Re: Oracle Err: Can not allocate log, archive required

In our last gripping episode alexberi_at_my-deja.com wrote:
>
>
> In article <9574s7$jmr$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>,
> David Fitzjarrell <oratune_at_aol.com> wrote:
> > In our last gripping episode alexberi_at_my-deja.com wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > I have configured an Oracle NT database 8.0.5 to work in archieve
 mode
> > > and set automatic archieving of logs, but I receive the message:
> > >
> > > "Can not allocate log, archive required"
> > >
> > > There is plenty of room on the drive where the archive files are
> > > created, and I have about 100 archieved logs there.
> > >
> > > Can anyone tell me where is the problem?
> > >
> > > Thanks, Alex.
> > >
> > > Sent via Deja.com
> > > http://www.deja.com/
> > >
> >
> > Have you shut the database down and restarted it since you were
> > successfully archiving redo logs? Check your init<SID>.ora
 parameters
> > to verify that log_archive_start = TRUE and is not commented. It
 would
> > appear that the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode but that automatic
> > archiving is not enabled.
> >
> > --
> > David Fitzjarrell
> > Oracle Certified DBA
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com
> > http://www.deja.com/
> >
>
> The problem is that the achieving is done okay, I have the archieves.
> New questions are:
> - is it possible that the process for archieving (I don't know the
 name
> on NT) to be stoped?
> - is there any parameter to define the size or number of archive log
> files?
>
> Thanks David.
>
> Sent via Deja.com
> http://www.deja.com/
>

There are no actual 'processes' on NT outside of oracle.exe; this is handled in NT with threads from the oracle executable. However the ARCH thread may have died; use the following query to ascertain that it is still 'up and running':

select b.Name bkpr, s.Username spid, p.Pid   from V$BGPROCESS b, V$SESSION s, V$PROCESS p  where p.Addr = b.Paddr(+)
   and p.Addr = s.Paddr;

If the ARCH thread has died the only way to get it back, as far as I know on NT, is to stop the database (instance and service) then restart it. Check the alert log for details on the startup; you should see a list of 'processes' (threads) and the PID value assigned to each:

PMON started with pid=2
DBW0 started with pid=3
LGWR started with pid=4
CKPT started with pid=5
SMON started with pid=6
RECO started with pid=7

ARCH should be pid=4; all other threads will have their PID values increased by 1:

PMON started with pid=2
DBW0 started with pid=3
ARCH started with pid=4
LGWR started with pid=5
CKPT started with pid=6
SMON started with pid=7
RECO started with pid=8

I would check on the health and quantity of your computer memory. You may need to increase the RAM in your machine to prevent threads from dying. You may also need to replace some of the RAM as it may be faulty.

The size of the archive log files is determined by the size of the redo logs. The number of logs archived is a function of the available disk space. There are no parameters governing these aspects of archive log generation.

--
David Fitzjarrell
Oracle Certified DBA


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