How to change the SID name in the server

Question

hi all,
i installed oracle 10g R1 on windows 2003 server. i gave an sid and created a database. the database is new and there is no data in the db. now i want to change the SID name of the database. pls help me in doing this.
regards,
nagarjuna

Answer 1

Hi,
Just a notice: SID and DBNAME are two different things. But the usual practice is to have SID = DBNAME, so let me assume you want to change both SID and DBNAME.
Either you can do it manually by recreating the controlfile as orawiss suggests. You may discover some challenges around the way (for instance, for the command CREATE CONTROLFILE SET "new_dbname" to work, you have do delete or rename the old controlfiles first).
Or, you can change it easier by using nid utility. The detailed howto and all implications can be found on:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B14117_01/server.101/b10825/dbnewid.htm
Basically:
SQL> create pfile from spfile;
SQL> shutdown immediate;
nid TARGET=sys/password@oldname DBNAME=newname
copy the initoldname.ora to initnewname.ora and edit the DB_NAME parameter to reflect the new name
sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> create spfile from pfile;
SQL>startup mount;
SQL> alter database open resetlogs;
Then don't forget to generate new password file for the new dbname (using orapw) and make changes in tnsnames.ora and listener.ora if needed.
Just make sure, the database has been properly shut down before changing the db_name either manualy by recreating controlfile or by the newid utility, as the renamed database has to be opened with resetlogs - making any crash recover of improperly shut down database impossible.
Kind regards,
Martin