HELP!! Archive log files are not being created 2

[CWON]

I have a query regarding the archive log file created by oracle. during backups. As part of our regular maintenance program, at the end of each month I clean out all but the last 7 day’s log files and delete them form the server. (old *.arc’ log files ones are kept with the old tape backup) the problem I have is that so far in august none of these log files has been produced in the archive directory in the server. Nothing about the hot back scripts has been altered. I have been through the scripts and compared the actual scripts with the written versions we have in the procedures, and have found no discrepancies. I understand that these are vital to recover the database in the event of a failure. The only thing on the server that has altered is that we have automated the backup via a batch file to use NT backup. This however was altered well prior to 27-7-01 (when the last archive log script was created), does anyone have any ideas on what may be going wrong?

 

[rcurva]

cwon,

Verify the following init.ora parameters:
LOG_ARCHIVE_START (=TRUE for auto archiving)
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST
LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT

and check the archiving status of your DB:
SVRMGRL> archive log list;
Database log mode Archive Mode
Automatic archival Enabled
Archive destination for ex: $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/arch
Oldest on-line log sequence 275
Next log sequence 277
Current log sequence 278

or

SVRMGR> Select * from V$DATABASE

Let's see if you miss something.

 

[karluk]

If all the things that Rcurva suggest check out, I would guess that your problem is simply that you have so little activity on your database, that no redo log has filled up since late July.

This doesn't mean that you don't have a problem, however. You will be unable to recover from a hot backup without doing a forward recovery and applying log files. That means if you're unlucky enough to lose your current redo log, you may be completely unrecoverable.

That's the reason that it's good technique, at the end of a hot backup, to do a log switch and then backup the archive log directory. Please examine your backup procedures and make sure you are doing this. The command to do a log switch is

alter system switch logfile;

 

[CWON]

I have checked out all the things suggessted by rcurva and it seems OK. we do do a log switch at the end of each backup so that part is OK also. regarding the problem Lack of use is a possibility I guess, but up until late july log files were being created every few days at it's worst, there has been no slowdown in production or testing so I am doubtfull that is the probelm. I have since contacted the vendor prehaps thier tech support can shed some light. thanks for your help guys.

 

[karluk]

We must be missing some key point. If you're in archive log mode with automatic archiving enabled and doing a log switch as part of every online backup, it's impossible not to get a new archive log at least as often as you do backups. I don't see how this could be happening. Either you missed something in your checks, or there is some other issue that we're overlooking.

 

[carp]

My archive log list comes out a little different than rcurva's:

SQL> archive log list
Database log mode Archive Mode
Automatic archival Enabled
Archive destination D:\O8i\oradata\BB44\archive
Oldest online log sequence 3901
Next log sequence to archive 3903
Current log sequence 3903

IF you do an ARCHIVE LOG LIST, do a log switch, and then do another ARCHIVE LOG LIST, does the value of
"Next log sequence to archive" change? If so, then your system thinks it's archiving to SOMEWHERE! Then the trick becomes finding where it's writing to. Do you have multiple archive destinations defined? If so, it might be writing to one but not the other (due to the destination being full, etc).