Embodiment provide that each pluggable database (PDB) in a container database is associated with a distinct distributed lock manager (DLM) domain. Thus, in order to access a PDB, a database server instance joins the DLM domain for the PDB. To perform actions on the PDB, the instance secures locks that belong to the DLM domain for the particular PDB. As such, buffers storing data for the PDB may be managed separately from buffers storing data for other PDBs using the PDB-specific DLM domains. An instance forcefully closing a particular PDB marks the DLM domain of the PDB as invalid, which allows detection of the forceful closure by a recovery instance. Detection of an invalid DLM domain by an instance causes the instance to automatically recover the PDB by accessing pertinent ranges of redo logs and replaying changes made to data blocks for the PDB indicated in the logs.