Process architectures

Oracle processes

The Oracle RDBMS typically relies on a group of processes running simultaneously in the
background and interacting to monitor and expedite database operations. Typical operating
environments might include – temporarily or permanently – some of the following individual
processes (shown along with their abbreviated nomenclature):[95]

 advanced queueing processes (Qnnn)[96]

 archiver processes (ARCn)

 checkpoint process (CKPT) *REQUIRED*

 coordinator-of-job-queues process (CJQn): dynamically spawns slave processes for

job-queues

 database writer processes (DBWn) *REQUIRED*

 Data Pump master process (DMnn)[97]

 Data Pump worker processes (DWnn)[97]

 dispatcher processes (Dnnn): multiplex server-processes on behalf of users

 main Data Guard Broker monitor process (DMON)[98]

 job-queue slave processes (Jnnn)[99]

 log-writer process (LGWR) *REQUIRED*

 log-write network-server (LNSn):[100] transmits redo logs in Data Guard environments

 logical standby coordinator process (LSP0): controls Data Guard log-application

 media-recovery process (MRP): detached recovery-server process

 memory-manager process (MMAN): used for internal database tasks such as

Automatic Shared Memory Management (ASMM)

 memory-monitor process (MMON): process for automatic problem-detection, self-

tuning and statistics-gathering[101]

 memory-monitor light process (MMNL): gathers and stores Automatic Workload

Repository (AWR) data
  mmon slaves (Mnnnn—M0000, M0001, etc.): background slaves of the MMON
process[102]

 netslave processes (NSVn): Data Guard Broker inter-database communication

processes[103]

 parallel query execution servers (Pnnn)[104]

 process-monitor process (PMON) *REQUIRED*

 process-spawner process (PSP0): spawns Oracle background processes after initial

instance startup[105]

 queue-monitor coordinator process (QMNC): dynamically spawns queue monitor

slaves[106]

 queue-monitor processes (QMNn)

 recoverer process (RECO)

 remote file-server process (RFS): in Oracle Data Guard, a standby recipient of

primary redo-logs[107]

 monitor for Data Guard management (RSM0): Data Guard Broker Worker process[108]

 shared server processes (Snnn): serve client-requests

 space-management coordinator process (SMCO): coordinates space management

(from release 11g)[109]

 system monitor process (SMON) *REQUIRED*

User processes, connections and sessions

Oracle Database terminology distinguishes different computer-science terms in describing

how end-users interact with the database:

 user processes involve the invocation of application software[110]

 a connection refers to the pathway linking a user process to an Oracle instance[111]

 sessions consist of specific established groups of interactions, with each group

involving a client process and an Oracle instance.[112]

Each session within an instance has a session identifier – a session ID or "SID"[113][114]

(distinct from the Oracle system-identifier SID), and may also have an associated SPID
(operating-system process identifier).[115]