Automating Database Startup and

Shutdown on Linux
When using RAC or ASM under Oracle 10g Release 2 or above, the Oracle Clusterware
automatically starts and stops the Oracle database instances, so the following procedures
are not necessary. For all other cases, you can use the methods described below.
 The "su" Command
 The "rsh" Command
 Known Issues

The "su" Command

The following represents the Oracle recommended method for automating database
startup and shutdown of Oracle 9i instances.

Once the instance is created, edit the "/etc/oratab" file setting the restart flag for each
instance to 'Y'.
TSH1:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0:Y
Next, create a file called "/etc/init.d/dbora" as the root user, containing the following.
#!/bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# description: Oracle auto start-stop script.
#
# Set ORA_HOME to be equivalent to the $ORACLE_HOME
# from which you wish to execute dbstart and dbshut;
#
# Set ORA_OWNER to the user id of the owner of the
# Oracle database in ORA_HOME.

ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0
ORA_OWNER=oracle

if [ ! -f $ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart ]
then
echo "Oracle startup: cannot start"
exit
fi

case "$1" in
'start')
# Start the Oracle databases:
# The following command assumes that the oracle login
# will not prompt the user for any values
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/lsnrctl start"
su - $ORA_OWNER -c $ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart
touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
;;
'stop')
# Stop the Oracle databases:
# The following command assumes that the oracle login
# will not prompt the user for any values
su - $ORA_OWNER -c $ORA_HOME/bin/dbshut
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/lsnrctl stop"
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
 ;;
esac
Use the chmod command to set the privileges to 750.
chmod 750 /etc/init.d/dbora
Associate the dbora service with the appropriate run levels and set it to auto-start using
the following command.
chkconfig --add dbora
The relevant instances should now startup/shutdown automatically at system
startup/shutdown.

This method can still be used under Oracle 10g and 11g, provided the "ORA_HOME"
variable is amended to use the correct path and this is added to the end of the dbstart
and dbshut lines. The lines to start and stop the listener can be removed under Oracle
10g release 2, as the dbstart command includes an automatic start of the listener.
#!/bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# description: Oracle auto start-stop script.
#
# Set ORA_HOME to be equivalent to the $ORACLE_HOME
# from which you wish to execute dbstart and dbshut;
#
# Set ORA_OWNER to the user id of the owner of the
# Oracle database in ORA_HOME.

ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
#ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.1.0/db_1
ORA_OWNER=oracle

if [ ! -f $ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart ]
then
echo "Oracle startup: cannot start"
exit
fi

case "$1" in
'start')
# Start the Oracle databases:
# The following command assumes that the oracle login
# will not prompt the user for any values
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORA_HOME"
touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
;;
'stop')
# Stop the Oracle databases:
# The following command assumes that the oracle login
# will not prompt the user for any values
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORA_HOME"
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
;;
esac

The "rsh" Command

With Oracle 10g, Oracle switched from recommending the "su" command to the "rsh"
command. In Oracle 10g release 2, the dbstart command includes an automatic start of
the listener, so there are some differences between the two versions, but the following
represents the preferred method for Oracle 10g.
Once the instance is created, edit the "/etc/oratab" file setting the restart flag for each
instance to 'Y'.
TSH1:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0:Y
Next, create a file called "/etc/init.d/dbora" as the root user, containing the following.
#!/bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# description: Oracle auto start-stop script.
#
# Change the value of ORACLE_HOME to specify the correct Oracle home
# directory for your installation.

ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
#
# Change the value of ORACLE to the login name of the
# oracle owner at your site.
#
ORACLE=oracle

PATH=${PATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
HOST=`hostname`
PLATFORM=`uname`
export ORACLE_HOME PATH
#
if [ ! "$2" = "ORA_DB" ] ; then
if [ "$PLATFORM" = "HP-UX" ] ; then
remsh $HOST -l $ORACLE -n "$0 $1 ORA_DB"
exit
else
rsh $HOST -l $ORACLE $0 $1 ORA_DB
exit
fi
fi
#
case $1 in
'start')
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORACLE_HOME
touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
;;
'stop')
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORACLE_HOME
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
;;
*)
echo "usage: $0 {start|stop}"
exit
;;
esac
#
exit
Use the chmod command to set the privileges to 750.
chmod 750 /etc/init.d/dbora
Associate the dbora service with the appropriate run levels and set it to auto-start using
the following command.
chkconfig --add dbora
The relevant instances should now startup/shutdown automatically at system
startup/shutdown.
This method relies on the presence of an RSH server, which requires additional
packages and configuration.
# Install the rhs and rsh-server packages from the OS CD/DVD.
rpm -Uvh --force rsh-*

# Enable rsh and rlogin.

chkconfig rsh on
chkconfig rlogin on
service xinetd reload
This can be quite problematic when attempting to use this method under FC5 and FC6,
where rsh is deprecated. As a result, I prefer to use the "su" command method.

This method can also be used for 11g databases that are not using ASM or RAC.

Known Issues
When using Oracle 10g Release 2, calling dbstart might result in the following error
message:

Failed to auto-start Oracle Net Listener using /ade/vikrkuma_new/oracle/bin/tnslsnr

This is due to a hard coded path in the dbstart script. To correct this, edit the
"$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart" script and replace the following line (approximately
line 78):
ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=/ade/vikrkuma_new/oracle
With this:
ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$ORACLE_HOME
The dbstart script shold now start the listener as expected.