archive question --- too many archive logs generated during data load

 I am encountering a situation while trying to load data into a production database.
It's Oracle 8.1.6 , Enterprise edition on Solaris 2.7.

Data is loaded into a table using PL/SQL. Approximately 1 million rows are inserted. Average row length is 30 bytes for the table and all columns are number. Hence, approximately 30 MB of data is loaded.

However, as soon as the the data load process starts, there is continuous archiving every few seconds. There are 3 redo logs 5 MB each. Eventually there are 300 archive logs are generated during the process. Hence 300 x 5 = 1500 MB worth of archived log is generated while only 30 MB of data is loaded. No other processing takes place during the load.

Because of this massive archive log generation during this process, suddenly the filesystem tends to fillup so fast that I have to monitor the space continuously during the load to ensue archiver doesn't suddenly stop because of lack of space.

Question: Is this massive archive log generation normal for this amount of data.

                 Is there any init parameter or is there anything  that can be
checked or 
                 done to avoid this massive archive generation.

It's understandable a lot of redo log switched will happen during data loads. However, I am trying to understand what's the reason for this excessive archiving.
How to justify or quantify the amount of archivig based on a certain data volumes or transaction

Anyone with any experience or information on this . please help.

Regards
Willy Received on Sat Oct 13 2001 - 01:20:53 CDT