Bug when creating a physical standby database in 11G

Creating a physical standby database in 11G became a whole lot easier with just one RMAN command – unless you run into a bug :-)

My primary DB runs on Oracle Managed Files on ASM. My physical standby will also run on Oracle Managed Files on ASM on another server, but the ASM diskgroups are not the same.

I used Arub Nanda’s great article Oracle Database 11g: The Top New Features for DBAs and Developers as a guide. The Data Guard article is number 15 in the series and well worth a read if you want to get up and running quickly.
The RMAN script I used:

run {
allocate channel c1 type disk;
allocate auxiliary channel s1 type disk;

SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 1 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 2 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 3 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 4 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 5 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 6 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 7 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 8 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 9 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 10 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 11 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR DATAFILE 12 TO NEW;
SET NEWNAME FOR TEMPFILE 1 TO NEW;

duplicate target database
for standby
from active database
dorecover
spfile
parameter_value_convert 'adevc','adevt'
set db_unique_name='adevt'
set control_files='/opt/apps/oracle/product/11.1.0.7.0/dbs/control01.ctl'
set fal_client='adevt'
set fal_server='adevc'
set standby_file_management='AUTO'
set log_archive_config='dg_config=(adevc,adevt)'
set log_archive_dest_1='location="/dump/oracle/adevt_archivelogs", valid_for=(ONLINE_LOGFILE,ALL_ROLES)'
set log_archive_dest_2='service=adevc LGWR ASYNC valid_for=(ONLINE_LOGFILES,PRIMARY_ROLE) db_unique_name=casdev'
set log_archive_dest_state_2='enable'
set db_create_file_dest='+TADG1'
set db_create_online_log_dest_1='+TADG1'
;

sql channel c1 'alter system archive log current';
sql channel s1 'alter database recover managed standby database using current logfile disconnect';
}
The error found in the RMAN logfile:
channel c1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00023 name=+CADG1/adevc/datafile/all_ts.408.688130429
RMAN-03009: failure of backup command on c1 channel at 04/30/2010 14:54:55
ORA-19504: failed to create file "+TADG1"
channel c1 disabled, job failed on it will be run on another channel
released channel: c1
released channel: s1
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of Duplicate Db command at 04/30/2010 14:54:55
RMAN-03015: error occurred in stored script Memory Script

RMAN-03009: failure of backup command on c1 channel at 04/30/2010 14:54:55
ORA-19504: failed to create file "+TADG1"

I found the root cause of the problem on metalink - Standby DATAFILE Creation Failing with RAC / ASM / OMF [ID 787753.1] It turns out to be Bug:7462589. The workaround for the Bug is that the ASM diskgroups on the standby must also be on the primary. The note states that this will be fixed in 11GR2. So my workaround was to create a temporary ASM diskgroup called TADG1 (with only 1 disk) on the primary database server. After that the restore completed successfully.