Shutting Down the Database Server Gracefully with the -s Option

The -s option causes a graceful shutdown. Users who are using the database server are allowed to finish before the database server comes to quiescent mode, but no new connections are allowed. When all processing is finished, -s takes the database server to quiescent mode. The -s option leaves shared memory intact.

A prompt asks for confirmation. If you want to eliminate this prompt, execute the -y option with the -s option.