Re: Help: STALE logs problem

In our last gripping episode kal121_at_my-deja.com wrote:
> In article <8u6qt9$j4t$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>,
> David Fitzjarrell <oratune_at_aol.com> wrote:
> > In our last gripping episode kal121_at_my-deja.com wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I have an 8.1.6 database on Linux. I created 5 redo log groups, 2
> > > members each.
> > >
> > > Tried to do an update, but the "commit" command just hung for a
 long
> > > time and would not complete. I suspected the redo logs. Sure
 enough, 4
> > > of the 5 groups were STALE - all 4 groups' members.
> > >
> > > My question is, what would cause 4 of 5 groups to go completely
 STALE?
> > > Could an improper shutdown cause this? (Turns out the machine was
 being
> > > rebooted without shutting down Oracle first).
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > > Before you buy.
> > >
> >
> > Whenever LGWR cannot write to a member of a group, Oracle marks that
> > member as stale and writes an error message to the LGWR trace file
 and
> > to the database's alert file to indicate the problem with the
> > inaccessible files.
>
> This is not always true. In my case, there were no errors. There *may*
> or *may not* be ORA errors which are related to the problem.
>
> I would check the background dump destination for
> > LGWR trace files to determine the exact cause of this problem.
>
> I already looked. There were were no errors related to this problem.
>
> >
> > As to the system shutdown question if you have the system properly
> > configured your rc scripts should be bringing up and shutting down
 the
> > instance whenever Linux is shutdown or booted. If the system is
 truly
> > shutting down without shutting down Oracle you will have far more
> > problems than stale redo log files.
>
> That is somewhat aside from the point. What I wanted to know is if an
> improper shutdown COULD CAUSE logs to go stale.
>

Not in my estimation; simply because it doesn't directly answer your immediate question does not indicate that the response is 'aside from the point', the point being that your system was coming down without gracefully shutting down your database.

> The shutdown problem has since been resolved and it had nothing to do
> with the rc scripts.

I never said it did; I only commented that IF your rc scripts were properly configured you shouldn't have your shutdown problem, aside from a shutdown -r which does not invoke rc.

I have never experienced an improper shutdown causing log files to go STALE (of course this is not to say it CAN'T happen). I HAVE, however, found errors in the LGWR trace files indicating that log files were not available (usually across a network). I have also found STALE log files when the database is not in archivelog mode. I have also seen this behaviour when the redo logs are excessively sized and, thus, never fill.

From your statements I expected you to find errors associated with this behaviour, especially since the system was coming down and the databaSe wasn't. I am glad that you found no errors associated with this.

>
> >
> > --
> > David Fitzjarrell
> > Oracle Certified DBA
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > Before you buy.
> >
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>

--
David Fitzjarrell
Oracle Certified DBA


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.