| Property | Description | 
|---|---|
| Parameter type | Integer | 
| Default value | 50 | 
| Modifiable | ALTER SYSTEM | 
| Range of values | 0 to 65535 | 
| Basic | Yes | 
OPEN_CURSORS specifies the maximum number of open cursors (handles to private SQL areas) a session can have at once. You can use this parameter to prevent a session from opening an excessive number of cursors.
It is important to set the value of OPEN_CURSORS high enough to prevent your application from running out of open cursors. The number will vary from one application to another. Assuming that a session does not open the number of cursors specified by OPEN_CURSORS, there is no added overhead to setting this value higher than actually needed.
See Also:
Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for more information on setting this parameter
Your operating system-specific Oracle documentation for the range of values