To check the patches installed in oracle:

go to $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
In cmd, run command: opatch lsinventory detail

Some useful commands:

1. select d.owner,sum(u.bytes)/1024/1024 "MB USED"
from dba_segments d,user_segments u
where d.tablespace_name=u.tablespace_name
group by d.owner
2. select tablespace_name, sum(bytes)
from dba_free_space
group by tablespace_name
3. select a.tablespace_name, a.free_bytes*100/b.total_bytes
from
(select tablespace_name, sum(bytes) free_bytes
from dba_free_space
group by tablespace_name) a,
(select tablespace_name, sum(bytes) total_bytes
from dba_data_files
group by tablespace_name) b
where a.tablespace_name=b.tablespace_name;
4. select
nvl(b.tablespace_name,
nvl(a.tablespace_name,'UNKOWN')) name,
kbytes_alloc kbytes,
kbytes_alloc-nvl(kbytes_free,0) used,
nvl(kbytes_free,0) free
from ( select sum(bytes)/1024 Kbytes_free,
max(bytes)/1024 largest,
tablespace_name
from sys.dba_free_space
group by tablespace_name ) a,
( select sum(bytes)/1024 Kbytes_alloc,
sum(maxbytes)/1024 Kbytes_max,
tablespace_name
from sys.dba_data_files
group by tablespace_name
union all
select sum(bytes)/1024 Kbytes_alloc,
sum(maxbytes)/1024 Kbytes_max,
tablespace_name
from sys.dba_temp_files
group by tablespace_name )b
where a.tablespace_name (+) = b.tablespace_name;

 ORA-01034 & ORA-27101: Shared Memory Realm Does Not Exist

ORA-12701 may occur from various reason . According to the oracle doc's ,
ORA-27101 : shared memory realm does not exist
Cause : Unable to locate shared memory realm .
Action : Verify that the realm is accessible .
ORA-27101 and ORA-01034 combined may occurs in various scenarios .The main reason for this
error is that the database is not up. When we try to connect with oracle database or sometimes during
installation we may get this error . We may face this error in some other scenario's too . Here are few
possible scenario's ( some scenario's are from window platform and some are from Linux platform )
Case 1 : When try to connect with normal user we get the error as
C:\>sqlplus
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Mon Feb 6 11:22:08 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter user-name: scott
Enter password:
ERROR:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0
To solve this issue , set the ORACLE_SID and start the database using the "sys" user as sysdba and
start the database ,
C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus sys/xxxx@noida as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Mon Feb 6 11:25:13 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 535662592 bytes
Fixed Size
1375792 bytes
Variable Size
331350480 bytes
Database Buffers
197132288 bytes
Redo Buffers
5804032 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
Case 2 : On a system with multiple IP addresses, when we connect with sqlplus locally on the server
(i.e. "sqlplus user/password") everything is OK, but connecting through a TNS alias, either from the
network or locally on the server, we get the the following errors :
$ sqlplus user/password@db_alias
ERROR:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
SVR4 Error: 2: No such file or directory
We need to Manually startup the database or check whether the listener is started or not . So either
connect as
$export ORACLE_SID=noida
$ sqlplus sys/password as sysdba

SQL>startup
or
check the status of listener if not started then start the listener as
$lsnrctl
lsnrctl> stop
lsnrctl>start
lsnrctl>exit
$export ORACLE_SID=noida
$sqlplus sys/password@noida as sysdba
SQL> startup
Case 3 : Make sure while connecting, that the ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME is correctly set .
There should not be trailing trash in ORACLE_HOME path . So, set ORACLE_SID before connecting as
:
Linux :
$export ORACLE_SID=noida
$sqlplus sys/xxxx@noida as sysdba
SQL> startup
Window :
C:\> set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\> sqlplus sys/xxxx@noida as sysdba
C:\> startup
Case 4 : Sometimes in case of window , if event log is full , then we get this error . So delete the
event logs and try to connect again .

SQL*Plus Error Logging in Oracle 11g

SQL*Plus is the commonly used tools by the DBAs . Sql*Plus Error Logging is one of the new useful
feature in Oracle 11g .It provides additional methods of trapping errors . When error logging is
enabled, it records sql , pl/sql and sql*plus errors and associated parameters in an error log
table(SPERRORLOG by default) and we can then query the log table to review errors resulting from a
query.
Note : It is a 11g SQL*Plus feature not with database engine.
Why Error Logging ?
We normally spool the syntax to capture the errors from the scripts and track the spool logs for the
error output . This is work fine for single or few script but cumbersome when multiple scripts are
involved.Secondly we need the OS path to store the scripts,permission and all . To overcome from this
scenario's Error Logging is useful feature to capture and locate the errors in the database table
rather than the OS files .
Steps to Activate the Error Logging :
1.) Check the status of Error Logging : To check the status of error logging , fire the below
command
SQL> show errorlogging
errorlogging is OFF
Note: Error logging is set OFF by default.

2.) Enable the Error Logging : Whenever we enable the error loging the default table
SPERRORLOG is created . Enable by using the below command
SQL> set errorlogging on
SQL> show errorlogging
errorlogging is ON TABLE SCOTT.SPERRORLOG
As, we see that the default table "SPERRORLOG" is created in scott schemas, since the current user is
scott . Hence, sperrorlog table is created current user .
Creating a User Defined Error Log Table :
We can create one or more error log tables to use other than the default . Before specifying a user
defined error log table , let's have look on default errorlog
SQL> desc
Name
---------------USERNAME
TIMESTAMP
SCRIPT
IDENTIFIER
MESSAGE
STATEMENT

Null?
--------

sperrorlog
Type
-------------------VARCHAR2(256)
TIMESTAMP(6)
VARCHAR2(1024)
VARCHAR2(256)
CLOB
CLOB

For each error, the error logging feature logs the following bits of information. To use a user defined
log table, we must have permission to access the table, and we must issue the SET ERRORLOGGING
command with the TABLE schema.tablename option to identify the error log table and the schema if
applicable. Here is syntax to create user-defined table..
SQL> set errorlogging on table [schema].[table]
for example :
SQL> set errorlogging on table hr.Error_log_table
Demo to create user-defined table :
Step 1 : Create the table : If we want create the error logging user-defined table and if table
doesnot exist then get the below error as
SQL> set errorlogging on table hr.Error_log_table
SP2-1507: Errorlogging table, role or privilege is missing or not accessible
create the table as
SQL> create table Hr.Error_log_table ( username varchar(256), timestamp TIMESTAMP, script
varchar(1024), identifier varchar(256), message CLOB, statement CLOB) ;
Table created.
Step 2 : Create user-defined error logging table
SQL> show errorlogging
errorlogging is OFF
SQL> set errorlogging on table hr.Error_log_table
SQL> show errorlogging
errorlogging is ON TABLE hr.Error_log_table
Step 3 : Generate some errors
SQL> selet * from employees ;
SP2-0734: unknown command beginning "selet * fr..." - rest of line ignored.
SQL> select * from employe ;
select * from employe
*

ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
SQL> set linesze 2000
SP2-0158: unknown SET option "linesze"
Step 4 : Check the error logging from the user-defined errorlog
SQL> select * from hr.Error_log_table ;
SQL> commit ;

Without commit, other sessions wont see this information. Here i have commit it and taken the output
from other session for the sake of proper formatting purpose.
We can truncate to clear all existing rows in the error log table and begins recording errors from the
current session. as
SQL> set errorlogging on truncate
SQL> select * from Error_log_table ;
No rows selected

We can also set an unique identifier to make it easier to identify the logging record.We can use it to
identify errors from a particular session or from a particular version of a query.
SQL> set errorlogging on identifier 'MARK'
SQL > select * from employ ;
select * from employ
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
Now check the identifier :
SQL> select * from hr.Error_log_table ;

We can delete records as the regular table.

SQL> delete hr.Error_log_table where IDENTIFIER='MARK' ;
SQL> commit;
Disable Error Logging :
SQL> set errorlogging OFF
SQL> show errorlogging
errorlogging is OFF

ORA-01078 : Failure in Processing System Parameters

ORA-01078 is generally occuring when a corrupt spfile file is being used or the parameter file
(spfile/pfile) may be missing from the default or specified location . The spfile is present in the
default location $ORACLE_HOME/dbs for Unix and %ORACLE_HOME%\database for window .We
may get ORA-01078 when starting the database as
C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus sys/xxxx as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Wed Feb 8 14:14:54 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup
ORA-01078 : failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109 : couldnot open parameter file 'C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATAB
ASE\INITNOIDA.ORA'
SQL> exit
Disconnected
There is no way the spfile can be repaired or modified manually . The only solution is to either restore
the spfile from the rman backup or recreate a new pfile and then create spfile . If a SPFILE backup
exists , restore it to the original location . The SPFILE backup could be a copy of the spfile or from a
RMAN backup. Restore the spfile from backup as
C:\>rman target /
Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Wed Feb 8 14:16:38 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
connected to target database (not started)
RMAN> startup force nomount
startup failed: ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file
'C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATABASE\INITNOIDA.ORA'
starting Oracle instance without parameter file for retrieval of spfile
Oracle instance started
Total System Global Area
Fixed Size
Variable Size
Database Buffers
Redo Buffers

159019008 bytes
1373264 bytes
75500464 bytes
75497472 bytes
6647808 bytes

RMAN> restore spfile from autobackup;

Starting restore at 08-FEB-12
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=97 device type=DISK
RMAN-00571:
===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571:
===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at 02/08/2012 14:32:35
RMAN-06495: must explicitly specify DBID with SET DBID command
RMAN> restore spfile from 'E:\rman_backup\cf\C-1523131116-20120208-01';
Starting restore at 08-FEB-12
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring spfile from AUTOBACKUP E:\rman_backup\cf\C-1523131116-

20120208-01
channel ORA_DISK_1: SPFILE restore from AUTOBACKUP complete
Finished restore at 08-FEB-12
RMAN> shutdown
Oracle instance shut down
RMAN> startup
connected to target database (not started)
Oracle instance started
database mounted
database opened
Total System Global Area
535662592bytes
Fixed Size
1375792
bytes
Variable Size
331350480 bytes
Database Buffers
197132288 bytes
Redo Buffers
5804032
bytes
RMAN> exit
Recovery Manager complete.
C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Wed Feb 8 14:38:11 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
SQL> select name , open_mode from v$database ;
NAME
OPEN_MODE
--------- -------------------NOIDA
READ WRITE
If no spfile backup exists,we can use an existing pfile and startup the database , but this pfile may or
may not contain all the non default parameter because the spfile is updated dynamically . So it is
better to obtain the list of all the non-default parameter list in the alert log file and then create the
pfile . Once the pfile is created we can create the spfile from pfile . Below is some contained of the my
alert log file .
SYS auditing is disabled
Starting up:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options.
Using parameter settings in server-side spfile
C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATABASE\SPFILENOIDA.ORA
System parameters with non-default values:
---------->> copy from here <<-------------------processes
= 150
memory_target
= 816M
control_files
= "C:\APP\NEERAJS\ORADATA\NOIDA\CONTROL01.CTL"
control_files
= "C:\APP\NEERAJS\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\NOIDA\CONTROL02.CTL"
db_block_size
= 8192
compatible
= "11.2.0.0.0"
log_archive_dest_1
= "LOCATION=D:\archive\ VALID_FOR=(ALL_LOGFILES,ALL_ROLES)
DB_UNIQUE_NAME=noida"
log_archive_dest_2
= "SERVICE=delhi LGWR SYNC
VALID_FOR=(ONLINE_LOGFILES,PRIMARY_ROLE) DB_UNIQUE_NAME=delhi"
log_archive_dest_state_2 = "defer"

fal_client
= "NOIDA"
fal_server
= "DELHI"
log_archive_format
= "ARCH_%r_%t_%s_%D_%T"
db_recovery_file_dest = "C:\app\Neerajs\flash_recovery_area"
db_recovery_file_dest_size= 3852M
standby_file_management = "AUTO"
undo_tablespace
= "UNDOTBS1"
remote_login_passwordfile= "EXCLUSIVE"
db_domain
= ""
dispatchers
= "(PROTOCOL=TCP) (SERVICE=noidaXDB)"
local_listener
= ""
audit_file_dest
= "C:\APP\NEERAJS\ADMIN\NOIDA\ADUMP"
audit_trail
= "DB"
db_name
= "noida"
open_cursors
= 300
diagnostic_dest
= "C:\APP\NEERAJS"
----------------->>
Upto Here << --------------Wed Feb 02/08/2012 14:38:35
PMON started with pid=2, OS id=1456
Wed Feb 02/08/2012 14:38:35
VKTM started with pid=3, OS id=1484 at elevated priority
VKTM running at (10)millisec precision with DBRM quantum (100)ms
Wed Feb 07 17:01:27 2012
GEN0 started with pid=4, OS id=1056
Wed Feb 02/08/2012 14:32:35
DIAG started with pid=5, OS id=3524
Wed Feb 02/08/2012 14:32:35
DBRM started with pid=6, OS id=228
Create the pfile the above parameter and save it(say C:\initnoida.ora') and startup the database as
C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus sys/xxxx as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> create spfile from pfile='C:\initnoida.ora' ;
SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 535662592 bytes
Fixed Size
1375792 bytes
Variable Size
331350480 bytes
Database Buffers
197132288 bytes
Redo Buffers
5804032 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
SQL> select name,open_mode from v$database;
NAME
OPEN_MODE
------------------------NOIDA
READ WRITE
We can also get the parameters from the corrupted spfile using utilities like strings available on Unix.
Similar utilities can be found for Windows as well.
$ strings spfile<SID>.ora
init<SID>.ora