37.2. Using the Oracle binaries dbstart and dbstop

You can use $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart to start up the database, and $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut to shut down the database. To get $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart and $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut working, you need to change the third field for your Oracle SID in /etc/oratab from "N" to "Y".

No to read:

test:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0:N

Yes to read:

test:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0:Y

In some cases you may have to copy the init file for your SID (in this example “test”) from /u01/app/oracle/admin/test/pfile to $ORACLE_HOME/dbs to get dbstart and dbshut working. In the Below command remember to change test to something appropriate.

cp /u01/app/oracle/admin/test/pfile/inittest.ora.642002224936 \
$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/inittest.ora

Then make sure that your init file already exists in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs.