Oracle Background Process

To maximize the performance and accommodate many users, a multiprocessing oracle system use some additional database process called background process.
The relationship between the physical and memory structures is maintained and enforced by Oracle’s background processes.

Mandatory background process :

• System monitor (SMON)
• Process monitor (PMON)
• Database writer (DBWR)
• Log writer (LGWR)
• Checkpoint (CKPT)

Optional process:

• Archival  (ARCn)