Automating Database Startup and Shutdown on Linux

If you are using Oracle Clusterware 10gR2 or above for RAC or just for a single instance using ASM, the Clusterware automatically starts and stops the Oracle database instances and listeners, so the following procedures are not necessary. Where the Clusterware is not being used, these methods allow you to automate the startup and shutdown of databases on Linux.

These methods work on all RHEL and Oracle Linux versions up to and including RHEL7/OL7.

The "su" Command

The following represents the Oracle recommended method for automating database startup and shutdown of Oracle 9i instances on Linux, but it works equally well for Oracle 10g, 11G and 12c also. It can be used on any RHEL-style distribution, including Oracle Linux, up to an including RHEL7.

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

Create a file called "/etc/init.d/dbora" as the root user, containing the following code.

#!/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
        # Remove "&" if you don't want startup as a background process.
        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, 11g and 12c, provided the "ORA_HOME" variable is amended to use the correct path and this is added to the end of the dbstart anddbshut lines. The lines to start and stop the listener can be removed under Oracle 10g Release 2 onward, 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_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1
ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0/db_1
ORA_OWNER=oracle
export ORACLE_UNQNAME=db12c

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
        # Remove "&" if you don't want startup as a background process.
        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 Oracle's 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/10.2.0:Y

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 later Linux distributions, 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.

The "runuser" Command

The Oracle 12c documentation recommends using the "runuser" command in the "dbora" service.

Once the instance is created, edit the "/etc/oratab" file setting the restart flag for each instance to 'Y'.

DB12C:/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0.2/db_1:Y

Create a file called "/etc/init.d/dbora" as the root user, containing the following code, which is a modified version of the example from the documentation, which doesn't work.

#!/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/12.1.0.2/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
export ORACLE_HOME PATH
#
case $1 in
'start')
        runuser -l $ORACLE -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORACLE_HOME &"
        touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
        ;;
'stop')
        runuser -l $ORACLE -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORACLE_HOME"
        rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
        ;;
*)
        echo "usage: $0 {start|stop}"
        exit
        ;;
esac
#
exit

If you want the service to wait while the startup completes, remove the "&". This is especially important for shutdowns that take a long time, like when shutting down WebLogic and Cloud Control services.

Use the chmod command to set the privileges to 750. Associate the "dbora" service with the appropriate run levels and set it to auto-start using the following command.

chmod 750 /etc/init.d/dbora
chkconfig --add dbora

Known Issues

When using Oracle 10g Release 2, calling dbstart without the "$ORACLE_HOME" 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. You should not see this error if you pass the "$ORACLE_HOME" as a parameter to dbstart and dbshut. To correct this, edit the "$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 should now start the listener as expected.

Oracle 11gR2+ Update

Check out the Oracle 12c Update before considering the option.

The Oracle 11gR2 documentation states the use of the dbstart and dbshut scripts is deprecated. The preferred replacement is Oracle Restart.

Both dbstart and dbshut are still present in Oracle 11gR2 and Oracle 12cR1, so you can continue to use them for now (I still use them). In order to use Oracle Restart you must install Grid Infrastructure (GI), which you will already have if you are using RAC or ASM for a standalone instance. In these cases, Oracle Restart will already be present and running. For single instance databases that don't use ASM, I think it is unreasonable to expect people to install GI, so the following describes a method for those cases, while avoiding dbstart anddbshut.

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_OWNER to the user id of the owner of the 
# Oracle database software.

ORA_OWNER=oracle

case "$1" in
    'start')
        # Start the Oracle databases:
        # The following command assumes that the oracle login 
        # will not prompt the user for any values
        # Remove "&" if you don't want startup as a background process.
        su $ORA_OWNER -c "/home/oracle/scripts/startup.sh >> /home/oracle/scripts/startup_shutdown.log 2>&1" &

        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 "/home/oracle/scripts/shutdown.sh >> /home/oracle/scripts/startup_shutdown.log 2>&1"
        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

Next, we must create the "startup.sh" and "shutdown.sh" scripts in the "/home/oracle/scripts". First create the directory.

# mkdir -p /home/oracle/scripts
# chown oracle.oinstall /home/oracle/scripts

The "/home/oracle/scripts/startup.sh" script should contain the following commands.

#!/bin/bash

export TMP=/tmp
export TMPDIR=$TMP
export PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
export ORACLE_HOSTNAME=ol6-121.localdomain
export ORACLE_UNQNAME=db12c

export ORACLE_SID=db12c
ORAENV_ASK=NO
. oraenv
ORAENV_ASK=YES

# Start Listener
lsnrctl start

# Start Database
sqlplus / as sysdba << EOF
STARTUP;
EXIT;
EOF

The "/home/oracle/scripts/shutdown.sh" script is similar.

#!/bin/bash

export TMP=/tmp
export TMPDIR=$TMP
export PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
export ORACLE_HOSTNAME=ol6-121.localdomain
export ORACLE_UNQNAME=db12c

export ORACLE_SID=db12c 
ORAENV_ASK=NO
. oraenv
ORAENV_ASK=YES

# Stop Database
sqlplus / as sysdba << EOF
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
EXIT;
EOF

# Stop Listener
lsnrctl stop

You could move the environment settings into the "dbora" file or into a separate file that is sourced in the startup and shutdown script. I kept it local to the script so you could see the type of things that need to be set in case you have to write a script to deal with multiple installations, instances and listeners.

Make sure the permissions and ownership of the files is correct.

# chmod u+x /home/oracle/scripts/startup.sh /home/oracle/scripts/shutdown.sh
# chown oracle.oinstall /home/oracle/scripts/startup.sh /home/oracle/scripts/shutdown.sh

The listener and database will now start and stop automatically with the machine. You can test them using the following command as the "root" user.

# service dbora start
# service dbora stop

If you are running multiple installations, listeners or databases, you will need to amend the startup/shutdown scripts accordingly.

Oracle 12c Update

In Oracle 11gR2 the dbstart and dbshut scripts were deprecated. The Oracle 12c documentation has no mention of this deprecation and has reinstated the documentation about them. The 12c documentation uses the runuser method.

systemd Services

With the introduction of RHEL7/OL7, services are now managed using systemd. You can continue to use the existing method for creating a service to auto-start Oracle, as systemd is backwards compatible. If you prefer to use systemd directly, you can follow the instructions provided here.

For more information see:

Oracle DBA Centre

Main Menu

Database Startup and Shutdown on Linux (automatic)

Automating Database Startup and Shutdown on Linux

The "su" Command

The "rsh" Command

The "runuser" Command

Known Issues

Oracle 11gR2+ Update

Oracle 12c Update

systemd Services

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