Friday, September 16, 2011
Background Managed Standby Recovery process not detected
Logon to Active Data Guard fails with ORA-16000
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
ACCOUNT_STATUS = EXPIRED(GRACE)
Users are identified within the app, so all DB connections are done through 1 schema. We created a profile for this schema where the password will never expire. App support has a manual process to change the password every 60 days, but Oracle must never be allowed to expire the password automatically.
The problem is that I found the ACCOUNT_STATUS for the main schema to be EXPIRED(GRACE) and that the EXPIRY_DATE is 3 days away.
This schemas profile was changed by accident, and rectified within a few hours. But the damage was done the ACCOUNT_STATUS still showed EXPIRED(GRACE).
I found an excellent blog post by Robert Geier (http://blog.contractoracle.com/2009/11/analysis-of-oracle-password-expiry.html) to explain the situation. Here’s a abbreviation of his explanation: password expiry is controlled by the PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME profile limit, is activated at login, and is reset by a password change. Changing the profile will not change aud$.ASTATUS.
SQL> select USERNAME, PROFILE, ACCOUNT_STATUS from dba_users where username = ‘QWERTY’;
USERNAME PROFILE ACCOUNT_STATUS
------------------ ------------------ --------------------------------
QWERTY QWERTY_NONEXPIRY EXPIRED(GRACE)
So even though the profile was changed back to QWERTY_NONEXPIRY the ACCOUNT_STATUS was still EXPIRED(GRACE). The only way to reset the ACCOUNT_STATUS back to OPEN is to change the password, because only a password change will reset aud$.ASTATUS. But a password change will give a ORA-28007 because of the current profile limits for PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX and PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME gets violated.
SQL> select password from sys.user$ where name='QWERTY';
PASSWORD
-----------------------------
87FE2DD49B2882B2
SQL> alter user QWERTY identified by values '87FE2DD49B2882B2';
alter user QWERTY identified by values '87FE2DD49B2882B2'
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-28007: the password cannot be reused
So I had to create a new temporary profile with the required settings to allow me to change the password to be the same as the current password:
SQL> create profile tmtmp limit PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX UNLIMITED PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME UNLIMITED;
SQL> alter user QWERTY profile tmtmp;
SQL> alter user QWERTY identified by values '87FE2DD49B2882B2';
User altered.
SQL> alter user QWERTY profile QWERTY_NONEXPIRY;
SQL> select USERNAME, PROFILE, ACCOUNT_STATUS from dba_users where username = 'QWERTY';
USERNAME PROFILE ACCOUNT_STATUS
------------------ ------------------ --------------------------------
QWERTY QWERTY_NONEXPIRY OPEN
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Manually Add Datafile
Friday, May 7, 2010
Bug when creating a physical standby database in 11G
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.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Long wait times for cursor: pin S and latch: library cache
We were in the fortunate position to ask Tanel Poder to have a look. He also posted some info about the problem and how he systematically solved it. And with the same info I always give to Oracle support, he could correctly identify the problem in a couple of minutes! Most amazing is that the solution is available in the Oracle Documentation. 10g Release 2 (10.2) for UNIX-Based Operating Systems. B15658-02. Appendix B Administering Oracle Database on HP-UX.
What the documentation says:
On HP-UX, most processes use a time-sharing scheduling policy. Time sharing can have detrimental effects on Oracle performance by descheduling an Oracle process during critical operations, for example, when it is holding a latch. HP-UX has a modified scheduling policy, referred to as SCHED_NOAGE, that specifically addresses this issue. Unlike the normal time-sharing policy, a process scheduled using SCHED_NOAGE does not increase or decrease in priority, nor is it preempted.
This feature is suited to online transaction processing environments because online transaction processing environments can cause competition for critical resources.
So the OS scheduler may deschedule a Oracle process while it is holding a mutex/latch because the OS is not aware of what is going on inside Oracle. Now other processes which happen to use that cursor will fail to get the mutex and start spinning. If the mutex holder process has a lower priority than all the other processes who yielded CPU, then it may not get onto CPU soon enough, so it still holds that mutex and the other processes spin and use CPU trying to get that mutex.
How Tanel proved it:
Below are queries from v$event_histogram for the top 2 problem waits. Notice the number of histogram buckets where the wait time is > 512ms:
EVENT_NAME WAIT_TIME_MILLI WAIT_COUNT WAIT%
------------------------------ --------------- -------------- ------
latch: library cache 1 815,980 52.76
latch: library cache 2 187,232 12.11
latch: library cache 4 168,402 10.89
latch: library cache 8 138,053 8.93
latch: library cache 16 102,906 6.65
latch: library cache 32 69,149 4.47
latch: library cache 64 43,797 2.83
latch: library cache 128 11,916 0.77
latch: library cache 256 3,867 0.25
latch: library cache 512 1,005 0.06
latch: library cache 1,024 1,108 0.07
latch: library cache 2,048 1,516 0.10
latch: library cache 4,096 1,293 0.08
latch: library cache 8,192 351 0.02
EVENT_NAME WAIT_TIME_MILLI WAIT_COUNT WAIT%
------------------------------ --------------- -------------- ------
cursor: pin S 1 59,309,179 86.63
cursor: pin S 2 5,988,534 8.75
cursor: pin S 4 2,313,442 3.38
cursor: pin S 8 675,114 0.99
cursor: pin S 16 113,084 0.17
cursor: pin S 32 23,804 0.03
cursor: pin S 64 15,434 0.02
cursor: pin S 128 9,643 0.01
cursor: pin S 256 4,247 0.01
cursor: pin S 512 2,912 0.00
cursor: pin S 1,024 2,871 0.00
cursor: pin S 2,048 2,626 0.00
cursor: pin S 4,096 1,980 0.00
cursor: pin S 8,192 967 0.00
cursor: pin S 16,384 278 0.00
cursor: pin S 32,768 32 0.00
ps –efl > ps.txt
cat ps.txtgrep ".:..:.."awk '{ printf "%6d %50s\n", $7, $15 }'>ps1.txt
cat ps.txtgrep -v ".:..:.."awk '{ printf "%6d %50s\n", $7, $16 }'>ps2.txt
cat ps1.txt ps2.txtgrep ora.*abcprdsort -nuniq -csort -nbrhead -20
NUM
PROCS PRIO PROCESS_NAME
----- ------ -------------------
1936 154 oracleabcprd
25 148 oracleabcprd
4 241 oracleabcprd
1 240 oracleabcprd
1 235 oracleabcprd
1 229 oracleabcprd
1 223 oracleabcprd
1 207 oracleabcprd
1 195 oracleabcprd
1 187 oracleabcprd
1 181 oracleabcprd
1 179 oracleabcprd
1 154 ora_smon_abcprd
1 154 ora_rvwr_abcprd
1 154 ora_rsm0_abcprd
1 154 ora_reco_abcprd
1 154 ora_rbal_abcprd
1 154 ora_qmnc_abcprd
1 154 ora_q004_abcprd
1 154 ora_q003_abcprd
Note the different priorities of the oracle client processes. After we enabled SCHED_NOAGE for Oracle Database as described in the documentation. The output looked like this:
EVENT_NAME WAIT_TIME_MILLI WAIT_COUNT WAIT%
------------------------------ --------------- -------------- ------
latch: library cache 1 53,212 57.39
latch: library cache 2 10,517 11.34
latch: library cache 4 11,069 11.94
latch: library cache 8 5,308 5.72
latch: library cache 16 3,715 4.01
latch: library cache 32 3,506 3.78
latch: library cache 64 5,254 5.67
latch: library cache 128 131 0.14
latch: library cache 256 5 0.01
latch: library cache 512 7 0.01
latch: library cache 1,024 3 0.00
EVENT_NAME WAIT_TIME_MILLI WAIT_COUNT WAIT%
------------------------------ --------------- -------------- ------
cursor: pin S 1 2,267 15.46
cursor: pin S 2 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 4 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 8 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 16 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 32 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 64 0 0.00
cursor: pin S 128 12,380 84.45
cursor: pin S 256 12 0.08
NUM
PROCS PRIO PROCESS_NAME
----- ------ -------------------
1992 178 oracleabcprd
1 178 ora_smon_abcprd
1 178 ora_rvwr_abcprd
1 178 ora_rsm0_abcprd
1 178 ora_reco_abcprd
1 178 ora_rbal_abcprd
1 178 ora_qmnc_abcprd
1 178 ora_q001_abcprd
1 178 ora_q000_abcprd
1 178 ora_psp0_abcprd
1 178 ora_pmon_abcprd
1 178 ora_p009_abcprd
1 178 ora_p008_abcprd
1 178 ora_p007_abcprd
1 178 ora_p006_abcprd
1 178 ora_p005_abcprd
1 178 ora_p004_abcprd
1 178 ora_p003_abcprd
1 178 ora_p002_abcprd
Note that the number of wait buckets are less. The wait times are sort as it should be. And the process priority report shows that all oracle client processes are on the same priority.
Thanks Tanel!
Monday, November 16, 2009
OCM Disconnected Mode: quick setup guide
# unzip ocm-Production-HP-UX-IA64.zip
#cd ccr/config
#vi ccr.properties and add the following line to disable the collection of the host IP address:
ccr.metric.host.ecm_hw_nic.inet_address=false
Add the following line to disable the Network Interface MAC address collection:
ccr.metric.host.ecm_hw_nic.mac_address=false
Configuring Oracle Configuration Manager in Disconnected Mode (so that it does not upload info to Oracle via the internet through the proxy server
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/setupCCR -s -d
Instrument the Database for Configuration Collections. The following steps must be repeated for every database instance, including multiple instances running from the same ORACLE_HOME.
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/admin/scripts/installCCRSQL.sh collectconfig –s
After Oracle Configuration Manager has been configured, you must run the emCCR
collect command to collect configuration data.
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/emCCR collect
You can find the disconnected mode collection at the following location:
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/hosts/
To upload this configuration to My Oracle Support, transfer the ocmconfig.jar to a
system that is connected to the Internet and attach it to a Service Request (SR).