Question

Why do I get a WARNING when I run the validate-database on Portal 6.1?
[04/03/09 10:37:40.441 EDT] Validating Database Parameters... [04/03/09 10:37:40.441 EDT] select name, value from v$parameter [04/03/09 10:37:40.448 EDT] User does not have permission to display Database Parameters. If you would like to display these parameters, please connect to this application with a user that has DBA Authority.

Cause

This warning is only seen when an Oracle database is used. When the validate-database script runs, it tries to pull database parameters from Oracle in addition to validating the connection.

Answer

This warning can be safely ignored.
In order for additional database parameters to be extracted from Oracle the user must have DBA Authority privileges for Oracle. Most Oracle customers would not hold DBA Authority user privileges. Customers not holding DBA Authority is not an issue, however there will be a warning because of the default behaviour used to connect to the database.