JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES specifies the maximum number of job slaves per instance that can be created for the execution of DBMS_JOB jobs and Oracle Scheduler (DBMS_SCHEDULER) jobs. DBMS_JOB and Oracle Scheduler share the same job coordinator and job slaves, and they are both controlled by the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES parameter.
If the value of JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES is set to 0, then DBMS_JOB jobs and Oracle Scheduler jobs will not run on the instance.If JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES is set to a value in the range of 1 to 1000, then DBMS_JOB jobs and Oracle Scheduler jobs will run. The actual number of job slaves created for Oracle Scheduler jobs is auto-tuned by the Scheduler depending on several factors, including available resources, Resource Manager settings, and currently running jobs. However, the combined total number of job slaves running DBMS_JOB jobs and Oracle Scheduler jobs on an instance can never exceed the value of JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES for that instance. The number of job slaves running Oracle Scheduler jobs is additionally limited to the value of the MAX_JOB_SLAVE_PROCESSES Scheduler attribute.
Advanced replication uses Oracle Scheduler for data refreshes. Oracle Streams Advanced Queuing uses Oracle Scheduler for message propagation. Materialized views use Oracle Scheduler for automatic refreshes. Setting JOB_QUEUE_PROCESS to 0 will disable these features as well as any other features that use Oracle Scheduler or DBMS_JOB.a、对于Oracle job进程，包含协调进程(主进程)以及奴隶进程(子进程)。
b、job_queue_processes取值范围为0到1000，总共可创建多少个job进程由job_queue_processes参数来决定。
c、当job_queue_processes大于1时，且并行执行job时，至少一个为协调进程。其总数不会超出job_queue_processes的值。
d、job_queue_processes参数的值为且DBMS_JOB与DBMS_SCHEDULER共享。
e、job_queue_processes参数，当设定该值为0的时候则任意方式创建的job都不会运行。
f、非零值的job_queue_processes，其job子进程数依赖于可用资源，资源配置方式以及当前运行的job数来自行调整。
g、此外对于Scheduler jobs方式还受限制于scheduler属性MAX_JOB_SLAVE_PROCESSES的设置。
h、可以通过DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE来设置max_job_slave_processes
此参数可以alter system立即生效
原文地址：http://blog.51cto.com/2012ivan/2110655