Startup mount fails in RMAN utility

[bhunter]

I am trying to perform a backup using the RMAN utility. I am doing a "cold" backup so I shutdown the database and then went into RMAN (connecting to the target with the nocatalog option). When I try to mount the database, I get the following error message:

RMAN-04014: startup failed: ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters.

Does anyone have a clue why I am getting this error? Please respond quickly before I pull my hair out.

 

[bhunter]

Here is part of the listener.log file (maybe it will help)...

03-APR-2001 12:11:43 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1221)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:43 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1224)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:43 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1227)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:44 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1231)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:44 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1235)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:44 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1238)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:11:45 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1246)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:27 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=E:\oracle\ora81\bin\RMAN.EXE)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=sdctest))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1249)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:27 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=E:\oracle\ora81\bin\RMAN.EXE)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=sdctest))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1252)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:40 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1258)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:41 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1261)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:41 * service_update * auc * 0
03-APR-2001 12:12:44 * service_died * auc * 12537
03-APR-2001 12:12:50 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=E:\oracle\ora81\bin\RMAN.EXE)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=sdctest))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1265)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 12514
TNS-12514: TNS:listener could not resolve SERVICE_NAME given in connect descriptor
03-APR-2001 12:13:46 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1270)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 12514
TNS-12514: TNS:listener could not resolve SERVICE_NAME given in connect descriptor
03-APR-2001 12:13:46 * (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=auc.geg.mot.com)(CID=(PROGRAM=C:\Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin\jre.exe)(HOST=AZSC5028)(USER=SYSTEM))) * (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=137.162.75.74)(PORT=1271)) * establish * auc.geg.mot.com * 12514
TNS-12514: TNS:listener could not resolve SERVICE_NAME given in connect descriptor

 

[karluk]

As a general rule, one would not expect the Ora-01078 to be caused by the connection problems recorded in your listener.log. Ora-01078 is caused by the failure on startup to process one or more of the parameters in the init.ora file. I would guess, for example, that specifying a nonexistent directory for the background_dump_dest would generate this error.

Can you start the database successfully without using rman? If so, the rman startup is probably looking at the wrong init.ora file.

 

[bhunter]

Thanks for the response. I can start the database with DBA Studio, I used the only init.ora file that I have. I really need to figure out how to mount the database with RMAN so that I can perform a backup. I am open to any other methods of doing a "cold" backup. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

 

[karluk]

According to the RMAN documentation, the syntax of the startup command allows one to specify an init.ora file:

startup mount pfile='full path of your init.ora';

If you tried a startup without the pfile parameter, it probably uses a default file name rather than the one you want.

 

[bhunter]

Thanks! I was able to make the command work using the path to the init.ora.