Running Oracle Database Configuration Assistant Using a Response File

You can run Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in a silent or a response file mode to configure and start an Oracle database on your system.

To run Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in silent or response file mode, use the dbca.rsp response file in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\assistants\netca directory, and the response directory in the database\response directory on the DVD.

Note:

If you copied the software to a hard disk, the response files are located in the stage_area\database\response directory.

To run Database Configuration Assistant in a response file mode, you must use the -responseFile flag in combination with either the -silent or -progressOnly flag. To run Database Configuration Assistant in response file mode, you must use a graphical display and set the DISPLAY environment variable.

On Windows, you must open the command prompt with Administrator privileges.

Silent Mode of Database Configuration Assistant

Use the -silent flag in combination with the -responseFile flag to set the mode to silent.

In the silent mode, Database Configuration Assistant uses values that you specify, in the response file or as command-line options, to create a database. No window or user interface is displayed in the silent mode.

Running Database Configuration Assistant in Response File Mode

Use this procedure to run Database Configuration Assistant in response file mode.

To create an Oracle Database Configuration Assistant response file:

  1. Copy the dbca.rsp response file template from the response file directory to a directory on your system.

    The dbca.rsp response file is located in the database\response directory on the Oracle Database installation media.

  2. Open the dbca.rsp response file in a text editor.
  3. Edit the dbca.rsp file, following the instructions in the file.

    Oracle Database Configuration Assistant fails if you do not correctly configure the dbca.rsp response file.

To run the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant using the response file you just created, run Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in a silent or a response file mode using the following syntax:

C:\ORACLE_HOME\bin> dbca {-progressOnly | -silent} -responseFile local_dir/dbca.rsp

where:

  • -silent runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in the silent mode

  • -progressOnly runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in the response file mode

  • local_dir is the full path of the directory where you copied the dbca.rsp response file template.

For example:

C:\> ORACLE_HOME\bin> dbca -progressOnly -responseFile
C:\oracle_response_files\mydbca.rsp

As an alternative to creating a database using a response file, you can run dbca at the command line by specifying all the required information as command line options. Database Configuration Assistant writes progress messages to stdout. For information about the list of options supported, enter the following command:

C:\ORACLE_HOME\bin\dbca -help