Re: Is it possible to decrypt a redo log?

NGR wrote:
>
> I'd really appreciate some help on the practicality of trying to glean
> information from archived redo logs (Oracle v7.2.2). We have a vendor
> package that runs on Oracle/AIX. On the last cycle, it did something
> unpleasant with our payroll, and nobody (least of all the vendor!) can
> offer an explanation. We restored a cold backup from a prior night and
> reran data entry and batch processing - this time it worked fine.
> Naturally, my management (definitely members of the pointy-haired
> Dilbert variety), are demanding that I somehow "reconstruct" the
> sequence of events during the bad run by "reading" the archived redo
> logs from that time period. Now I'm a mainframe DBA, with Oracle as my
> fourth DBMS to support and all I can remember from my one week of
> training was that the redo logs contained parsed SQL that was suitable
> for high-speed processing by Oracle in a recovery situation. The manulas
> are suitably cryptic and keep darting from volume to volume.Is there a
> reasonable way to "cherchez la bug" through redo logs, or should I tell
> management to take a flying leap and apply for one of the many Oracle
> DBA jobs advertised in this newsgroup?
> thanks in advance,
> "Pissed in Portland"

Hi PIP

It sounds like you're on a hiding to nothing!

First things first, get another job, you're working too hard and life is too short.

Anyway some constructive feedback. Trying to read archived redo logs is a no, no!. You can dump the file header of a current redo log by;

--Dump redo log headers
alter session set events 'immediate trace name REDOHDR level 10'

This is unsupported and of limited benefit in your case.

What is your archiving strategy?, if you are running in ARCHIVELOG mode you could recover to a point in time just prior to the payroll run, this would keep the users a bit happier as they would not need to re-key. From there you could have a sniff around.

If you are not running in ARCHIVELOG then you should be! It is question number 1 in your next interview so get swatting.

Jensen. Received on Mon Mar 24 1997 - 00:00:00 CET