[Oracle-l] RMAN conundrum

First, a little background.

Two SAP systems running on a single Windows Server.

Windows 2003 Server
Oracle 10.2.0.4
Databases are using separate ORACLE_HOMEs.

Backups consistently fail following the last command of the RMAN
script for one of the databases, but not the other.

Each database has its own copy of the backup scripts.
The only difference is the script that sets the ORACLE_HOME,
PATH and ORACLE_SID.

Other than that, the backup scripts are identical, as was
confirmed by using md5sum in cygwin to compare them.

Here's the relevant part of the RMAN script:

_at_(
echo RUN {
echo SQL 'ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE=RULE';
echo SQL 'ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT';
echo BACKUP FORMAT '%FORMAT_PREFIX%_arch_%FORMAT_SUFFIX%' ARCHIVELOG
ALL NOT BACKED UP 2 TIMES;
echo DELETE NOPROMPT ARCHIVELOG ALL BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DEVICE TYPE sbt;
echo BACKUP FORMAT '%FORMAT_PREFIX%_ctl_%FORMAT_SUFFIX%' CURRENT
CONTROLFILE;
echo }
) | %RMAN% target %TARGET_CONNECT_STR% catalog %RCAT_CONNECT_STR%
msglog '%RMAN_LOG_FILE%' append

all of the environment variables are being set correctly.

On database A, everything works fine.

On database B, this error occurs after executing the last line of the
script where the current controlfile is to be backed up:

RMAN>
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00558: error encountered while parsing input commands
RMAN-01009: syntax error: found "}": expecting one of: "allocate,
alter, backup, beginline, blockrecover, catalog, change, connect,
copy, convert, create, crosscheck, configure, duplicate, debug,
delete, drop, exit, endinline, flashback, host, {, library, list,
mount, open, print, quit, recover, register, release, replace, report,
renormalize, reset, restore, resync, rman, run, rpctest, set,
setlimit, sql, switch, spool, startup, shutdown, send, show, test,
transport, upgrade, unregister, validate"
RMAN-01007: at line 1 column 1 file: standard input

If I remove the last line of the script, so that the script looks like
this:

_at_(
echo RUN {
echo SQL 'ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE=RULE';
echo SQL 'ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT';
echo BACKUP FORMAT '%FORMAT_PREFIX%_arch_%FORMAT_SUFFIX%' ARCHIVELOG
ALL NOT BACKED UP 2 TIMES;
echo DELETE NOPROMPT ARCHIVELOG ALL BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DEVICE TYPE sbt;
echo }
) | %RMAN% target %TARGET_CONNECT_STR% catalog %RCAT_CONNECT_STR%
msglog '%RMAN_LOG_FILE%' append

... then the script fails with the same error as previously.

Adding SHOW ALL as the last command causes the SHOW ALL output to
be in the logfile, followed by the same error message complaining
about '}'

querying DBA_REGISTRY_HISTORY shows the same patches applied to both
databases.

opatch lsinventory -details shows that database B has 2 products
installed that are not on database A

diff A_details.txt B_details.tx

< Installed Products (172):
---
10.2.7.1.0
149a151
10.2.0.4.0

comparing the output of SHOW ALL for both shows the only difference
to be the value for SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME

The logfile includes the PATH information, and it is correct in both
instances.

It's my hope that someone here can think of something I've missed.

The backups are working, but it's move than a little annoying to see the
errors in the logs every day, and then have to go check to see if it's the
same old "problem", or a real problem.

Thanks,

Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 1:18 PM, Jared Still wrote:

On database B, this error occurs after executing the last line of the
script where the current controlfile is to be backed up:

RMAN-00558: error encountered while parsing input commands
RMAN-01009: syntax error: found "}": expecting one of: "allocate, alter,
backup, beginline, blockrecover, catalog, change, connect, copy, convert,
create, crosscheck, configure, duplicate,

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 4:51 PM, Jared Still wrote:

* How is the script able to connect without the target db user password?

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 4:51 PM, Jared Still > wrote:

* How is the script able to connect without the target db user
password?


I just accidentally partially answered this question:

D:\dba\bin>rman target backup_user/_at_b.radisys.com
<http://b.radisys.com> nocatalog

Recovery Manager: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Tue May 26
16:54:32 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

target database Password:
connected to target database: B (DBID=9999999)
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

RMAN>
I did not enter the password: I hit at the password
prompt, and was logged in.

This appears to be acting just as if I had used this command:

rman target /_at_b.radisys.com <http://b.radisys.com> nocatalog

which logs me in as SYSDBA

I can't seem to find any documentation describing this behavior.

Both 'slaxdebug' and 'debug trace ' were used as well.

Both forms of debug start their output following the logon, so they
weren't much help.


Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 5:38 PM, Tony van Lingen < tony_vanlingen_at_technologyonecorp.com> wrote:

Jared,

If you type '{' at the password prompt, instead of ctrl-c it also logs you
in. The closing bracket is then the first bracket to arrive...