This article discusses the difference between creating a database through dbca and the default template. The following is a screenshot of the 11.2.0.3 dbca database creation selection template: 
As can be seen from the screenshot, the system comes with 3 templates, namely: "General Purpose and Transaction Processing ", "custom database ", "data warehouse ", the previous Oracle Database version seems to be 4 templates, general purpose and transaction processing are two different templates.
Let's take a look at how Oracle interprets the system's own templates:
Templates are divided into the following types:
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Seed templates
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Nonseed templates
The characteristics of each are shown in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1 DBCA Template Types
Type File Extension Includes Data Files Database Structure| Seed |
|
Yes |
This type of template contains both the structure and the physical data files of an existing database, referred to as the seed database. Your new database starts as a copy of the seed database, and requires only the following changes:
Other changes can be made after database creation using custom scripts that can be invoked by DBCA, command-line SQL statements, or Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control. The data files for the seed database are stored in compressed RMAN backup format in a file with a .dfb extension. The seed database control file is stored in a file with .ctl extension. (This file is needed only when storing data files in Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) disk groups or as Oracle Managed Files.) The .dbc file contains the location of the seed database data files and contains the source database name used to mount the control file. |
| Nonseed |
|
No |
This type of template is used to create a new database. It contains the characteristics of the database to be created. Nonseed templates are more flexible than their seed counterparts because all data files and online redo log files are created to your specification, and names, sizes, and other attributes can be changed as required. |
Oracle将模板类型分为seed和Nonseed模板，上图中的“包含数据文件”为“是”的就是seed模板类型，它的特点是包含数据文件，简单的说就是从一个RMAN备份中恢复数据库，由于是恢复数据库不能设定数据文件大小，不能设定选件等，最大特点是创建速度特别快，“一般用途和事务处理”和“数据仓库”就属于这种模板类型；“定制数据库”属于Nonseed模板，该模板不包含数据文件，需要使用create database命令创建数据库，创建周期较长，但能根据需要选择组件，控制数据文件大小等，更加的灵活，但对于大部分系统业务来说，“一般用途和事务处理”模板类型是最常用的选择。
刚刚我们已经提到，“一般用途和事务处理”和“数据仓库”都是从同一个模板（备份）类型的文件中恢复而来，Oracle的模板存放位置为$ORACLE_HOME\assistants\dbca\templates，下面是模板位置下的文件截图：
example.dmp和example01.dfb是“示例表空间”的内容，可以猜想是通过可传输表空间的形式附加到创建的数据库中。
Data_Warehouse.dbc是“数据仓库”模板文件，General_purpose.dbc是“一般用途和事务处理”模板文件，它们都属于Seed模板类型，对应同一个模板文件Seed_Database.dfb，Seed_Database.ctl是seed数据库的控制文件（从这点再次印证控制文件对于RMAN恢复的重要性）。
New_Database.dbt是Nonseed模板文件，属于不包含数据文件的模板，*.dbc和*.dbt都是以XML文件的形式进行存储。
既然“一般用途和事务处理”和“数据仓库”都属于seed模板类型，那么它们之间又有什么区别呢？下面首先来看看Oracle对它们的解释：
DBCA Templates Provided by Oracle
Oracle provides the templates shown in Table 2-2.
Table 2-2 Oracle-Provided DBCA Templates and Their Corresponding Workloads
Template Workload| Data warehouse |
Users perform numerous, complex queries that process large volumes of data. Response time, accuracy, and availability are key issues. These queries ( |
| General Purpose or Transaction processing |
Many concurrent users perform numerous transactions that require rapid access to data. Availability, speed, concurrency, and recoverability are key issues. Transactions consist of reading ( |
| Custom database |
This template allows you maximum flexibility in defining a database because you can change any of the settings for the database being created. |
Oracle只在用途上对它们进行了解释，除此之外，我们来对比一下两个模板dbc文件之间的区别：
用文件比较文件可以很容易的发现，Data_Warehouse.dbc比General_Purpose.dbc文件多了下面这行：
<initParam name="star_transformation_enabled" value="TRUE"/>
这是一个初始化参数，下面是对它的解释：
STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED
| Parameter type | String |
| Syntax | STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED = { FALSE | TRUE | TEMP_DISABLE } |
| Default value | FALSE |
| Modifiable | ALTER SESSION, ALTER SYSTEM |
| Basic | Yes |
STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED determines whether a cost-based query transformation will be applied to star queries.
Values:
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FALSEThe transformation will not be applied.
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TRUEThe optimizer will consider performing a cost-based query transformation on the star query.
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TEMP_DISABLEThe optimizer will consider performing a cost-based query transformation on the star query but will not use temporary tables in the star transformation.
This is to enable the star schema in the data warehouse. You can search for relevant knowledge. Other differences have not been found yet, waiting for us to discover.
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