In Oracle Database, what are the components of its physical database structure?

There are 6 files(components) of physical database structure.

Out of 6, 3 are mandatory and the other 3 are optional.

Three mandatory files are :

1. Data file : store actual data
2. Control file : strores stuctural & status information of database.
3. Redolog file : stores changed/committed data

Three optional files are :

4. Parameter file : strores all size related parameters note : this file is mandatory whne you create a database for the first titme , then it is optional.

5 . Archivelog file : its offline copy of redolog

6. Password file : used to make normal user to behave as a super user.

Hope this helps....

Thanks,
Suji

This topic is interesting but could you let me know what the difference between Redolog file and Archivelog file is. I assume that both have copy of the same data. Is that there is any difference in the storage structure