NetVault Plug-in for Oracle 11.3

Restoring Control Files

You can recover a Control File using one of the following options:

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Restoring a Lost Copy of a Multiplexed Control File: Use this procedure to recover a database if a permanent media failure has damaged one or more Control Files of a database, and at least one Control File has not been damaged by the media failure. For more information, see Restore Lost Copy of a Multiplexed Control File in the Oracle® Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide or to Responding to the Loss of a Subset of the Current Control Files in the Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User’s Guide for Oracle 11g.

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Restoring a Control File from Backup After Loss of All Current Control Files: Use this procedure to restore a Backup Control File if a permanent media failure has damaged all Control Files of a database and you have a backup of the Control File.

Restoring a Control File from backup after loss of all current Control Files

When a Control File is inaccessible, you can start the Instance, but not mount the database. If you attempt to mount the database when the Control File is unavailable, you get the following error message:

ORA-00205: error in identifying Control File, check alert log for more info

You cannot mount and open the database until the Control File is accessible.

The plug-in saves a copy of the snapshot of the Control File to the Control File Save Filename (Full Path) specified on the Add, or Edit, Oracle Database dialog box. You can copy the Control File from this location if you lose all current Control Files. If the snapshot is not available in the Control File Save Filename (Full Path), you can restore it from the backup by performing the following steps:

Use the plug-in to restore the Control File from the latest Control File backup.

The plug-in restores it to the Control File Save Filename (Full Path). The restored file has a “.SAV” extension.

Connect to the database with SYSDBA privileges by using the SQL*Plus utility.

SQLPLUS SYS AS SYSDBA

Shut down the database.

Rename and copy this restored file to the Control File name and location specified in the Oracle® parameter file.

Mount the database.

STARTUP MOUNT;

To recover the database to a point equivalent to the current SCN stored in the datafiles, perform the recovery by using the USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE command.

More recovery is needed to recover the database to the point that equals the current SCN stored in the datafiles. For example, when restoring from an older backup, the Control File contains a different SCN from the current datafiles, so it does not know which log sequence is archived and which is not.

For example:

RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE;

For more information on restoring a Backup Control File, see Restoring a Backup Control File to the Default Location in the Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide.

After recovery is finished, open the database with the RESETLOGS option.

ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;