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Database instance

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A database instance consists of the running operating environment which allows users to access and use a database. A database (as a generic structured store of data) becomes an instance when instantiated as a system and made available via its database management system.

Specific database providers can define database instances in terms of the precise hardware and software resources required to make them available: thus the Oracle database requires allocated system memory and at least one background process before the database counts as an instance.