ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel

All connections between a client software and an Oracle Server are created and managed by Oracle Networking or Net8. This is a two way connection between a Net8 Server (Listener) and a Net8 client. After a connection is established between the two, this error may occur when the net8 server is no longer available, or can not respond to Net8 client requests due to problems with the Oracle Server.It can also be due to a network failure. If it occurs at startup a configuration or installation problem is a likely cause. If it occurs after a shutdown some defunct processes may be running.

Follow is a sampling of the issue, and how it could be fix.

[oracle@our12test 11.1.0]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Wed Dec 8 08:58:06 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
 

SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1068937216 bytes
Fixed Size                  2166536 bytes
Variable Size             427819256 bytes
Database Buffers          624951296 bytes
Redo Buffers               14000128 bytes
Database mounted.
ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel
Process ID: 16033
Session ID: 3000 Serial number: 5

SQL> shut abort
ORA-24324: service handle not initialized
ORA-01041: internal error. hostdef extension doesn't exist
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.7.0 64 bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
 

[oracle@our12test 11.1.0]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Wed Dec 8 09:00:20 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected.
SQL> shut abort
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> exit
Disconnected
[oracle@our12test 11.1.0]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Wed Dec 8 09:00:20 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected.
SQL> shut abort
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> exit
Disconnected
 

[oracle@our12test 11.1.0]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Wed Dec 8 09:00:35 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup mount
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1068937216 bytes
Fixed Size                  2166536 bytes
Variable Size             427819256 bytes
Database Buffers          624951296 bytes
Redo Buffers               14000128 bytes
Database mounted.
SQL> recover database;
Media recovery complete.
SQL> alter database open;
Database altered.
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.7.0-64 bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

[oracle@our12test 11.1.0]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Wed Dec 8 09:04:55 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
SQL> shut immediate
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> exit
 

Then start normaly ...