Init parameterProcesses & sessions

PROCESSES

What it controls

The most operating system processes that can connect to the instance, including background processes.

Know this before you change it

Size it for peak connections plus background processes plus headroom. SESSIONS and TRANSACTIONS are derived from it when they aren't set.

Check and change it

1-- Current value on every instance2SELECT inst_id, name, value, isdefault, ismodified3FROM gv$parameter4WHERE name = 'processes';5 6-- Value stored in the spfile7SELECT sid, value FROM v$spparameter WHERE name = 'processes' AND isspecified = 'TRUE';8 9-- Static: saved in the spfile, takes effect after a restart10ALTER SYSTEM SET processes = 1500 SCOPE = SPFILE SID = '*';11 12-- Remove it from the spfile to go back to the default at the next restart13ALTER SYSTEM RESET processes SCOPE = SPFILE SID = '*';

Related scripts

• Processes and sessions against their limitsCurrent and peak usage of processes, sessions and transactions since startup. A PEAK % near 100 means the next connection storm will hit ORA-00020.
• Session count by user and machineWho is connected, from where, and how many are active. The quickest way to spot a connection pool that has run away.

Open in the parameter referenceOracle's reference

More in Processes & sessions

• SESSIONSThe most sessions the instance allows.
• OPEN_CURSORSThe most cursors one session can have open at once.
• SESSION_CACHED_CURSORSHow many closed cursors each session keeps cached, which saves repeated soft parses.
• JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSESThe most job slave processes for Scheduler and DBMS_JOB jobs.
• RESOURCE_LIMITWhether profile resource limits such as idle time and CPU per call are enforced.
• DDL_LOCK_TIMEOUTSeconds a DDL statement waits for a lock before failing with ORA-00054.