Renaming an Oracle database

The following log shows how a database name was renamed from ORA9 to CAT. SQL> select name from v$database; NAME --------- ORA9 SQL> alter system switch logfile; SQL> alter database backup controlfile to trace; The instance needs to be shut down. SYSDBA privileges will be needed. SQL> shutdown Modify (and optionally rename) the created trace file: Find the line reading # Set #2. RESETLOGS case Remove all lines above this line. Change the line containing the database name from CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE "ORA9" RESETLOGS NOARCHIVELOG to CREATE CONTROLFILE SET DATABASE "CAT" RESETLOGS NOARCHIVELOG Note, in my case, the database is running in noarchive log mode. The corresponding line reads ARCHIVELOG otherwise. Remove the line reading RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE. Remove lines starting with #. It looks then something like: STARTUP NOMOUNT CREATE CONTROLFILE SET DATABASE "CAT" RESETLOGS NOARCHIVELOG -- SET STANDBY TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE MAXLOGFILES 16 MAXLOGMEMBERS 2 MAXDATAFILES 30 MAXINSTANCES 1 MAXLOGHISTORY 454 LOGFILE GROUP 1 '/home/oracle/databases/cat/redo1.ora' SIZE 100M, GROUP 2 '/home/oracle/databases/cat/redo2.ora' SIZE 100M, GROUP 3 '/home/oracle/databases/cat/redo3.ora' SIZE 100M -- STANDBY LOGFILE DATAFILE '/home/oracle/databases/cat/system.dbf', '/home/oracle/databases/cat/undo.dbf', '/home/oracle/databases/cat/data.dbf' CHARACTER SET WE8ISO8859P1 ; ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS; ALTER TABLESPACE TEMP ADD TEMPFILE '/home/oracle/OraHome1/databases/ora9/temp.dbf' SIZE 104857600 REUSE AUTOEXTEND OFF; In my case, I renamed the file to /tmp/rename_db.sql. Move the controlfiles away so that they can be re-created.. $ mv ctl_1.ora ctl_1.ora.moved $ mv ctl_2.ora ctl_2.ora.moved $ mv ctl_3.ora ctl_3.ora.moved The database name must be entered (changed) in the initSID.ora: initXXX.ora db_name = CAT sqlplus "/ as sysdba" SQL> @/tmp/rename_db SQL> select name from v$database; NAME --------- CAT