Does ASM has controlfile?

SELECT * FROM V$VERSION;
BANNER
----------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Prod
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
CORE    10.2.0.1.0      Production
TNS for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production

SQL> select instance_name from v$instance;

INSTANCE_NAME
----------------
+asm

SQL> show parameter control_files

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
control_files                        string      D:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\DB_1\DATABASE
                                                                     \CTL1+ASM.ORA

Probably we all know that ASM consist of an Instance, doesn't have database, i.e. physical structure. Therefore, the above definitely misleads.

According to the ASM book, the control_files parameters point to a dummy (nonexistent) file. This is the default internal value for this parameter and it is a meaningless value in the ASM instance.


Happy Reading,

Jaffar