The problem:

We have a request from our developers to flush the shared pool on all nodes on our UAT Exadata. This is due to a bug we are still experiencing.

The solution:

This is a typical request for my team, were we have to run something on all our nodes. Flushing shared pool can be one of them.

Connecting and executing the same command 8 times, if you have a full rack, can be time-consuming and it is, probably, not the most exciting task to do.

For this reason I came up with the following script. It is something to help me with, so please, test it before using on production.

#!/bin/ksh

###############################
##
## Script to execute sql commands on all Exadata nodes
##
## Owner: David Alejo-Marcos
##
## usage: Exadata_sql_exec.ksh
## i.e.: Exadata_sql_exec.ksh MYTESTDB flush_shared_pool.sql
##
## Example of test.sql:
##
## oracle@hostname1 (MYTESTDB1)$ cat test.sql
## select sysdate from dual;
## select 'this is my test' from dual;
##
## alter system switch logfile;
##
###############################

NO_OF_ARGS=$#

typeset -u DB_SRC=$1
typeset -l DB_SCRIPT1=$2
typeset -l DB_SCRIPT=$2_tmp

if [[ "$NO_OF_ARGS" = "2" ]]; then
echo "Parameters passed: OK"
else
echo "usage: Exadata_sql_exec.ksh"
echo "i.e.: Exadata_sql_exec.ksh MYTESTDB flush_shared_pool.sql"
exit 1
fi
echo "sqlplus -s '/as sysdba'" >/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "set linesize 500" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "set serveroutput on" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "select host_name, instance_name from v\\\$instance;" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "@/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT1}" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "exit;" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}
echo "EOF" >>/tmp/${DB_SCRIPT}

# Copy both scripts to all Exadata DB Servers.
dcli -l oracle -g ~/dbs_group -f /tmp/${DB_SCRIPT} -d /tmp
dcli -l oracle -g ~/dbs_group -f ${DB_SCRIPT1} -d /tmp

# Execute command on all Exadata DB
dcli -l oracle -g ~/dbs_group " (chmod 700 /tmp/${DB_SCRIPT} ; /tmp/${DB_SCRIPT} ${DB_SRC} ; rm /tmp/${DB_SCRIPT} ; rm /tmp/${DB_SCRIPT1})"

The sql file to be executed can be anything you would normally run from sqlplus.

Please, bear in mind this script will be executed as many times as nodes you have on your Exadata, so if you create a table of you perform inserts, it will be done 8 times…

Below is an output from a very simple test:

test.sql:

oracle@hostname1 (MYTESTDB1)$ cat test.sql
select sysdate from dual;
select 'this is my test' "ramdom_text" from dual;
alter system switch logfile;

Output:

oracle@hostname1 (MYTESTDB1)$ ./Exadata_sql_exec.ksh MYTESTDB test.sql
Parameters passed: OK
hostname1:
hostname1: Connect to instance MYTESTDB1 on hostname1
hostname1: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname1:
hostname1:
hostname1: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname1: --------- ----------------
hostname1: hostname1 MYTESTDB1
hostname1:
hostname1:
hostname1: SYSDATE
hostname1: ---------
hostname1: 22-SEP-11
hostname1:
hostname1:
hostname1: ramdom_text
hostname1: ---------------
hostname1: this is my test
hostname1:
hostname1:
hostname1: System altered.
hostname1:
hostname2:
hostname2: Connect to instance MYTESTDB2 on hostname2
hostname2: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname2:
hostname2:
hostname2: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname2: --------- ----------------
hostname2: hostname2 MYTESTDB2
hostname2:
hostname2:
hostname2: SYSDATE
hostname2: ---------
hostname2: 22-SEP-11
hostname2:
hostname2:
hostname2: ramdom_text
hostname2: ---------------
hostname2: this is my test
hostname2:
hostname2:
hostname2: System altered.
hostname2:
hostname3:
hostname3: Connect to instance MYTESTDB3 on hostname3
hostname3: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname3:
hostname3:
hostname3: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname3: --------- ----------------
hostname3: hostname3 MYTESTDB3
hostname3:
hostname3:
hostname3: SYSDATE
hostname3: ---------
hostname3: 22-SEP-11
hostname3:
hostname3:
hostname3: ramdom_text
hostname3: ---------------
hostname3: this is my test
hostname3:
hostname3:
hostname3: System altered.
hostname3:
hostname4:
hostname4: Connect to instance MYTESTDB4 on hostname4
hostname4: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname4:
hostname4:
hostname4: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname4: --------- ----------------
hostname4: hostname4 MYTESTDB4
hostname4:
hostname4:
hostname4: SYSDATE
hostname4: ---------
hostname4: 22-SEP-11
hostname4:
hostname4:
hostname4: ramdom_text
hostname4: ---------------
hostname4: this is my test
hostname4:
hostname4:
hostname4: System altered.
hostname4:
hostname5:
hostname5: Connect to instance MYTESTDB5 on hostname5
hostname5: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname5:
hostname5:
hostname5: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname5: --------- ----------------
hostname5: hostname5 MYTESTDB5
hostname5:
hostname5:
hostname5: SYSDATE
hostname5: ---------
hostname5: 22-SEP-11
hostname5:
hostname5:
hostname5: ramdom_text
hostname5: ---------------
hostname5: this is my test
hostname5:
hostname5:
hostname5: System altered.
hostname5:
hostname6:
hostname6: Connect to instance MYTESTDB6 on hostname6
hostname6: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname6:
hostname6:
hostname6: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname6: --------- ----------------
hostname6: hostname6 MYTESTDB6
hostname6:
hostname6:
hostname6: SYSDATE
hostname6: ---------
hostname6: 22-SEP-11
hostname6:
hostname6:
hostname6: ramdom_text
hostname6: ---------------
hostname6: this is my test
hostname6:
hostname6:
hostname6: System altered.
hostname6:
hostname7:
hostname7: Connect to instance MYTESTDB7 on hostname7
hostname7: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname7:
hostname7:
hostname7: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname7: --------- ----------------
hostname7: hostname7 MYTESTDB7
hostname7:
hostname7:
hostname7: SYSDATE
hostname7: ---------
hostname7: 22-SEP-11
hostname7:
hostname7:
hostname7: ramdom_text
hostname7: ---------------
hostname7: this is my test
hostname7:
hostname7:
hostname7: System altered.
hostname7:
hostname8:
hostname8: Connect to instance MYTESTDB8 on hostname8
hostname8: ORACLE_HOME is set to /apps/oracle/server/product/11.2/dbhome_1
hostname8:
hostname8:
hostname8: HOST_NAME INSTANCE_NAME
hostname8: --------- ----------------
hostname8: hostname8 MYTESTDB8
hostname8:
hostname8:
hostname8: SYSDATE
hostname8: ---------
hostname8: 22-SEP-11
hostname8:
hostname8:
hostname8: ramdom_text
hostname8: ---------------
hostname8: this is my test
hostname8:
hostname8:
hostname8: System altered.
hostname8:

I have been told many times to do not use quotes on the following command:

sqlplus '/as sysdba'

but:

1.- I am too used to it
2.- you only save 2 keystrokes at the end of the day

As always, comments are welcome.

David Alejo-Marcos.

David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

The problem:

We were using DBFS to store our exports. This was the perfect solution as the business could “see” the files on the destination folder, but it did not meet our requirements performance wise on our Exadata.

We have decided to mount NFS and performance did improve, but we had a different problem. NFS is mounted on the database server and business do not have access for security reasons and segregation of duties.

Since then, the export jobs run, but business could not “see” what files were created, so the question was asked.

The solution:

After some research I came across with the following package:

SYS.DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.searchFiles

I did have to play a little bit, and I finished with the following script:
1.- Create an Oracle type

create type file_array as table of varchar2(100)
/

2.- Create the function as SYS:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION LIST_FILES (lp_string IN VARCHAR2 default null)
RETURN file_array pipelined AS

lv_pattern VARCHAR2(1024);
lv_ns VARCHAR2(1024);

BEGIN

SELECT directory_path
INTO lv_pattern
FROM dba_directories
WHERE directory_name = 'NFS_DIR';

SYS.DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.SEARCHFILES(lv_pattern, lv_ns);

FOR file_list IN (SELECT FNAME_KRBMSFT AS file_name
FROM X$KRBMSFT
WHERE FNAME_KRBMSFT LIKE '%'|| NVL(lp_string, FNAME_KRBMSFT)||'%' ) LOOP
PIPE ROW(file_list.file_name);
END LOOP;

END;
/

3.- Grant necessary permissions:

grant execute on LIST_FILES to public;
create public synonym list_files for sys.LIST_FILES;

4.- Test without WHERE clause:

TESTDB> select * from table(list_files);
COLUMN_VALUE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB.log
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece1.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece2.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece3.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece4.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/imdp_piece_TESTDB_09092011.log
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece1.dmp_old
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/imdp_piece_TESTDB_12092011.log

8 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.10

5.- Test with WHERE clause:

TESTDB> select * from table(list_files) where column_value like '%dmp%';
COLUMN_VALUE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece1.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece2.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece3.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece4.dmp
/nfs/oracle/TESTDB/pump_dir/expdp_TESTDB_piece1.dmp_old

Elapsed: 00:00:00.12

As always, comments are welcome.

David Alejo-Marcos.

David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

The problem:

I am refreshing one of my UAT environments (happens to be a Full Rack Exadata) using Oracle RMAN duplicate command. Then the following happens (on both occasions).

1.- Duplicate command fails (lack of space for restoring archivelogs, or any other error). This is can be fixed quite easy.

2.- following error while trying to open the database after restore and recover has finished:

SQL> alter database open;
alter database open
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel
Process ID: 13710
Session ID: 1250 Serial number: 5
SQL> exit

On the alert.log file we can read the following:

Wed Aug 24 13:32:48 2011
alter database open
Wed Aug 24 13:32:49 2011
LGWR: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES
Wed Aug 24 13:32:49 2011
ARC0 started with pid=49, OS id=13950
ARC0: Archival started
LGWR: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES COMPLETE
ARC0: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES
<strong>LGWR: Primary database is in MAXIMUM AVAILABILITY mode</strong>
<strong>LGWR: Destination LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1 is not serviced by LGWR</strong>
<strong>LGWR: Minimum of 1 LGWR standby database required</strong>
Errors in file /apps/oracle/server/diag/rdbms/xxxx04/xxxx041/trace/xxxx041_lgwr_13465.trc:
<strong>ORA-16072: a minimum of one standby database destination is required</strong>
Errors in file /apps/oracle/server/diag/rdbms/xxxx04/xxxx041/trace/xxxx041_lgwr_13465.trc:
ORA-16072: a minimum of one standby database destination is required
LGWR (ospid: 13465): terminating the instance due to error 16072
Wed Aug 24 13:32:50 2011
ARC1 started with pid=48, OS id=13952
Wed Aug 24 13:32:50 2011
System state dump is made for local instance
System State dumped to trace file /apps/oracle/server/diag/rdbms/xxxx04/xxxx041/trace/xxxx041_diag_13137.trc
Trace dumping is performing id=[cdmp_20110824133250]
Instance terminated by LGWR, pid = 13465

The Solution:

Quite simple:

1.- Start up database in mount mode:

SQL> startup mount

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1.7103E+10 bytes
Fixed Size                  2230472 bytes
Variable Size            4731176760 bytes
Database Buffers         1.2180E+10 bytes
Redo Buffers              189497344 bytes
Database mounted.

SQL> select open_mode, DATABASE_ROLE, guard_status, SWITCHOVER_STATUS from v$database;

OPEN_MODE            DATABASE_ROLE    GUARD_S SWITCHOVER_STATUS
-------------------- ---------------- ------- --------------------
MOUNTED              PRIMARY          NONE    NOT ALLOWED

2.- Execute the following command:

SQL> alter database set standby database to maximize performance;

Database altered.

SQL> select open_mode, DATABASE_ROLE, guard_status, SWITCHOVER_STATUS from v$database;

OPEN_MODE            DATABASE_ROLE    GUARD_S SWITCHOVER_STATUS
-------------------- ---------------- ------- --------------------
MOUNTED              PRIMARY          NONE    NOT ALLOWED

3.- Stop database:

SQL shutdown immediate
ORA-01109: database not open
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

4.- Start up database mount mode:

SQL> startup mount
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1.7103E+10 bytes
Fixed Size                  2230472 bytes
Variable Size            4731176760 bytes
Database Buffers         1.2180E+10 bytes
Redo Buffers              189497344 bytes
Database mounted.

5.- Open database:

SQL> alter database open;

Database altered.

SQL> select open_mode from v$database;

OPEN_MODE
--------------------
READ WRITE

SQL> select instance_name from v$instance;

INSTANCE_NAME
----------------
xxxx041

SQL>

As always, comments are welcome.

David Alejo-Marcos.

David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

The problem:

We are currently refreshing UAT schemas using Oracle Datapump to DBFS and then transferring those files to UAT using SCP.

DBFS does not provided us with the performance we need as datapump files are quite big. Same export onto ASM or NFS proves to be much, much faster.

We are currently testing exports to ASM, but, how to move dmp files from PROD ASM to UAT ASM?

The solution:

The answer for us is using DBMS_FILE_TRANSFER. It is very simple to set up (steps below) and it has proved to be fast.

DBMS_FILE_TRANSFER will copy files from one ORACLE DIRECTORY to another ORACLE DIRECTORY. The directory can point to a folder on ASM, DBFS, Filesystem, etc, so the transfer is “heterogeneous”.

I decided to go for GET_FILE, so most of the work will be done on UAT, the other option is PUT_FILE.

The syntax is as follows:

DBMS_FILE_TRANSFER.GET_FILE (
source_directory_object      IN  VARCHAR2,
source_file_name             IN  VARCHAR2,
source_database              IN  VARCHAR2,
destination_directory_object IN  VARCHAR2,
destination_file_name        IN  VARCHAR2);

Where:

source_directory_object: The directory object from which the file is copied at the source site. This directory object must exist at the source site.

source_file_name: The name of the file that is copied in the remote file system. This file must exist in the remote file system in the directory associated with the source directory object.

source_database: The name of a database link to the remote database where the file is located.

destination_directory_object: The directory object into which the file is placed at the destination site. This directory object must exist in the local file system.

destination_file_name: The name of the file copied to the local file system. A file with the same name must not exist in the destination directory in the local file system.

These are the steps for my test:

1.- Create directory on destination:

oracle@sssss (+ASM1)$ asmcmd
ASMCMD> mkdir +DATA/DPUMP
ASMCMD> mkdir +DATA/DPUMP/sid
ASMCMD> exit

2.- Create directory on database

SQL> create directory SID_ASM_DPUMP_DIR as '+DATA/DPUMP/sid';

Directory created.

SQL> grant read, write, execute on directory SID_ASM_DPUMP_DIR to public;

Grant succeeded.

3.- Transfer file

SQL> set timing on time on
17:22:13 SQL> BEGIN
17:22:17   2  dbms_file_transfer.get_file ('SID_ASM_DPUMP_DIR',
17:22:17   3                               'expdp.dmp',
17:22:17   4                               'TESTSRC',
17:22:17   5                               'SID_ASM_DPUMP_DIR',
17:22:17   6                               'expdp.dmp');
17:22:17   7  END;
17:22:17   8
17:22:17   9  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:01:07.57
17:23:31 SQL>

4.- Check files is on destination:

ASMCMD [+DATA/DPUMP/sid] > ls -ls
Type     Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
N    expdp.dmp => +DATA/sid/DUMPSET/FILE_TRANSFER_0_0.797.756840143

OK, so ls -ls does not work show us the size of the file on the destination directory. The reason is because it is an alias, you need to perform ls -s on the directory where the file is stored.

ASMCMD [+DATA/DPUMP/sid] > ls -ls +DATA/sid/DUMPSET/
Type     Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Block_Size   Blocks       Bytes        Space  Name
DUMPSET  MIRROR  COARSE   JUL 18 17:00:00  Y          4096  1784576  7309623296  14633926656  FILE_TRANSFER_0_0.797.756840143

So, we have managed to transfer 6.8GB of data between two remote servers in 1 minute 8 seconds… not bad.

As always, comments are welcome.

David Alejo-Marcos.

David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

We have been promoting a release to production and a guaranteed restore point was created on Friday as rollback strategy. On Sunday I was called as we started to receive alerts.

The problem:

Our monitoring system started to send emails and SNMP Traps with the following alerts:

OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM4_ssssss4: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM2_ssssss2: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM3_ssssss3: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM7_ssssss7: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM8_ssssss8: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM6_ssssss6: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM1_ssssss1: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Automatic Storage Management +ASM5_ssssss5: Disk group RECO has used 100% of safely usable free space. (Current Disk Group Used % of Safely Usable value: 100)
OEM alert for Database Instance : Archive area +RECO has -7440384 free KB remaining. #Current Free Archive Area #KB# value: -7440384#
OEM alert for Database Instance : Archive area +RECO has -21725184 free KB remaining. (Current Free Archive Area (KB) value: -21725184)

Not very nice in any situation, but not when you are in the middle of a critical, high visible release.

I did have a look and this is what I found.

The solution:

The first thing I did was to check the Flash Recovery Area, as it is configured to write to our +RECO diskgroup:

NAME                    USED_MB   LIMIT_MB   PCT_USED
-------------------- ---------- ---------- ----------
+RECO                   1630569    2048000      79.62
Elapsed: 00:00:00.12
FILE_TYPE            PERCENT_SPACE_USED PERCENT_SPACE_RECLAIMABLE NUMBER_OF_FILES
-------------------- ------------------ ------------------------- ---------------
CONTROL FILE                          0                         0               1
REDO LOG                              0                         0               0
ARCHIVED LOG                          0                         0               0
BACKUP PIECE                      75.66                     75.66              86
IMAGE COPY                            0                         0               0
FLASHBACK LOG                      3.96                         0             707
FOREIGN ARCHIVED LOG                  0                         0               0
7 rows selected.
Elapsed: 00:00:01.62

Numbers did look ok, some backup files could be reclaimed (Oracle should do it automatically). Lets have a look the ASM:

oracle@ssss (+ASM1)$ asmcmd lsdg
State    Type    Rebal  Sector  Block       AU  Total_MB   Free_MB  Req_mir_free_MB  Usable_file_MB  Offline_disks  Voting_files  Name
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304  55050240  26568696          5004567        10782064              0             N  DATA/
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304  35900928   3192844          3263720          -35438              0             N  RECO/
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304   4175360   4061640           379578         1841031              0             N  SYSTEMDG/
Elapsed: 00:00:01.62

Bingo, this is where our problem is. USABLE_FILE_MB (+RECO diskgroup) indicates the amount of free space that can be utilized, including the mirroring space, and being able to restore redundancy after a disk failure. A negative number on this column, could be critical in case of disk failure for the system as we might not have enough space perform a restore of all files to the surviving of disk.

Our backups goes to ASM and we copy them to tape afterwards. Our retention policy on disk is between 2 or 3 days, depending of the systems.

When I did check the contents of the backupset on ASM I found some old backups:

Type  Redund  Striped  Time             Sys  Name
Y    2011_07_17/
Y    2011_07_16/
Y    2011_07_15/
Y    2011_07_14/
Y    2011_07_13/
Y    2011_07_12/
Elapsed: 00:00:01.62

To delete those old backups I executed the following script from RMAN:

RMAN> delete backup tag EOD_DLY_110712 device type disk;
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=1430 instance=<instance> device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_2
channel ORA_DISK_2: SID=2138 instance=<instance> device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_3
channel ORA_DISK_3: SID=8 instance=<instance> device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_4
channel ORA_DISK_4: SID=150 instance=<instance> device type=DISK
List of Backup Pieces
BP Key  BS Key  Pc# Cp# Status      Device Type Piece Name
------- ------- --- --- ----------- ----------- ----------
8292    4020    1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        +RECO//backupset/2011_07_12/sssss_eod_dly_110712_0.nnnn.nnnnn
8293    4021    1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        +RECO//backupset/2011_07_12/sssss_eod_dly_110712_0.nnnn.nnnnn
Do you really want to delete the above objects (enter YES or NO)? yes
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=+RECO//backupset/2011_07_12/sssss_eod_dly_110712_0.nnnn.nnnnnn RECID=8292 STAMP=nnnn
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=+RECO//backupset/2011_07_12/sssss_eod_dly_110712_0.nnnn.nnnnnn RECID=8293 STAMP=nnnn
Deleted 2 objects
Elapsed: 00:00:01.62

After deleting a two more old backups, the number looked much better:

State    Type    Rebal  Sector  Block       AU  Total_MB   Free_MB  Req_mir_free_MB  Usable_file_MB  Offline_disks  Voting_files  Name
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304  55050240  26568696          5004567        10782064              0             N  DATA/
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304  35900928   3548260          3263720          142270              0             N  RECO/
MOUNTED  NORMAL  N         512   4096  4194304   4175360   4061640           379578         1841031              0             N  SYSTEMDG/

Note.- There is another temporary fix. I could changed db_recovery_file_dest to point to +DATA instead of +RECO, but as we have a guaranteed restore point, I thought releasing space from old backups was easier.

As always, comments are welcome.

David Alejo-Marcos.

David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

The first time you have to configure the Server side, it has to be done through KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse), meaning you will need to be physically near your server. Once the initial configuration steps have been performed, we shall be able to administer the Exadata Storage Servers over the network (i.e. SSH protocol or redirect the KVM console to your desktop using the Sun Integrated Lights Out Management – ILOM – remote client).

Once you are in the server, some tools will be available to us, including Cell Command Line Interface (CellCLI).

CellCLI is only available on the Storage Server. If we need to execute it from outside the storage server (or on more than one storage server), we will need to use the Distributed Command Line Interface (dcli).

CellCLI will allow us to perform administration task like startup, shut down, monitoring activities as well as maintenance.

The syntax to follow is:

[admin command / object command] [options];

Being:

1.- Admin Commands: Administration actions like START, QUIT, HELP, SPOOL.

2.- Object Command: Administration action to be performed on the cell objects like ALTER, CREATE, LIST.

3.- Options: Will allow us to specify additional parameters to the command.

[celladmin@ssssss ~]$ cellcli

CellCLI: Release 11.2.2.2.0 - Production on Sat Jul 16 17:28:08 BST 2011

Copyright (c) 2007, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Cell Efficiency Ratio: 17

CellCLI> list cell
ssss_admin online

CellCLI> exit
quitting

If you prefer to execute the command from command-line, we will have to use -e:

[celladmin@ssssss ~]$ cellcli -e list cell
ssss_admin online
[celladmin@ssssss ~]$

Or

[celladmin@sssss ~]$ cellcli -e help

 HELP [topic]
 Available Topics:
 ALTER
 ALTER ALERTHISTORY
 ALTER CELL
 ALTER CELLDISK
 ALTER GRIDDISK
 ALTER IORMPLAN
 ALTER LUN
 ALTER PHYSICALDISK
 ALTER QUARANTINE
 ALTER THRESHOLD
 ASSIGN KEY
 CALIBRATE
 CREATE
 CREATE CELL
 CREATE CELLDISK
 CREATE FLASHCACHE
 CREATE GRIDDISK
 CREATE KEY
 CREATE QUARANTINE
 CREATE THRESHOLD
 DESCRIBE
 DROP
 DROP ALERTHISTORY
 DROP CELL
 DROP CELLDISK
 DROP FLASHCACHE
 DROP GRIDDISK
 DROP QUARANTINE
 DROP THRESHOLD
 EXPORT CELLDISK
 IMPORT CELLDISK
 LIST
 LIST ACTIVEREQUEST
 LIST ALERTDEFINITION
 LIST ALERTHISTORY
 LIST CELL
 LIST CELLDISK
 LIST FLASHCACHE
 LIST FLASHCACHECONTENT
 LIST GRIDDISK
 LIST IORMPLAN
 LIST KEY
 LIST LUN
 LIST METRICCURRENT
 LIST METRICDEFINITION
 LIST METRICHISTORY
 LIST PHYSICALDISK
 LIST QUARANTINE
 LIST THRESHOLD
 SET
 SPOOL
 START
[celladmin@ssssss ~]$

so, what about security?, CellCLI does rely on OS authentication.

There are three predefined users on the Exadata Storage Server:
1.- cellmonitor: This user can perform monitoring tasks.
2.- cellamin: This user can perform most of the administration task such CREATE, ALTER, MODIFY cell objects (cannot perform CALIBRATE).
3.- root: This user has super-user privileges.

I plan my next post to be about dcli and how to minimise work by executing the same CellCLI command on more than one Exadata Storage Server without having to log in on all of them.

As always, comments are welcome.

Production, DR and UAT are running on a full rack Exadata machine while development runs on a single server.

The problem:

Database is slow. This is what I was given to start with. After monitoring the system I did notice several sessions where performing direct path reads, db file scattered read and some other events.

I am aware of some people having experienced problems with Oracle doing direct path reads instead of db scattered reads so I thought we might be having the same problem.

The solution:

To cut a long story short, direct path reads was not our problem, at least not this time. I managed to find a long running session consuming many of the database resources. The session was running for 7 days, details below:

SQL Text
------------------------------
UPDATE ....
Global Information
------------------------------
 Status                                 :  EXECUTING
 Duration                               :  613427s
Global Stats
======================================================================================
| Elapsed |   Cpu   |    IO    | Concurrency | Buffer | Read | Read  | Write | Write |
| Time(s) | Time(s) | Waits(s) |  Waits(s)   |  Gets  | Reqs | Bytes | Reqs  | Bytes |
======================================================================================
|  617320 |   64631 |   552688 |        0.82 |   619M |  52M |   6TB |   47M |   2TB |
======================================================================================
SQL Plan Monitoring Details (Plan Hash Value=2108859552)
============================================================================================================================================================================================
| Id    |            Operation             |   Name    |  Rows   | Cost  |   Time    | Start  | Execs |   Rows   | Read  | Read  | Write | Write | Mem | Temp | Activity | Activity Detail |
|       |                                  |           | (Estim) |       | Active(s) | Active |       | (Actual) | Reqs  | Bytes | Reqs  | Bytes |     |      |   (%)    |   (# samples)   |
============================================================================================================================================================================================
|     0 | UPDATE STATEMENT                 |           |         |       |           |        |     1 |          |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     1 |   UPDATE                         | TABLE1    |         |       |           |        |     1 |          |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     2 |    FILTER                        |           |         |       |    613362 |    +63 |     1 |        0 |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     3 |     NESTED LOOPS                 |           |         |       |    613362 |    +63 |     1 |     6905 |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     4 |      NESTED LOOPS                |           |       9 | 27146 |    613362 |    +63 |     1 |     108K |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     5 |       SORT UNIQUE                |           |     839 | 24624 |    613405 |    +20 |     1 |     6905 |    38 |   7MB |  1243 | 257MB | 10M | 333M |          |                 |
|     6 |        TABLE ACCESS FULL         | TABLE1    |     839 | 24624 |        44 |    +20 |     1 |       5M |  1029 | 499MB |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|  -> 7 |       INDEX RANGE SCAN           | INDEX01   |       6 |     2 |    613364 |    +63 |  6905 |     108K |   792 |   6MB |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|  -> 8 |      TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | TABLE1    |       1 |     6 |    613364 |    +63 |  108K |     6905 | 48839 | 382MB |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|     9 |     FILTER                       |           |         |       |    613334 |    +91 |  6905 |     6904 |       |       |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
|    10 |      HASH GROUP BY               |           |     798 | 24625 |    252603 |    +65 |  6905 |       4G |   24M |   1TB |   47M | 488GB | 14M |   8M |          |                 |
| -> 11 |       TABLE ACCESS FULL          | TABLE1    |     839 | 24624 |    613364 |    +63 |  6905 |       4G |   29M | 416GB |       |       |     |      |          |                 |
============================================================================================================================================================================================

impressive, right?

The query was terminated and it is being reviewed on development but, why didn’t we have problems on prod?

It is my believe the reason is called smart scan on the Exadata storage .

Lets have a look how the query looks on Prod:

1.- is it enabled?

PROD> show parameter cell_offload_processing
NAME                     TYPE     VALUE
-----------------------  -------- ------------------------------
cell_offload_processing  boolean  TRUE

2.- Check the explain plan:

SQL>  SELECT * FROM table(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(sql_id =>'4xxxxxxxj',format =>'ALLSTATS LAST'));
PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation                      | Name      | E-Rows |  OMem |  1Mem | Used-Mem |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | UPDATE STATEMENT               |           |        |       |       |          |
|   1 |  UPDATE                        | TABLE1    |        |       |       |          |
|*  2 |   HASH JOIN ANTI               |           |      9 |  3957K|  1689K| 4524K (0)|
|   3 |    NESTED LOOPS                |           |        |       |       |          |
|   4 |     NESTED LOOPS               |           |      9 |       |       |          |
|   5 |      SORT UNIQUE               |           |    839 |  2037K|   607K| 1810K (0)|
|*  6 |       TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| TABLE1    |    839 |       |       |          |
|*  7 |      INDEX RANGE SCAN          | INDEX01   |      6 |       |       |          |
|*  8 |     TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| TABLE1    |      1 |       |       |          |
|   9 |    VIEW                        | VW_NSO_1  |    839 |       |       |          |
|  10 |     SORT GROUP BY              |           |    839 |  2250K|   629K| 1999K (0)|
|* 11 |      TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL | TABLE1    |    839 |       |       |          |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
   2 - access("COL_ID"=TO_NUMBER("COL_ID"))
PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   6 - storage(("COL01"=:B2 AND NVL("COL02",'N')='N' AND "COL04"=:B3
              AND "COL03"=TO_NUMBER(:B1)))
       filter(("COL01"=:B2 AND NVL("COL02",'N')='N' AND "COL04"=:B3
              AND "COL03"=TO_NUMBER(:B1)))
   7 - access("COL05"="COL05" AND "COL06"="COL06" AND
              "COL07"="COL07")
   8 - filter((NVL("COL02",'N')='N' AND "COL08"="COL08"))
  11 - storage(("COL01"=:B2 AND NVL("COL02",'N')='N' AND "COL04"=:B3
              AND "COL03"=TO_NUMBER(:B1)))
       filter(("COL01"=:B2 AND NVL("COL02",'N')='N' AND "COL04"=:B3
              AND "COL03"=TO_NUMBER(:B1)))

On the plan_table_output, we see storage, indicating smart scan was being used, being the runtime 73 seconds:

PROD> select sql_id, executions, elapsed_time/1000000 from gv$sql
  2  where sql_id = '4xxxxxxxj';
SQL_ID        EXECUTIONS ELAPSED_TIME/1000000
------------- ---------- --------------------
'4xxxxxxxj'          1            73.166979

I must say, I am quite impressed with Exadata but, would it make it more difficult to spot bad queries?

As always, comments are welcome.

The problem:

You receive a call/email from you 1st line support with something similar to:

----
[cssd(9956)]CRS-1604:CSSD voting file is offline: o/xxx.xxx.xx.xx/SYSTEMDG_CD_05_SSSSSin; details at (:CSSNM00058:) in /apps/oracle/grid_11.2/log/sssss/cssd/ocssd.log.
----

The solution:

Easy to check using crsctl:

oracle$ crsctl query css votedisk

## STATE File Universal Id File Name Disk group
-- ----- ----------------- --------- ---------
1. ONLINE a0a559213xxxxxxffa67c2df0fdc12 (o/xxx.xxx.xx.xx/SYSTEMDG_CD_05_SSSSSin) [SYSTEMDG]
2. ONLINE 121231203xxxxxxfc4523c5c34d900 (o/xxx.xxx.xx.xx/SYSTEMDG_CD_05_SSSSSin) [SYSTEMDG]
3. ONLINE a6b3c0281xxxxxxf3f6f9f1fd230ea (o/xxx.xxx.xx.xx/SYSTEMDG_CD_05_SSSSSin) [SYSTEMDG]

Located 3 voting disk(s).

As always, comments are welcome.

There has also been some important changes in my life among them, starting my own company; David Marcos Consulting Ltd.

I have also being lucky to start working with Oracle Exadata.

I will start posting very soon regarding my impression, findings, etc on Oracle Exadata but, I must admit, I am very excited to be able to work  on Oracle latest product.

As always, comments are welcome.

Today I will show you how I did perform a switchover with Oracle Broker configured.

The problem:

Perform a switchover using Oracle Broker.

The solution:

It proved to be quite simple and trouble-free.

Below are the steps I followed:

Note.- Primary is my production primary database during all the exercise, independently of the role the database is running. PRMRY relates to the commands to be run on the current production database.

Note.- Standby is my production standby database during all the exercise, independently of the role the database is running. STNDBY relates to the commands to be run on the current standby database.

1.- Check primary and standby database are in sync:

PRMRY> select sequence# seq,thread# thread  from v$log where status = 'CURRENT' order by thread#;

SEQ     THREAD
---------- ----------
33388        1

PRMRY> alter system switch logfile;

System altered.

PRMRY> /

System altered.

PRMRY> /

System altered.

PRMRY> select sequence# seq,thread# thread  from v$log where status = 'CURRENT' order by thread#;

SEQ     THREAD
---------- ----------
33391        1

PRMRY> exit

STNDBY> select distinct max( sequence#) over (partition by thread# order by thread#) seq, thread# thread from gv$log_history;

SEQ     THREAD
---------- ----------
33390        1

STNDBY> exit

2.- Connect to Oracle Broker from the server where PRMRY is running and:

[oracle@sssss ~]$ dgmgrl
DGMGRL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

Copyright (c) 2000, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Welcome to DGMGRL, type "help" for information.
DGMGRL> connect /
Connected.

2.1.- Check the configuration for errors:

DGMGRL> show configuration

Configuration - ssss_DG

Protection Mode: MaxPerformance
Databases:
PRIMARY    - Primary database
STANDBY    - Physical standby database

Fast-Start Failover: DISABLED

Configuration Status:
SUCCESS

2.2.- Check primary is in “TRANSPORT-ON” state

DGMGRL> show database primary

Database - primary

Enterprise Manager Name: sss_primary
Role:                    PRIMARY
Intended State:          TRANSPORT-ON
Instance(s):
sss

Database Status:
SUCCESS

2.3.- standby database is in “APPLY-ON” state:

DGMGRL> show database standby

Database - standby

Enterprise Manager Name: sss_standby
Role:                    PHYSICAL STANDBY
Intended State:          APPLY-ON
Transport Lag:           0 seconds
Apply Lag:               0 seconds
Real Time Query:         OFF
Instance(s):
sss

Database Status:
SUCCESS

3.- Perform the switchover using Oracle Broker:

DGMGRL> switchover to standby
Performing switchover NOW, please wait...
New primary database "standby" is opening...
Operation requires shutdown of instance "sss" on database "primary"
Shutting down instance "sss"...
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.

Please complete the following steps to finish switchover:
shut down instance "sss" of database "primary"
start up and mount instance "sss" of database "primary"

DGMGRL>

4.- Restart the new standby database and register it with the listener:

[oracle@ssss ~]$ sqlplus '/as sysdba'

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Apr 2 09:02:20 2011

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning option

SQL> select open_mode from v$database;

OPEN_MODE
--------------------
MOUNTED

SQL> shutdown immediate

ORA-01109: database not open
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.

SQL> startup mount

Total System Global Area 1.2827E+10 bytes
Fixed Size            2225336 bytes
Variable Size         1207962440 bytes
Database Buffers     1.1610E+10 bytes
Redo Buffers            7348224 bytes
Database mounted.

SQL> alter system register;

System altered.

SQL> exit

5.- Check log files are being sent and applied on the new standby database.

As always, comments are welcome.

————————-

Appendix:

Below is the section of the primary database while switching over to standby:

Sat Apr 02 08:58:37 2011
ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PHYSICAL STANDBY WITH SESSION SHUTDOWN
ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PHYSICAL STANDBY  [Process Id: 8432] (sss)
Sat Apr 02 08:58:37 2011
Thread 1 cannot allocate new log, sequence 33392
Private strand flush not complete
Current log# 3 seq# 33391 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo03.rdo
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33392 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 1 seq# 33392 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo01.rdo
Waiting for all non-current ORLs to be archived...
Waiting for the ORL for thread 1 sequence 33391 to be archived...
Sat Apr 02 08:58:44 2011
Archived Log entry 68782 added for thread 1 sequence 33391 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:58:51 2011
ORL for thread 1 sequence 33391 has been archived...
All non-current ORLs have been archived.
Waiting for all FAL entries to be archived...
All FAL entries have been archived.
Waiting for dest_id 2 to become synchronized...
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
Active, synchronized Physical Standby  switchover target has been identified
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
Thread 1 cannot allocate new log, sequence 33393
Private strand flush not complete
Current log# 1 seq# 33392 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo01.rdo
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33393 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 2 seq# 33393 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo02.rdo
ARCH: Standby redo logfile selected for thread 1 sequence 33392 for destination LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2
Archived Log entry 68783 added for thread 1 sequence 33392 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
Stopping background process CJQ0
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
SMON: disabling tx recovery
Stopping background process QMNC
CLOSE: killing server sessions.
Sat Apr 02 08:59:14 2011
CLOSE: all sessions shutdown successfully.
Sat Apr 02 08:59:14 2011
SMON: disabling cache recovery
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
Shutting down archive processes
Archiving is disabled
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC9: Archival stopped
ARC7: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC5: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC3: Archival stopped
ARC0: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC4: Archival stopped
ARC6: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC2: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC8: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 08:59:15 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARC1: Archival stopped
Thread 1 closed at log sequence 33393
Successful close of redo thread 1
ARCH: Noswitch archival of thread 1, sequence 33393
ARCH: End-Of-Redo Branch archival of thread 1 sequence 33393
Archived Log entry 68785 added for thread 1 sequence 33393 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 1:
ARCH: Archiving is disabled due to current logfile archival
Primary will check for some target standby to have received all redo
Final check for a synchronized target standby. Check will be made once.
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2 is a potential Physical Standby  switchover target
Active, synchronized target has been identified
Target has also applied all redo
Backup controlfile written to trace file /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/primary/sss/trace/sss_rsm0_8432.trc
Clearing standby activation ID 712960289 (0x2a7ee921)
The primary database controlfile was created using the
'MAXLOGFILES 12' clause.
There is space for up to 9 standby redo logfiles
Use the following SQL commands on the standby database to create
standby redo logfiles that match the primary database:
ALTER DATABASE ADD STANDBY LOGFILE 'srl1.f' SIZE 262144000;
ALTER DATABASE ADD STANDBY LOGFILE 'srl2.f' SIZE 262144000;
ALTER DATABASE ADD STANDBY LOGFILE 'srl3.f' SIZE 262144000;
ALTER DATABASE ADD STANDBY LOGFILE 'srl4.f' SIZE 262144000;
Archivelog for thread 1 sequence 33393 required for standby recovery
Switchover: Primary controlfile converted to standby controlfile succesfully.
Sat Apr 02 08:59:19 2011
MRP0 started with pid=18, OS id=10456
MRP0: Background Managed Standby Recovery process started (sss)
Serial Media Recovery started
Managed Standby Recovery not using Real Time Apply
Online logfile pre-clearing operation disabled by switchover
Media Recovery Log /u01/oradata/sss/arch/log1_33393_708427666.arc
Identified End-Of-Redo for thread 1 sequence 33393
Resetting standby activation ID 0 (0x0)
Media Recovery End-Of-Redo indicator encountered
Media Recovery Applied until change 241462639865
MRP0: Media Recovery Complete: End-Of-REDO (sss)
MRP0: Background Media Recovery process shutdown (sss)
Sat Apr 02 08:59:25 2011
Switchover: Complete - Database shutdown required (sss)
Completed: ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PHYSICAL STANDBY WITH SESSION SHUTDOWN
Using STANDBY_ARCHIVE_DEST parameter default value as /u01/oradata/sss/arch
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_dest_2='' SCOPE=BOTH;
Using STANDBY_ARCHIVE_DEST parameter default value as /u01/oradata/sss/arch
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_dest_state_2='ENABLE' SCOPE=BOTH;
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
RFS[1]: Assigned to RFS process 11886
RFS[1]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 5025
RFS[1]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33394 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
RFS[2]: Assigned to RFS process 11894
RFS[2]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 5021
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
RFS[3]: Assigned to RFS process 11898
RFS[3]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 5029
RFS[3]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33395 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Archived Log entry 68787 added for thread 1 sequence 33394 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 2:
Archived Log entry 68788 added for thread 1 sequence 33395 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 2:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:33 2011
RFS[4]: Assigned to RFS process 12348
RFS[4]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 5037
RFS[4]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33396 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Archived Log entry 68789 added for thread 1 sequence 33396 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 2:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:33 2011
RFS[5]: Assigned to RFS process 12342
RFS[5]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is LGWR ASYNC pid 24051
Primary database is in MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE mode
RFS[5]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33397 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Archived Log entry 68790 added for thread 1 sequence 33397 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 2:
RFS[5]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33398 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Sat Apr 02 09:00:17 2011
RFS[6]: Assigned to RFS process 18674
RFS[6]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 5021
Sat Apr 02 09:00:23 2011
Archived Log entry 68791 added for thread 1 sequence 33398 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 2:
RFS[5]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33399 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666

and here is the section of the alert.log file of the production standby database during the switchover:

Sat Apr 02 08:58:41 2011
Media Recovery Waiting for thread 1 sequence 33392
Sat Apr 02 08:58:41 2011
Archived Log entry 34084 added for thread 1 sequence 33391 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:58:51 2011
RFS[6]: Assigned to RFS process 23317
RFS[6]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 8452
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
RFS[7]: Assigned to RFS process 23326
RFS[7]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is Foreground pid 8432
RFS[7]: Selected log 6 for thread 1 sequence 33392 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Sat Apr 02 08:59:01 2011
Archived Log entry 34085 added for thread 1 sequence 33392 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:02 2011
Media Recovery Log /u01/oradata/sss/arch/log1_33392_708427666.arc
Media Recovery Waiting for thread 1 sequence 33393
Sat Apr 02 08:59:11 2011
RFS[8]: Assigned to RFS process 23340
RFS[8]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is ARCH pid 8452
Sat Apr 02 08:59:18 2011
RFS[9]: Assigned to RFS process 24039
RFS[9]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is Foreground pid 8432
RFS[9]: Opened log for thread 1 sequence 33393 dbid 666702615 branch 708427666
Archived Log entry 34086 added for thread 1 sequence 33393 rlc 708427666 ID 0x2a7ee921 dest 2:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:18 2011
Media Recovery Log /u01/oradata/sss/arch/log1_33393_708427666.arc
Identified End-Of-Redo for thread 1 sequence 33393
Resetting standby activation ID 712960289 (0x2a7ee921)
Media Recovery End-Of-Redo indicator encountered
Media Recovery Continuing
Resetting standby activation ID 712960289 (0x2a7ee921)
Media Recovery Waiting for thread 1 sequence 33394
Sat Apr 02 08:59:19 2011
RFS[10]: Assigned to RFS process 24045
RFS[10]: Identified database type as 'physical standby': Client is Foreground pid 8432
Sat Apr 02 08:59:25 2011
ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE CANCEL
MRP0: Background Media Recovery cancelled with status 16037
Errors in file /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/standby/sss/trace/sss_pr00_6126.trc:
ORA-16037: user requested cancel of managed recovery operation
Managed Standby Recovery not using Real Time Apply
Recovery interrupted!
Waiting for MRP0 pid 6122 to terminate
Errors in file /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/standby/sss/trace/sss_pr00_6126.trc:
ORA-16037: user requested cancel of managed recovery operation
Sat Apr 02 08:59:26 2011
MRP0: Background Media Recovery process shutdown (sss)
Managed Standby Recovery Canceled (sss)
Completed: ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE CANCEL
ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PRIMARY WAIT WITH SESSION SHUTDOWN
ALTER DATABASE SWITCHOVER TO PRIMARY (sss)
Maximum wait for role transition is 15 minutes.
Backup controlfile written to trace file /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/standby/sss/trace/sss_rsm0_5074.trc
SwitchOver after complete recovery through change 241462639865
Online log /u03/oradata/sss/redo01.rdo: Thread 1 Group 1 was previously cleared
Online log /u03/oradata/sss/redo02.rdo: Thread 1 Group 2 was previously cleared
Online log /u03/oradata/sss/redo03.rdo: Thread 1 Group 3 was previously cleared
Standby became primary SCN: 241462639863
Switchover: Complete - Database mounted as primary
Completed: ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PRIMARY WAIT WITH SESSION SHUTDOWN
Sat Apr 02 08:59:26 2011
ARC7: Becoming the 'no SRL' ARCH
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
ARC8: Becoming the 'no SRL' ARCH
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_dest_2='service="horvitz"','LGWR ASYNC NOAFFIRM delay=0 optional compression=disable max_failure=0 max_connections=1 reopen=300 db_unique_name="horvitz" net_timeout=30','valid_for=(all_logfiles,primary_role)' SCOPE=BOTH;
ALTER DATABASE OPEN
Data Guard Broker initializing...
Switching redo format version from 11.1.0.0.0 to 11.2.0.0.0 at change 241462639868
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33395 (COMPATIBLE advance)
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
Assigning activation ID 750663527 (0x2cbe3767)
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33396 (thread open)
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
ARC9: Becoming the 'no SRL' ARCH
Thread 1 opened at log sequence 33396
Current log# 3 seq# 33396 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo03.rdo
Successful open of redo thread 1
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
ARC0: Becoming the 'no SRL' ARCH
Archived Log entry 34087 added for thread 1 sequence 33394 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
NSA2 started with pid=32, OS id=24051
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
ARC1: Becoming the 'no SRL' ARCH
Archived Log entry 34088 added for thread 1 sequence 33395 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:29 2011
SMON: enabling cache recovery
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33397 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 1 seq# 33397 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo01.rdo
******************************************************************
LGWR: Setting 'active' archival for destination LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2
******************************************************************
Sat Apr 02 08:59:32 2011
Archived Log entry 34091 added for thread 1 sequence 33396 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 1:
Successfully onlined Undo Tablespace 1.
Dictionary check beginning
Dictionary check complete
Verifying file header compatibility for 11g tablespace encryption..
Verifying 11g file header compatibility for tablespace encryption completed
SMON: enabling tx recovery
Database Characterset is AL32UTF8
No Resource Manager plan active
replication_dependency_tracking turned off (no async multimaster replication found)
Sat Apr 02 08:59:36 2011
Starting background process QMNC
Sat Apr 02 08:59:36 2011
QMNC started with pid=33, OS id=24060
LOGSTDBY: Validating controlfile with logical metadata
LOGSTDBY: Validation complete
Completed: ALTER DATABASE OPEN
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_trace=0 SCOPE=BOTH SID='sss';
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_format='log%t_%s_%r.arc' SCOPE=SPFILE SID='sss';
ALTER SYSTEM SET standby_file_management='AUTO' SCOPE=BOTH SID='*';
ALTER SYSTEM SET archive_lag_target=1800 SCOPE=BOTH SID='*';
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_max_processes=10 SCOPE=BOTH SID='*';
ALTER SYSTEM SET log_archive_min_succeed_dest=1 SCOPE=BOTH SID='*';
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33398 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 2 seq# 33398 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo02.rdo
Sat Apr 02 08:59:37 2011
ARC7: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES
Archived Log entry 34094 added for thread 1 sequence 33397 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 1:
Sat Apr 02 08:59:37 2011
ARCa started with pid=34, OS id=24064
ARCa: Archival started
ARC7: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES COMPLETE
Sat Apr 02 08:59:43 2011
Starting background process CJQ0
Sat Apr 02 08:59:43 2011
CJQ0 started with pid=39, OS id=24099
Setting Resource Manager plan SCHEDULER[0xFD16]:DEFAULT_MAINTENANCE_PLAN via scheduler window
Setting Resource Manager plan DEFAULT_MAINTENANCE_PLAN via parameter
Sat Apr 02 08:59:47 2011
Starting background process VKRM
Sat Apr 02 08:59:47 2011
VKRM started with pid=38, OS id=24118
Sat Apr 02 09:00:17 2011
Shutting down archive processes
Sat Apr 02 09:00:17 2011
ARCH shutting down
ARCa: Archival stopped
Sat Apr 02 09:00:20 2011
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG
Sat Apr 02 09:00:20 2011
Thread 1 cannot allocate new log, sequence 33399
Checkpoint not complete
Current log# 2 seq# 33398 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo02.rdo
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 33399 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 3 seq# 33399 mem# 0: /u03/oradata/sss/redo03.rdo
Archived Log entry 34096 added for thread 1 sequence 33398 ID 0x2cbe3767 dest 1: