[database] How to resolve ORA-011033: ORACLE initialization or shutdown in progress

When trying to connect to an ORACLE user via TOAD (Quest Software) or any other means (Oracle Enterprise Manager) I get this error:

ORA-011033: ORACLE initialization or shutdown in progress

This error can also occur in the normal situation when a database is starting or stopping. Normally on startup you can wait until the startup completes, then connect as usual. If the error persists, the service (on a Windows box) may be started without the database being started. This may be due to startup issues, or because the service is not configured to automatically start the database. In this case you will have to connect as sysdba and physically start the database using the "startup" command.

I faced the same problem. I restarted the oracle service for that DB instance and the error is gone.

Here is my solution to this issue:

SQL> Startup mount
ORA-01081: cannot start already-running ORACLE - shut it down first
SQL> shutdown abort
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL>
SQL> startup mount
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1904054272 bytes
Fixed Size                  2404024 bytes
Variable Size             570425672 bytes
Database Buffers         1325400064 bytes
Redo Buffers                5824512 bytes
Database mounted.
SQL> Show parameter control_files

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
control_files                        string      C:\APP\USER\ORADATA\ORACLEDB\C
                                                 ONTROL01.CTL, C:\APP\USER\FAST
                                                 _RECOVERY_AREA\ORACLEDB\CONTRO
                                                 L02.CTL
SQL> select a.member,a.group#,b.status from v$logfile a ,v$log b where a.group#=
b.group# and b.status='CURRENT'
  2
SQL> select a.member,a.group#,b.status from v$logfile a ,v$log b where a.group#=
b.group# and b.status='CURRENT';

MEMBER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    GROUP# STATUS
---------- ----------------
C:\APP\USER\ORADATA\ORACLEDB\REDO03.LOG
         3 CURRENT


SQL> shutdown abort
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> startup mount
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1904054272 bytes
Fixed Size                  2404024 bytes
Variable Size             570425672 bytes
Database Buffers         1325400064 bytes
Redo Buffers                5824512 bytes
Database mounted.
SQL> recover database using backup controlfile until cancel;
ORA-00279: change 4234808 generated at 01/21/2014 18:31:05 needed for thread 1
ORA-00289: suggestion :
C:\APP\USER\FAST_RECOVERY_AREA\ORACLEDB\ARCHIVELOG\2014_01_22\O1_MF_1_108_%U_.AR

C
ORA-00280: change 4234808 for thread 1 is in sequence #108


Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL}
C:\APP\USER\ORADATA\ORACLEDB\REDO03.LOG
Log applied.
Media recovery complete.
SQL> alter database open resetlogs;

Database altered.

And it worked:

I hope this will help somebody, I solved the problem like this

There was a problem because the database was not open. Command startup opens the database.

This you can solve with command alter database open in some case with alter database open resetlogs

$ sqlplus / sysdba

SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1073741824 bytes
Fixed Size          8628936 bytes
Variable Size         624952632 bytes
Database Buffers      436207616 bytes
Redo Buffers            3952640 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

SQL> conn user/pass123
Connected.

The issue can also be due to lack of hard drive space. The installation will succeed but on startup, oracle won't be able to create the required files and will fail with the same above error message.

I used a combination of the answers from rohancragg, Mukul Goel, and NullSoulException from above. However I had an additional error:

ORA-01157: cannot identify/lock data file string - see DBWR trace file

To which I found the answer here: http://nimishgarg.blogspot.com/2014/01/ora-01157-cannot-identifylock-data-file.html

Incase the above post gets deleted I am including the commands here as well.

C:\>sqlplus sys/sys as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.3.0 Production on Tue Apr 30 19:07:16 2013
Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area  778387456 bytes
Fixed Size                  1384856 bytes
Variable Size             520097384 bytes
Database Buffers          251658240 bytes
Redo Buffers                5246976 bytes
Database mounted.
ORA-01157: cannot identify/lock data file 11 – see DBWR trace file
ORA-01110: data file 16: 'E:\oracle\app\nimish.garg\oradata\orcl\test_ts.dbf'

SQL> select NAME from v$datafile where file#=16;
NAME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E:\ORACLE\APP\NIMISH.GARG\ORADATA\ORCL\TEST_TS.DBF

SQL> alter database datafile 16 OFFLINE DROP;
Database altered.

SQL> alter database open;
Database altered.

Thanks everyone you saved my day!

Fissh

What worked for me is that i hadn't set the local_listener, to see if the local listener is set login to sqlplus / as sysdba, make sure the database is open and run the following command show parameter local_listener, if the value is empty, then you will have to set the local_listener with the following SQL command ALTER SYSTEM SET LOCAL_LISTENER='<LISTENER_NAME_GOES_HERE>'

I had a similar problem when I had installed the 12c database as per Oracle's tutorial . The instruction instructs reader to create a PLUGGABLE DATABASE (pdb).

The problem

sqlplus hr/hr@pdborcl would result in ORACLE initialization or shutdown in progress.

The solution

• 1. Login as SYSDBA to the dabase :

     sqlplus SYS/Oracle_1@pdborcl AS SYSDBA
     

• 2. Alter database:

     alter pluggable database pdborcl open read write;
     

• 3. Login again:

     sqlplus hr/hr@pdborcl
     

That worked for me

Some documentation here