validate_con_names: PDB$SEED is not open catconInit: Unexpected error returned by validate_con_names Unexpected error encountered in catconInit; exiting

[oracle@Linux03 admin]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -d

$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin -b /tmp/utl32k_output utl32k.sql
catcon: ALL catcon-related output will be written to /tmp/utl32k_output_catcon_19470.lst
catcon: See /tmp/utl32k_output*.log files for output generated by scripts
catcon: See /tmp/utl32k_output_*.lst files for spool files, if any
validate_con_names: PDB$SEED is not open
catconInit: Unexpected error returned by validate_con_names
Unexpected error encountered in catconInit; exiting

[oracle@Linux03 admin]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Thu Apr 21 09:27:06 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2014, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL> select name,open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME       OPEN_MODE
------------------------------ ----------
PDB$SEED       MOUNTED
PDBORCL       MIGRATE
PDBORCL2       MIGRATE
PDBORCL1       MIGRATE

SQL> startup;

ORA-01081: cannot start already-running ORACLE - shut it down first

SQL> shutdown immediate;
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

CHECK THE STATUS OF PLUGGABLE DATABASE.

SQL> STARTUP;
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  788529152 bytes
Fixed Size    2929352 bytes
Variable Size  541068600 bytes
Database Buffers  239075328 bytes
Redo Buffers    5455872 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
SQL> select name,open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME       OPEN_MODE
------------------------------ ----------
PDB$SEED       MOUNTED
PDBORCL       MOUNTED
PDBORCL2       MOUNTED
PDBORCL1       MOUNTED

WE NEED TO START PDB$SEED PLUGGABLE DATABASE in UPGRADE STATE FOR THAT 

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;


Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

SQL> STARTUP UPGRADE;

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  788529152 bytes
Fixed Size    2929352 bytes
Variable Size  541068600 bytes
Database Buffers  239075328 bytes
Redo Buffers    5455872 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN UPGRADE;
Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select name,open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME       OPEN_MODE
------------------------------ ----------
PDB$SEED       MIGRATE
PDBORCL       MIGRATE
PDBORCL2       MIGRATE
PDBORCL1       MIGRATE

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

[oracle@Linux03 admin]$ pwd
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0.2/db_1/rdbms/admin

[oracle@Linux03 admin]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -d
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin -b /tmp/utl32k_output utl32k.sql
catcon: ALL catcon-related output will be written to /tmp/utl32k_output_catcon_19826.lst
catcon: See /tmp/utl32k_output*.log files for output generated by scripts
catcon: See /tmp/utl32k_output_*.lst files for spool files, if any
catcon.pl: completed successfully

ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended ORA-02097: parameter cannot be modified because specified value is invalid

MAX_STRING_SIZE PARAMETER:

The extended data types functionality is controlled using the MAX_STRING_SIZE initialization parameter. The default value is STANDARD, which restricts the maximum sizes to the traditional lengths. Setting the parameter value to EXTENDED allows for the new maximum lengths.

This is a pre-requisite for enabling Extended Data Types in Oracle Database 12c. Which helps us to increase the max size of varchar data type from 4000 bytes to 32767 bytes.

[oracle@Linux03 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Thu Apr 21 09:10:02 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2014, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL> shutdown immediate;
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> STARTUP UPGRADE;
ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended;
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  788529152 bytes
Fixed Size    2929352 bytes
Variable Size  541068600 bytes
Database Buffers  239075328 bytes
Redo Buffers    5455872 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-02097: parameter cannot be modified because specified value is invalid
ORA-02095: specified initialization parameter cannot be modified


SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended;
ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-02097: parameter cannot be modified because specified value is invalid
ORA-02095: specified initialization parameter cannot be modified


SQL> show parameter max_string_size

NAME     TYPE VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
max_string_size     string STANDARD

SQL> alter system set max_string_size=EXTENDED scope=spfile;

System altered.

SQL> show parameter max_string_size

NAME     TYPE VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
max_string_size     string STANDARD
SQL> shutdown immediate;
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

SQL> startup upgrade;
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  788529152 bytes
Fixed Size    2929352 bytes
Variable Size  541068600 bytes
Database Buffers  239075328 bytes
Redo Buffers    5455872 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

SQL> show parameter max_string_size

NAME     TYPE VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
max_string_size     string EXTENDED

CREATE ORACLE DATABASE SERVICES/SERVICE_NAME

dbms_service.create_service :  

We can call dbms_service.create_service procedure to create new service names , then start these service names for user connections. The procedure dbms_service.create_service requires the service name and service network name, use the service name to manage the service name. 

oracle@LINUX201:[~] $ sqlplus /"As sysdba"

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.4.0 Production on Tue Apr 5 13:17:50 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> select SERVICE_ID,name from V$SERVICES;

SERVICE_ID NAME
---------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
         4 ORCL
         1 SYS$BACKGROUND
         2 SYS$USERS

************************************************************

LEST CREATE A NEW DB SERVICE 

************************************************************

SAMPLE :

BEGIN

DBMS_SERVICE.CREATE_SERVICE(service_name=>'QPDEV',

 network_name=>'QPDEV.WORLD'); (or)  network_name=>'QPDEV');

 END;

 /


SQL> begin
 dbms_service.create_service('ORCLTEST','ORCLTEST');
end;
/

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select SERVICE_ID,name from V$SERVICES;

SERVICE_ID NAME
---------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
         4 ORCL
         1 SYS$BACKGROUND
         2 SYS$USERS

SQL> begin
 DBMS_SERVICE.START_SERVICE('ORCL');
end;
/  2    3    4

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

************************************************************

CHECK IF THE SERVICE IS CREATED AND STARTED

************************************************************

SQL> select SERVICE_ID,name from V$SERVICES;

SERVICE_ID NAME
---------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
         7 ORCLTEST
         4 ORCL
         1 SYS$BACKGROUND
         2 SYS$USERS

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

oracle@LINUX201:[~] $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

oracle@LINUX201:[/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin] $ ls
samples  shrept.lst  tnsnames.ora

************************************************************

LETS ADD THIS NEW SERVICE IN TO TNSNAMES FILE:

************************************************************

oracle@LINUX201:[/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin] $ vi tnsnames.ora
# tnsnames.ora Network Configuration File: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2/db_1/network/admin/tnsnames.ora
# Generated by Oracle configuration tools.

ORCL =
  (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = LINUX201.world.com)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = ORCLTEST)
    )
  )

************************************************************

LETS TEST IT :

************************************************************

oracle@LINUX201:[/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin] $ tnsping ORCLTEST

TNS Ping Utility for Linux: Version 11.2.0.4.0 - Production on 05-APR-2016 13:21:31

Copyright (c) 1997, 2013, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Used parameter files:


Used TNSNAMES adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = LINUX201)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = ORCLTEST)))
OK (10 msec)
oracle@LINUX201:[/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin] $ sqlplus atoorpu@ORCLTEST

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.4.0 Production on Tue Apr 5 13:21:46 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:

You can also use more advanced features like failover parameters like below

Examples

DBMS_SERVICE.CREATE_SERVICE('ORCL','ORCL.WORLD');

DECLARE
   params dbms_service.svc_parameter_array;
   BEGIN
      params('FAILOVER_TYPE')            :='TRANSACTION';
      params('REPLAY_INITIATION_TIMEOUT'):=1800;
      params('RETENTION_TIMEOUT')        :=86400;
      params('FAILOVER_DELAY')           :=10;
      params('FAILOVER_RETRIES')         :=30;
      params('commit_outcome')           :='true';
      params('aq_ha_notifications')      :='true';
      DBMS_SERVICE.MODIFY_SERVICE('GOLD',params);
   END;