® Shutdown.... Have a look at the status information. You can stop all the instances (Shutdown all instances (normal/immediate/abort)) or an instance selected with Select remote/local instance (Shutdown selected instance...). You can choose between the options Shutdown normal/immediate/abort described above in this case as well.