In the previous instalment of this exciting series, we completed the full (complete) recovery of the database, tablespaces and data files, as well as looking at recovering individual blocks. In this article, we will perform incomplete recovery where we restore and recover the databases to a specific point in time that is previous to “now”. Note that in the following examples I’m using the until time option and specifying a date and time.

We have foxes in our garden in the mornings and evenings. We seem to have a dog and vixen and three cubs. This morning they were cavorting around in the sun and I managed to get a few pictures taken before they headed off to wherever they lie up during the day. This is my favourite shot: Next up, we have one of the vixen and one cub: Then one of the cubs playing together.

It’s supposed to be installed by default, according to the documentation, but for some reason or another, I managed to build a brand new 11.2 database, on Linux, with no CTXSYS user present. Installing Context Here’s how to install Oracle Text and the English language defaults, into an 11.2 database. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 SQL> connect / as SYSDBA SQL> spool ctxsys_installation.

When installing the Pro*C compiler stuff (technical term) from the 11.2.0.3 client install disc (it’s in zipfile 4 or 7 in case you need to know!) I hit a strange error almost immediately the installer started the GUI. I don’t have a screen dump, but the error message was the following: vbOEL.dunbar-it.co.uk:vbOEL.dunbar-it.co.uk In other words, my fully qualified Linux x86-64bit server name, vbOEL.dunbar-it.co.uk, twice. Interesting. No buttons were present to allow me to carry on, abort etc.

I’ve just created a new database on an HP-UX server. The database is Oracle 9i (yes, I know, I know!) and no matter what I do, I can’t connect via the listener without getting the dreaded ORA-12505: TNS:listener could not resolve SID given in connect descriptor error message. I’ve done this lots of times in the past, but for some reason, I can’t get it to work today. It’s driving me mad!

This one has been around for a while, but it’s still amusing. Other opinions are available … 40℉: Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in Scotland sunbathe. 35℉: Italian cars won’t start. People in Scotland drive with the windows down. 20℉: Floridians wear coats, gloves, and wool hats. People in Scotland throw on a T shirt. 15℉: Californians begin to evacuate the state. People in Scotland go swimming. 0℉: New York landlords finally turn up the heat.

It’s a post-installation configuration that hasn’t been done. The /etc/sudoers file has the following section in it: In the default (unconfigured) configuration, sudo asks for the root password. This allows use of an ordinary user account for administration of a freshly installed system. When configuring sudo, delete the two following lines: 1 2 Defaults targetpw # ask for the password of the target user i.e. root ALL ALL=(ALL) ALL # WARNING!

In part 6 of this mini-series, I left you with a backed up database, having using RMAN to take a hot backup. This episode looks at restoring and recovering from hot backups. The joy of this is that most of the time you don’t need to have everyone off of the database twiddling their thumbs while you restore and recover, just anyone in those areas affected. Restoration and recovery is full in that the database will be completely recovered right up to date after the restore and recovery is finished.

Due to a document not being supplied to me recently, I built a few 11g databases with the wrong SID. I needed to change them all. I found a few web pages, Oracle and others, on using the nid utility to do just that, however, they were incomplete. The full process is described here. The following has been tested fully on an 11.2.0.2 Oracle database. The nid utility used also exists in Oracle 10.

In the past few instalments, I’ve looked mainly at databases running in NOARCHIVELOG mode. It’s probably not the best way to run a production system but it is valid to do so. For the safest systems and the ability to recover from numerous disasters without losing any data, the database should be run in ARCHIVELOG mode. The remainder of the mini-series concentrates on the things you can do with RMAN when the database is running in ARCHIVELOG mode.

Previously in this mini-series, I managed to dump and recover a database from a cold backup. Before I move on to similar practices with hot backups, a few terms and observations may well be in order. Terms and Conditions A restore is the action of copying files back from a backup, prior to recovery. Recovery is carried out after restoring the files and allows the database to be recovered in full or to a specific point in time, using backups of archived logs, and/or the current archived logs - which may not have been backed up yet.

Frits Hoogland’s post on how to clone your Oracle Home rather than installing from scratch. Nice! One thing to beware of, if you have already applied a PSU, then you must ensure that you also include the .patch_contents hidden directory, if you don’t, you will not be able to apply any further PSUs to the cloned home(s) created from the tarball.

So far I have managed to dump and recover a database running in ARCHIVELOG mode. That is the most sensible mode for a production database and will be the case for the rest of this small RMAN guide. However, what if your databases are not running in ARCHIVELOG mode? What can RMAN do for you? Running a Database in NOARCHIVELOG Mode The database is shutdown at the moment, so we will MOUNT it using RMAN and create a brand new full cold backup in the FRA.