Oracle Initialization Parameters Best Practices

Best Practice	Reasoning
Oracle recommends that you use a binary server parameter file (spfile)	Use whichever type of initialization parameter file you’re comfortable with. If you have a requirement to use an spfile, then by all means implement one.
don’t set initialization parameters if you’re not sure of their intended purpose. When in doubt, use the default	Setting initialization parameters can have far-reaching consequences in terms of database performance. Only modify parameters if you know what the resulting behavior will be
For 11g, set the memory_target and memory_max_target initialization parameters	Doing this allows Oracle to manage all memory components for you.
For 10g, set the sga_target and sga_target_max initialization parameters.	Doing this lets Oracle manage most memory components for you
For 10g, set pga_aggregate_target and workarea_size_policy	Doing this allows Oracle to manage the memory used for the sort space
Starting with 10g, use the automatic UNDO feature. This is set using the undo_management and undo_tablespace parameters	Doing this allows Oracle to manage most features of the UNDO tablespace
Set open_cursors to a higher value than the default.  typically set it to 500. Active online transaction processing (OLTP) databases may need a much higher value	The default value of 50 is almost never enough. Even a small one-user application can exceed the default value of 50 open cursors.
Use at least two control files, preferably in different locations using different disks	If one control file becomes corrupt, it’s always a good idea to have at least one other control file available