[Oracle] Change Database Name

Hi all,

in this tutorial we are going to see a quick way to change the db_name parameter of our database. The db_unique_name remains untouched. We suppose that there is a RAC configuration, but the same process applies to single-instance databases, except for the cluster commands to stop/start them.

First of all, take a backup copy of the server parameter file, if it used, in case of problems:

create pfile='/tmp/pfile_bck.ora' from spfile;

Then, disable the cluster:

alter system set cluster_database=false scope=spfile;

And stop the database:

srvctl stop database -d DATABASE_UNIQUE_NAME

Then, connect to one instance, bring it up in mount state and from os launch the Oracle utility to change the db_name:

startup mount

nid TARGET=SYS DBNAME=NEW_DATABASE_NAME SETNAME=YES

Next, just change the db_name also in the server parameter file and revert back the cluster parameter:

alter system set db_name=NEW_DATABASE_NAME scope=spfile;
alter system set cluster_database=true scope=spfile;

Lastly, just shutdown the instance and bring up the database with cluster command:

shut immediate
srvctl start database -d DATABASE_UNIQUE_NAME

Optionally, Oracle suggests to recreate the password file with the passwd utility.

That’s all, see you in the next tutorial.