How to change the open mode of all pluggable databases

When you need to modify the open mode of all your PDBs at the same time (look at this post if you want to change the open mode of only a specific pluggable database) you can use ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE command and the ALL option.

As usual you have to ensure that the current container is the root.

SQL> SELECT SYS_CONTEXT ('USERENV', 'CON_NAME') FROM DUAL;

SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','CON_NAME')
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CDB$ROOT

The following statement for example changes the open mode of all your pluggable databases at the same time.

SQL>ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL CLOSE IMMEDIATE;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          MOUNTED     3
PDB002          MOUNTED     4

When you need to change the open mode of all pluggable database except for listed ones you can include also the EXCEPT option as in the following example:

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL EXCEPT PDB001 OPEN READ WRITE;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          MOUNTED     3
PDB002          READ WRITE    4

To open all my pluggable databases I can simply execute the following command. It doesn't take care that PDB002 is already open in READ WRITE mode: any error is returned because the pluggable databases are in different open mode.

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN READ WRITE;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          READ WRITE    3
PDB002          READ WRITE    4

However, if any of your pluggable databases are in READ ONLY mode, then the statement returns the error "ORA-65019: pluggable database PDB001 already open" as you can see:

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL CLOSE IMMEDIATE;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          MOUNTED     3
PDB002          MOUNTED     4

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE PDB001 OPEN READ ONLY;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          READ ONLY    3
PDB002          MOUNTED     4

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN READ WRITE;
ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN READ WRITE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-65019: pluggable database PDB001 already open

Even if the statement fails for pluggable database PDB001 it was able to open PDB002 as requested:

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          READ ONLY    3
PDB002          READ WRITE    4

To avoid the error ORA-65019 you can include the FORCE option in your command:

SQL> ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ALL OPEN READ WRITE FORCE;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select NAME, OPEN_MODE, CON_ID from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE      CON_ID
------------------------------ ---------- ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY    2
PDB001          READ WRITE    3
PDB002          READ WRITE    4

To shutdown all your pluggable databases except one you can use the following command:

SQL> alter pluggable database all except PDB002 close immediate;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select name, open_mode from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE
------------------------------ ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY
PDB001          MOUNTED
PDB002          READ WRITE

To list some of your pluggable databases you can use the comma as in the following example where I need to open all my pluggable databases (PDB001 and PDB002) except those listed (just PDB001 and PDB002!!). Nothing happens of course.

SQL> alter pluggable database all except PDB002,PDB001 open;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select name, open_mode from V$PDBS;

NAME          OPEN_MODE
------------------------------ ----------
PDB$SEED         READ ONLY
PDB001          MOUNTED
PDB002          READ WRITE