MEMORY_TARGET specifies the Oracle system-wide usable memory.
The database tunes memory to the MEMORY_TARGET value, reducing or enlarging the SGA and PGA as needed.
MEMORY_TARGET should be set higher than or equal to the sum of the current sizes of the SGA and PGA.
In a text-based initialization parameter file, if you omit MEMORY_MAX_TARGET and include a value for MEMORY_TARGET, then the database automatically sets MEMORY_MAX_TARGET to the value of MEMORY_TARGET. If you omit the line for MEMORY_TARGET and include a value for MEMORY_MAX_TARGET, the MEMORY_TARGET parameter defaults to zero. After startup, you can then dynamically change MEMORY_TARGET to a nonzero value, provided that it does not exceed the value of MEMORY_MAX_TARGET.
Total memory usage can grow beyond the value of MEMORY_TARGET. For example, memory is allocated to PL/SQL tables and varrays regardless of the value of MEMORY_TARGET as long as memory is available at the operating system level.
In the Default value field, IMMEDIATE mode autotuning requests are necessary to avoid ORA-04031 errors. The DEFERRED and IMMEDIATE modes are reflected in the OPER_MODE column of the V$MEMORY_RESIZE_OPS view.
