sqlplus / as sysdba startup nomount 5. Create the database create database test logfile group 1 ('/path/to/redo1.log') size 100M, group 2 ('/path/to/redo2.log') size 100M, group 3 ('/path/to/redo3.log') size 100M character set WE8ISO8859P1 national character set utf8 datafile '/path/to/system.dbf' size 500M autoextend on next 10M maxsize unlimite d extent management local sysaux datafile '/path/to/sysaux.dbf' size 100M autoextend on next 10M maxsize u nlimited undo tablespace undotbs1 datafile '/path/to/undotbs1.dbf' size 100M default temporary tablespace temp tempfile '/path/to/temp01.dbf' size 100M; Note: there's some other things you can do here, like "ARCHIVELOG" "SET TIME_ZON E =" and "USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY password" and "USER SYSTEM IDENTIFIED BY passwo rd" 6. Run catalog and catproc @?/rdbms/admin/catalog.sql @?/rdbms/admin/catproc.sql 7. Change passwords alter user sys identified by whatever; alter user system identified by whatever; ________________________________________ OMF: minimal manual Oracle create database syntax 1. Set your ORACLE_SID export ORACLE_SID=test export ORACLE_HOME=/path/to/oracle/home 2. Create a minimal init.ora # $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<sid>.ora control_files = (/path/to/control1.ctl,/path/to/control2.ctl,/path/to/control3.c tl) undo_management = AUTO db_name = test db_block_size = 8192 sga_max_size = 1073741824 #one gig sga_target = 1073741824 #one gig db_create_file_dest = /path/to/datafile/location #OMF db_create_online_log_dest_1 = /path/to/first/redo_and_control_file/location #OMF db_create_online_log_dest_2 = /path/to/second/redo_and_control_file/location #OM F db_recovery_file_dest = /path/to/flash/recovery/area #OMF #note it s a good idea to also have background_dump_dest, user_dump_dest, and core _dump_dest here as well 3. Create a password file $ORACLE_HOME/bin/orapwd file=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/pwd<sid>.ora password=oracle entri es=5 4. Start the instance sqlplus / as sysdba startup nomount 5. Create the database create database test character set WE8ISO8859P1 national character set utf8 undo tablespace undotbs1 default temporary tablespace temp; You can even do this and it will work, the ultimate in minimalism: create database test; Note: There's some other things you can do here, like "ARCHIVELOG" "SET TIME_ZON E =" and "USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY password" and "USER SYSTEM IDENTIFIED BY passwo rd" Note 2: This is so minimal because you are using Oracle Managed Files as seen i n #2 6. Run catalog and catproc @?/rdbms/admin/catalog.sql @?/rdbms/admin/catproc.sql ________________________________________ Standard create Oracle database syntax After creating your init.ora file with the appropriate parameters you can use th e "create database" command in SQL*Plus to create a database: Make sure that your have your $ORACLE_HOME and $ORACLE_SID set properly and that you sign-on as SYSDBA: startup nomount; CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE "OLDLSQ" NORESETLOGS NOARCHIVELOG MAXLOGFILES 16 MAXLOGMEMBERS 2 MAXDATAFILES 240 MAXINSTANCES 1 MAXLOGHISTORY 113 LOGFILE GROUP 1 ('/u03/oradata/oldlsq/log1a.dbf', '/u03/oradata/olslsq/log1b.dbf') SIZE 30M, GROUP 2 ('/u04/oradata/oldlsq/log2a.dbf', '/u04/oradata/oldlsq/log2b.dbf') SIZE 30M DATAFILE '/u01/oradata/oldlsq/system01.dbf', '/u01/oradata/oldlsq/mydatabase.dbf' ;