You can log on as the operating system user who owns the data files of the database system. The standard Oracle user created during the installation of the SAP System is ora<sapsid> .

You can also use SAPDBA if you are logged on as the SAP System user <sapsid>adm . This requires the authorization for program SAPDBA to be set accordingly (for example, under UNIX: rwsr_xr_x orac11 dba sapdba ). The advantage of this procedure is that the administrator who works with SAPDBA does not have the authorizations of user ora<sapsid> (who can delete database files directly, for example, and perform other critical operations for the database).

SAPDBA establishes the connection to the database with a special database user who has authorization to create and delete tablespaces, to create data files, and so on (DBA privileges). This default user is system .

For more information about the user concept, see UNIX User Configurations.

If you start SAPDBA with a script, as a background job or from the command line, you must not use special characters (such as $ or #) in the user name and password.

If SAPDBA does not find another profile, it uses the values set in the default profile init<DBSID>.dba . See SAPDBA Configuration. SAPDBA works with default values set internally if no profile is found.

Specifies the default number of extents with which SAPDBA performs checks. The extent number 2 is always proposed if no value is specified explicitly. You can find this value in the Check Functions of the menu Tablespace administration . These analyses are also performed if there is a check run with sapdba -check .

Specifies a DBA user different to the default user ( system/<default password> ).

<user name> : Database DBA user that you defined
<password> : Password of DBA.

If possible, avoid starting SAPDBA with the command option -u and the immediate entry of user name and password. In this case, the command line with the DBA user and its password can be displayed in the UNIX process list (for example, by using the ps command).

Enter the password interactively. When you use sapdba -u <user> , the system prompts you to enter a valid password. In this case, the password does not appear on the screen as it is entered and is not displayed in the process list. Depending on the operating system the password length is limited to a certain number of places (for example, 8 characters for HP-UX, 32 characters for AIX).

Specifies a DBA user different to the default user ( system/<default password> ). In contrast to the sapdba -u command option, the password appears on the screen when it is entered interactively (it does not appear in the process list). The length of the password is unlimited.

The option -l is required, for example, to start SAPDBA with CRON.

The superuser is always internal . You can specify the password either as part of the command line or interactively. If you enter the password interactively, it appears neither on the screen nor in the process list.

OS> sapdba -u system –

SAPDBA prompts you for the password. The password is not visible on the screen.

OS> sapdba -l system –

SAPDBA prompts you for the password. The password appears on the screen.

OS> sapdba -l system < <file name> -

The password is written to the file <file name> . Access to this file can be restricted with operating system privileges.

OS> sapdba -u / -

Call for an OPS$ user (also applies to background processing). To make sure that the password is not visible in the process list, you can create an OPS$ user (see Oracle documentation and information in SAP Service Marketplace) in the database and assign the same DBA authorizations as those of the system user.