Password File in ASM - Oracle release 12c

Prior to Oracle Database 12c, the password file was always located under $ORACLE_HOME/dbs file structure, even for RAC instances and for RAC ASM cluster. For RAC the DBA organisation had to managed to keep the password file in sync on each node. See for a solution in an earlier blog on my site "Password file maintenance on Clustered ASM and RAC databases 11gR2 and before"

Oracle 12c

Now in Oracle 12c, it is possible to store the password file on ASM. Wonderfule this means a shared password file for Oracle RAC databases , it is shared for all instances in the cluster.

ORAPWD Utility

The command utility to create the passowrd file is still the same. “orapwd”

Oracle 11gR2 and before;
Usage: orapwd file= entries= force= ignorecase= nosysdba=
 where:

• file - name of password file (required), 
• password - password for SYS will be prompted if not specified at command line,
• entries - maximum number of distinct DBA (optional), 
• force - whether to overwrite existing file (optional), 
• ignorecase - passwords are case-insensitive (optional), 
• nosysdba - whether to shut out the SYSDBA logon (optional Database Vault only). 

There must be no spaces around the equal-to (=) character.

Oracle 12c and after;
Usage: orapwd file= entries= force= asm= dbuniquename=
            format= sysbackup= sysdg= syskm= delete= input_file=
Usage: orapwd describe file=
 where:

• file - name of password file (required),
• password - password for SYS will be prompted if not specified at command line. Ignored, if input_file is specified,
• entries - maximum number of distinct DBA (optional),
• force - whether to overwrite existing file (optional), 
• asm - indicates that the password to be stored in Automatic Storage Management (ASM) disk group is an ASM password. (optional). 
• dbuniquename - unique database name used to identify database password files residing in ASM diskgroup only. Ignored when asm option is specified (optional), 
• format - use format=12 for new 12c features like SYSBACKUP, SYSDG and SYSKM support, longer identifiers, etc. If not specified, format=12 is default (optional), delete - drops a password file. Must specify 'asm', 'dbuniquename' or 'file'. If 'file' is specified, the file must be located on an ASM diskgroup (optional), 
• sysbackup - create SYSBACKUP entry (optional and requires the 12 format). Ignored, if input_file is specified, 
• sysdg - create SYSDG entry (optional and requires the 12 format), Ignored, if input_file is specified, 
• syskm - create SYSKM entry (optional and requires the 12 format), Ignored, if input_file is specified, 
• input_file - name of input password file, from where old user entries will be migrated (optional), 
• describe - describes the properties of specified password file (required). 

There must be no spaces around the equal-to (=) character.

For more information read Creating a Database Password File with ORAPWD