Problem : $ sqlplus sys/sys@GRACE21 as sysdba fails with ORA-1031 Troubleshooting steps: 1) The database parameter remote_login_passwordfile has to be set to either EXCLUSIVE or SHARED . SQL> show parameter remote_login_passwordfile NAME TYPE VALUE ------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ remote_login_passwordfile string EXCLUSIVE 2) Password file orapw<sid> must exist a must be created with nosysdba=n -> This files doesn't exit after converting to Policy Manageed database $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs $ ls orapw* orapwGRACE22 Fix: After converting to Policy Managed DB we need to be prepared to have password files for all potential Instances. In case of a 3-node RAC systems these are : GRACE2_1 GRACE2_2 GRACE2_3 This means we have to provide following password files : orapwGRACE2_1 orapwGRACE2_2 orapwGRACE2_3 Just copy the original password file: $ cp orapwGRACE22 orapwGRACE2_1 $ cp orapwGRACE22 orapwGRACE2_2 $ cp orapwGRACE22 orapwGRACE2_3 and restart the instances where you have created the password file one by one : $ srvctl stop instance -d grace2 -i GRACE2_2 $ srvctl start instance -d grace2 -i GRACE2_2