Monish's DBA Blog

Dump Files Parameter Definition for Oracle Background Processes

There are 3 dump files locations that are used in troubleshooting of the database issues.

background_dump_dest:

The background_dump_dest initialization parameter specifies the location of the bdump directory where the Oracle alert log is located. This parameter includes the path name where debugging trace files are written during Oracle operations. Oracle writes to the alert log and create trace files for the background process in the background_dump_dest directory. If this directory is full, Oracle cannot create these files, which might result in instance failure and makes debugging more difficult.

core_dump_dest:

The core_dump destination is controlled by the core_dump_dest initialization parameter for the instance. The core_dump_dest specifies the directory where Oracle dumps core files. Oracle writes core files for background process in the core_dump_dest directory. If the parameter is not set, the core files are stored in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs on Unix system. if this directory is full Oracle cannot create these files which makes debugging more difficult.

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Core file: a core file is created when a program terminates unexpectedly, due to bug or a violation of the OS or h/w protection mechanisms. The OS kills the program and create a core file that programmers can use to find out what went wrong. It contains a detailed description of the state that the program was in when it died.
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user_dump_dest:

The user_dump destination is controlled by the user_dump_dest initialization parameter for the instance. This parameter specifies the path name of the directory where the server can write debugging trace files for the user process. If the parameter is not set, the trace files are stored in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/log. If the directory is full, Oracle cannot create these files, which might result in process failure and makes debugging more difficult.