What information from v$ views should be included when asking questions about Oracle Problems? I was asking more information about Operating System. Then I wondered if an generic sql can give this information? Following things come to my mind.


SELECT banner from v$version;
SELECT LOG_MODE ,PLATFORM_ID,PLATFORM_NAME FROM V$DATABASE;


My output from test database is below.

SQL&gt; SELECT banner from V$version;

BANNER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - Production
PL/SQL Release 11.2.0.2.0 - Production
CORE    11.2.0.2.0      Production
TNS for Linux: Version 11.2.0.2.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 11.2.0.2.0 - Production


SQL&gt; SELECT LOG_MODE ,PLATFORM_ID,PLATFORM_NAME FROM V$DATABASE;

LOG_MODE     PLATFORM_ID  PLATFORM_NAME
------------ -----------  -------------------
NOARCHIVELOG          10  Linux IA (32-bit)
It depends on what specific problem you are asking. The two queries you provided can give others some general information of your database, which should be provided in almost all your questions.

BTW, I suggest you add *open_mode* column of v$database in your query.