Move Spfile to ASM

For ASM configured systems ( whether it is single database or RAC  ), it is a good idea to move the spfile to ASM. The PFILE under $ORACLE_HOME/dbs location actually points to the SPFILE on ASM disk. Follow the below steps to move spfile to ASM :

1. Create PFILE from SPFILE:

Check if your database is running with SPFILE, if yes then create pfile from spfile

show parameter spfile
NAME     TYPE VALUE
-------- ----------- ------------------------------
spfile string /oracle/app/oracle/product/dbs/spfilePRIM.ora

Create PFILE from the existing SPFILE

Create pfile from spfile;

File created.

2. Create Directory in ASM Diskgroup :

Connect to ASMCMD prompt (grid) and create directory to hold the SPFILE

ASMCMD> mkdir +DATA/PRIM/PARAM

3. Create SPFILE in ASM from PFILE :

Now that we have the PFILE, we can create SPFILE from PFILE directly inside ASM

SQL> create spfile='+DATA/PRIM/PARAM/spfilePRIM.ora' from pfile;

Rename the SPFILE under $ORACLE_HOME/dbs location

cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs

mv spfilePRIM.ora spfilePRIM_old.ora

4. Point PFILE to SPFILE on ASM :

Edit the PFILE and just add one single line below to point SPFILE on ASM

vi initPRIM.ora

spfile='+DATA/PRIM/PARAM/spfilePRIM.ora'

Now Restart the database!