full database restore

okay, i think i may be missing something conceptually. this is on a linux box running oracle 8.1.6 set in archivelog mode. i'm performing cold backups (data files, control files, parameter files, password files) then copying off the archived redo log every four hours. so, conceivably, if the machine totally craps out and i want to replicate the instance on another machine up to the point of the last archived redo logs, i should have to:

1. restore the data files, control files, parameter files, and password files from backup to the same directory structure (for the sake of simplicity)
2. restore the archived redo logs to the LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1 (just the logs created since the backup in step 1)
3. mount the database and initiate database recovery
4. issue a 'alter database open resetlogs' because the online redo logs need to be recreated

note that the control file is from the last backup. now where i'm getting stuck is step 3. the database gets mounted but when i try any combination of 'alter database recover', 'recover tablespace...', etc., the archived redo logs never get applied. oracle always says that no recovery is needed.

what am i missing? do i need a control file from the machine that crashed?

thanks in advance,
stephen Received on Tue Sep 18 2001 - 19:35:55 CEST