Media recovery when using an old controlfile

From: Jurjen Oskam <joskam_at_quadpro.stupendous.org>
Date: 25 Jun 2003 08:40:32 GMT
Message-Id: <slrnbfio00.ak2.joskam@calvin.quadpro.stupendous.org>

Hi everybody,

I'm experimenting with several options regarding the backup and recovery of an Oracle 8.1.7 database.

On the production machine, I first created a copy of the current controlfile. After some seconds, I did the equivalent of a SHUTDOWN ABORT.[1]

Then, I copied *all* the files over to another machine, along with the copy of the controlfile. I changed the control_files parameter on the backup machine to the copy of the controlfile.

If I understand correctly, this results in (on the second machine) datafiles that need media recovery, with a not-current controlfile.

The situation is that I cannot start this database. First, I did a STARTUP MOUNT. Then, I did RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE UNTIL CANCEL. This results in the following:

ORA-00279: change 1702722594 generated at 06/25/2003 08:22:23 needed for thread 1
ORA-00289: suggestion : /oracle/app/oracle/admin/prod1/arch/arch1_49248.rdo
ORA-00280: change 1702722594 for thread 1 is in sequence #49248

Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL} CANCEL

ORA-01547: warning: RECOVER succeeded but OPEN RESETLOGS would get error below
ORA-01194: file 1 needs more recovery to be consistent
ORA-01110: data file 1: '/dbentry/prod1/div1_500_01'

However, sequence #49248 was not generated yet at the time of the SHUTDOWN ABORT of the original database. And indeed, when I try to open the database with RESETLOGS, I get the error I was warned about above.

Is it possible to do media recovery with an older version of a controlfile? And if it's possible, is it sensible? :-)

Right after the above failure to start the database with the backup controlfile, I changed the control_files parameter to the controlfile that was current at the time of the SHUTDOWN ABORT. With this controlfile, I was able to do a STARTUP without problems at all.

[1] I didn't really SHUTDOWN ABORT the production database. What I did was atomically make a copy of the disks the database is on, and this copy was presented to the second host.

-- 
Jurjen Oskam

PGP Key available at http://www.stupendous.org/

Received on Wed Jun 25 2003 - 03:40:32 CDT