ORA-02095: specified initialization parameter cannot be modified | Understanding and Solving ORA-02095 in Oracle Database

Getting ORA-02095: specified initialization parameter cannot be modified. Below we will see the guide to resolve this common error.

Understanding Why You Got This Error?

You’re working on your Oracle Database, trying to tweak a setting to improve performance or fix an issue. You confidently type your command:

ALTER SYSTEM SET processes=1500 SCOPE=BOTH;

And suddenly you see this message:

ORA-02095: specified initialization parameter cannot be modified

Don’t worry this error looks big, but it’s quite easy to fix once you understand what’s actually going on.

Your Oracle Database uses something called parameters little settings that control how the system runs. Some of these settings can be changed right away, even while the database is running. Others need the database to restart before they take effect.

Check parameter is Static or Dynamic

To know whether a parameter can be changed instantly or not, you can run this simple command:

SELECT name, value, issys_modifiable FROM v$parameter 
WHERE name='processes';

Now look at the output result:

If the column ISSYS_MODIFIABLE shows TRUE, the change can happen immediately.
If it shows FALSE, it means the setting is static, you’ll need to restart the database for it to work.

Solution Steps:

If your parameter shows FALSE, here’s what you need to do:

Use SCOPE=SPFILE instead of SCOPE=BOTH:

ALTER SYSTEM SET processes=1000 SCOPE=SPFILE;

Then restart your database:

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
STARTUP

Nothing to worry these are the common ORA errors, just take approval from the leadership for DB restart if required and by following above mentioned steps you will successfully resolve the issue. Hope this tutorial is helpful for you. Thanks!