ORA-01078 : Failure in Processing System Parameters

ORA-01078 is generally occuring when a corrupt spfile file is being used or the parameter file (spfile/pfile)  may be missing  from the default or specified location . The spfile is present in the default location $ORACLE_HOME/dbs  for Unix  and  %ORACLE_HOME%\database  for window .We may get ORA-01078 when starting the database as 

C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida  
C:\>sqlplus sys/xxxx  as sysdba 
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Wed Feb 8 14:14:54 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ORA-01078 : failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109 : couldnot open parameter file 'C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATAB ASE\INITNOIDA.ORA'
SQL> exit
Disconnected

There is no way the spfile can be repaired or modified manually . The only solution is to either restore the spfile from the rman backup or recreate a new pfile and then create spfile . If  a  SPFILE  backup exists , restore it to the original location . The SPFILE backup could be a copy of the spfile or from a RMAN backup. Restore the spfile from backup as 

C:\>rman target /
Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Wed Feb 8 14:16:38 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.
connected to target database (not started)

RMAN> startup force nomount
startup failed: ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file 'C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATABASE\INITNOIDA.ORA'
starting Oracle instance without parameter file for retrieval of spfile
Oracle instance started

Total System Global Area     159019008 bytes
Fixed Size                             1373264 bytes
Variable Size                         75500464 bytes
Database Buffers                   75497472 bytes
Redo Buffers                         6647808 bytes

RMAN> restore spfile from autobackup;
Starting restore at 08-FEB-12
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=97 device type=DISK
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at 02/08/2012 14:32:35
RMAN-06495: must explicitly specify DBID with SET DBID command

RMAN> restore spfile from 'E:\rman_backup\cf\C-1523131116-20120208-01';
Starting restore at 08-FEB-12
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring spfile from AUTOBACKUP E:\rman_backup\cf\C-1523131116-20120208-01
channel ORA_DISK_1: SPFILE restore from AUTOBACKUP complete
Finished restore at 08-FEB-12

RMAN> shutdown
Oracle instance shut down

RMAN> startup
connected to target database (not started)
Oracle instance started
database mounted
database opened
Total System Global Area     535662592bytes
Fixed Size                            1375792     bytes
Variable Size                        331350480 bytes
Database Buffers                 197132288  bytes
Redo Buffers                       5804032      bytes

RMAN> exit
Recovery Manager complete.

C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Wed Feb 8 14:38:11 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> select  name , open_mode  from  v$database ;
NAME        OPEN_MODE
---------    --------------------
NOIDA        READ WRITE

If no spfile backup exists,we can use an existing pfile and startup the database , but this pfile may or may not contain all the non default parameter because the spfile is updated dynamically . So it is better to obtain the list of all the non-default parameter list in the alert log file and then create the pfile . Once the pfile is created we can create the spfile from pfile . Below  is some contained of the my alert log file .

SYS auditing is disabled
Starting up:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options.
Using parameter settings in server-side spfile 
C:\APP\NEERAJS\PRODUCT\11.2.0\DBHOME_1\DATABASE\SPFILENOIDA.ORA
System parameters with non-default values:
---------->>  copy from here    <<--------------------
  processes                = 150
  memory_target            = 816M
  control_files            = "C:\APP\NEERAJS\ORADATA\NOIDA\CONTROL01.CTL"
  control_files            = "C:\APP\NEERAJS\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\NOIDA\CONTROL02.CTL"
  db_block_size            = 8192
  compatible               = "11.2.0.0.0"
  log_archive_dest_1       = "LOCATION=D:\archive\ VALID_FOR=(ALL_LOGFILES,ALL_ROLES) 
DB_UNIQUE_NAME=noida"
  log_archive_dest_2       = "SERVICE=delhi LGWR SYNC VALID_FOR=(ONLINE_LOGFILES,PRIMARY_ROLE)  DB_UNIQUE_NAME=delhi"
  log_archive_dest_state_2 = "defer"
  fal_client               = "NOIDA"
  fal_server               = "DELHI"
  log_archive_format       = "ARCH_%r_%t_%s_%D_%T"
  db_recovery_file_dest    = "C:\app\Neerajs\flash_recovery_area"
  db_recovery_file_dest_size= 3852M
  standby_file_management  = "AUTO"
  undo_tablespace          = "UNDOTBS1"
  remote_login_passwordfile= "EXCLUSIVE"
  db_domain                = ""
  dispatchers              = "(PROTOCOL=TCP) (SERVICE=noidaXDB)"
  local_listener           = ""
  audit_file_dest          = "C:\APP\NEERAJS\ADMIN\NOIDA\ADUMP"
  audit_trail              = "DB"
  db_name                  = "noida"
  open_cursors             = 300
  diagnostic_dest          = "C:\APP\NEERAJS"
----------------->>     Upto Here   << ---------------
Wed Feb 02/08/2012 14:38:35
PMON started with pid=2, OS id=1456 
Wed Feb  02/08/2012 14:38:35
VKTM started with pid=3, OS id=1484 at elevated priority
VKTM running at (10)millisec precision with DBRM quantum (100)ms
Wed Feb 07 17:01:27 2012
GEN0 started with pid=4, OS id=1056 
Wed  Feb  02/08/2012 14:32:35
DIAG started with pid=5, OS id=3524 
Wed Feb  02/08/2012 14:32:35
DBRM started with pid=6, OS id=228

Create the pfile the above parameter and save it(say C:\initnoida.ora')  and startup the database  as

C:\>set ORACLE_SID=noida
C:\>sqlplus sys/xxxx as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> create spfile from pfile='C:\initnoida.ora' ; 
SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area  535662592 bytes
Fixed Size                  1375792 bytes
Variable Size             331350480 bytes
Database Buffers          197132288 bytes
Redo Buffers                5804032 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

SQL> select name,open_mode from v$database;
NAME        OPEN_MODE
---------     -----------------
NOIDA        READ WRITE


We can also get the parameters from the corrupted spfile using utilities like strings available on Unix.
Similar utilities can be found for Windows as well.
$ strings  spfile<SID>.ora     init<SID>.ora 




Enjoy    J J J