grep for all database names in /etc/oratab

The file /etc/oratab contains:

#
mydb01:/orainst/product/19c:Y
cdb:/orainst/product/19c:N

To extract the database names:

grep "^[^#]" /etc/oratab | awk -F':' '{print $1}'

Result:

mydb01
cdb

Solution to script warning: here-document at line < num > delimited by end-of-file (wanted `!')

In a script, I had formatted my code as follows:

  for l in $(cat file.txt|grep 'Status'|  awk -F' ' '{print $2}'); do
    if [ $l != "SUCCESS" ]; then
       echo $l ": Errors found. Please check logfile status.log"
    else
      echo "Readjust memory for the remaining cdb instance"
        su - oracle <<!
        
        -- code here --
      !
      runAdjustMemory
    fi
  done

During execution, my script failed with

./myscript.sh: line 32: warning: here-document at line 20 delimited by end-of-file (wanted `!')
./myscript.sh: line 33: syntax error: unexpected end of file

Cause: The termination character, in this case the exclamation point ! was indented in the code.

Solution: Remove the formatting and pull the termination character all the way to the left margin of your editor:

  for l in $(cat file.txt|grep 'Status'|  awk -F' ' '{print $2}'); do
    if [ $l != "SUCCESS" ]; then
       echo $l ": Errors found. Please check logfile status.log"
    else
      echo "Readjust memory for the remaining cdb instance"
        su - oracle <<!
        
        -- code here --
!
      runAdjustMemory
    fi
  done

Solution to ORA-28547: connection to server failed, probable Oracle Net admin error

When trying to perform sqlplus actions against one of my databases, I received

oracle@oric-dbserver01:[mydb01]# sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Wed Apr 17 10:43:56 2024
Version 19.22.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2023, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-28547: connection to server failed, probable Oracle Net admin error

Cause:

This is a consequence of the fact that oracle nls files are not found in its default location for this particular server.

If there are no .nlb files in $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data, you need to find out where they are located and set the ORA_NLS10 parameter correctly

If you lookup the error you will get a hint about this fact:

oracle@oric-dbserver01:[mydb01]# oerr ora 28547
A failure occurred during initialization of a network connection from a client process to the Oracle server.  ... 

The most frequent specific causes are: [ oracle lists several potential causes here ]

The character set of the database is not recognized by the client process, which may be caused by an incorrect or unnecessary setting 
of the ORA_NLS10 client environment variable or by a new or user-defined character set installed in the Oracle server and used for the database.

Solution:

Set the ORA_NLS10 environment variable:

export ORA_NLS10=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data/9idata

When this is done, sqlplus will work.

Don't forget to add the same to your .bash_profile for the operating system user owning and running the oracle server software. For most installations I have seen, this will be the os user called "oracle".

Solution to [FATAL] [DBT-05509] Failed to connect to the specified database (cdb) in dbca

I was attempting to create a container database using dbca like this:

dbca -createDatabase -responsefile /home/oracle/scripts/cdb.rsp -silent

The following error kept coming up:

[FATAL] [DBT-05509] Failed to connect to the specified database (cdb).
   CAUSE: OS Authentication might be disabled for this database (cdb).
   ACTION: Specify a valid sysdba user name and password to connect to the database.

Solution:

Same solution as in my previous post "My solution to ORA-12701: CREATE DATABASE character set is not known":

If there are no *.nlb files in the default location $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data, then set the ORA_NLS10 parameter to the place where these files actually resides. In my case, they were found in the sub directory 9idata instead:

export ORA_NLS10=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data/9idata

Otherwise Oracle won't be able to find the language files it needs to create the database.

My solution to ORA-12701: CREATE DATABASE character set is not known

Some of our Oracle servers are set up to accommodate EBS.

During the provisioning process of a new oracle server, the Oracle database creation failed with the following errors:

SYS@mydb01>SQL>alter database "mydb01" open resetlogs;
alter database "mydb01" open resetlogs
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00603: ORACLE server session terminated by fatal error
ORA-01092: ORACLE instance terminated. Disconnection forced
ORA-12701: CREATE DATABASE character set is not known

As part of the EBS 12.1.3 installation guide, the parameter ORA_NLS10 is pointing to $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data/9idata, where all the NLS files are unpacked during installation.

However, by default, the ORA_NLS10 variable is pointing to $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data. In my case, this directory does not contain any nls files. They have all been moved to the sub directory 9idata.

As explained in Oracle Suppport Doc ID 1058400.6 "ORA-12701 When Creating a Database": ORA_NLS parameters determine where to find the NLS characterset libraries. If they cannot be found, Oracle cannot create the database with the characterset you have requested. The error was resolved by setting ORA_NLS10 explisitly during installation:

export ORA_NLS10=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data/9idata

and rerun the installation scripts.

A scriptlet that will look for a file and when found, start displaying it using tail

A short script that will look for the existence of a file, and when found, start tailing it to std out:

while true; do 
 if [ -f /u01/createdb.log ]; then 
   tail -f /u01/createdb.log
 fi 
done

How to open the PDB$SEED database for patching in read/write mode

The following should only be done if you need to patch the PDB$SEED using datapatch, or under instructions from Oracle Support.

sqlplus / as sysdba
Connected to:

Oracle Database 19c Enterprise Edition Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 19.22.0.0.0

SYS@cdb>SQL> alter session set container=PDB$SEED;

Session altered.

SYS@cdb>SQL>alter session set "_oracle_script"=TRUE;

Session altered.

SYS@cdb>SQL>alter pluggable database pdb$seed close immediate instances=all;

Pluggable database altered.

SYS@cdb>SQL>alter pluggable database pdb$seed OPEN READ WRITE;

Pluggable database altered.

SYS@cdb>SQL>select open_mode from v$database;

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

SYS@cdb>SQL>show pdbs

    CON_ID CON_NAME                       OPEN MODE  RESTRICTED
---------- ------------------------------ ---------- ----------
         2 PDB$SEED                       READ WRITE NO
SYS@cdb>SQL>exit

How to process a variable consisting of values separated by blank spaces using a for-loop construct in shell scripting

If you have a variable with to or more values, separated by space, it's very simple to loop through them and process them individually in a script.

Notice the space between the two strings in the variable $pmon:

pmon=`ps -fu oracle | grep pmon_$1 | grep -v grep | awk '{ print $8}'`

echo $pmon
ora_pmon_cdb ora_pmon_mydb01

for pname in $pmon; do
 echo $pname
done

Output:

ora_pmon_cdb
ora_pmon_mydb01

The for loop construct seem to take space as a delimter by default, so in this case it works out well.

How to extract the the first of two identical sentences in a log file using awk

I have a log file which repeats the same message twice.

I would like to save this message in a variable to use later in the script.

The following awk expression will pull the first of the two sentences out for you to save in a variable:

analyze_status=`cat /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/upgrade/auto/autoupgrade.log | grep 'ANALYZE and FIXUPS' | awk 'NR==1'`

Output of the command is:

echo $analyze_status
ANALYZE and FIXUPS modes are not run when converting a Non-CDB database to a PDB

Without the NR==1 I get the same sentence repeated twice:

ANALYZE and FIXUPS modes are not run when converting a Non-CDB database to a PDB ANALYZE and FIXUPS modes are not run when converting a Non-CDB database to a PDB

How to trim away all extra output from a result using sqlplus

The following code can be put in a shell script and executed by root.

Note the sqlplus directives which will remove all unwanted output from the resulting file /tmp/count_options.out

su - oracle <<!
echo "
set lines 10
set pages 0
set trimspool on
set verify off
set heading off
set feedback off
set echo off
spool /tmp/count_options.out
SELECT TRIM(COUNT(*)) FROM DBA_REGISTRY;
" > /tmp/count_options.sql
sqlplus -s / as sysdba @/tmp/count_options.sql
!

Output is:

 /tmp]# cat count_options.out
4

Note that without the TRIM function, the output will be

/tmp]# cat count_options.out
         4

The -s switch will execute sqlplus silently, without it, the output would be

cat count_options.out
         4
SYS@mydb01>SQL>

How to solve TNS-01194: The listener command did not arrive in a secure transport

On one of my servers running Oracle 19c with a container database and a PDB, I had trouble getting the services to automatically register themselves in the listener.

The database it self seemed healthy; the v$active_services view showed that my services were indeed alive.

But still, the services wouldn't be registered by LREG and thus wouldn't be available for the the listener to service incoming requests.

I turned on logging for the listener by setting the following parameter in listener.ora:

LOGGING_LISTENER=on

Then restart the listener. Logging starts:

lsnrctl start
LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on 07-MAR-2024 11:22:33

Copyright (c) 1991, 2023, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=)(PORT=1521))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Start Date                07-MAR-2024 11:11:35
Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 10 min. 57 sec
Trace Level               off
Security                  ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP                      OFF
Listener Parameter File   /orainst/product/19c/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File         /orainst/diag/tnslsnr/myserver/listener/alert/log.xml

I then put a tail on the listener log and register the services with the listener manually:

sqlplus / as sysdba
alter system register;

I then noticed the output on the listener.log file:

 07-MAR-2024 10:37:56 * service_register_NSGR * 1194
 
 TNS-01194: The listener command did not arrive in a secure transport

Look up the error:

oracle@myserver.oric.no:[cdb]# oerr tns 01194
01194, 00000, "The listener command did not arrive in a secure transport"
// *Cause: Most of the listener administrative commands are only intended to
// be issued in a secure transport, which are configured in
// secure_control_ parameter. If the parameter is set, then the listener
// accepts administrative requests only on those secure transports.
// *Action: Make sure the command is issued using a transport specified
// in secure transport list.

I then noticed that my listener.ora parameter SECURE_REGISTER_LISTENER was set to TCP:

SECURE_REGISTER_LISTENER = (TCP)

To allow for dynamic instance registration, I needed to allow for the other protocol, IPC, too:

SECURE_REGISTER_LISTENER = (TCP,IPC)

My tests showed that they both need to be present, in that particular order.

In fact, the listener.ora file could be as simple as this:

ADR_BASE_LISTENER = /orainst/oracle
LOGGING_LISTENER=on
TRACE_LEVEL_LISTENER=off
SECURE_REGISTER_LISTENER = (TCP,IPC)

  SID_LIST_LISTENER =
    (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
        (ORACLE_HOME = /orainst/oracle/product/19c)
        (SID_NAME = cdb)
      )
    )

  LISTENER =
    (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
      (DESCRIPTION =
        (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
      )
    )

and still allow for remote client connections over TCP.

Sources: Oracle Net LISTENER Parameters for 19c

How to remove all postgres packages on a Linux RH server

Logged in as root on the server you would like to remove all postgres packages from:

Stop and disable the current postgres services (in this case, postgres version 15):

systemctl stop postgresql-15
systemctl disable postgresql-15

Remove the packages using "yum remove":

rpm -qa | grep postgres | xargs yum remove -y

What does it mean to run autoconfig on an EBS DB tier?

In a nutshell, it means running adautocfg.sh on the database server.

This is what I did when the listener.ora was missing on one of my EBS servers:

1. Login as the oracle software owner on your server
2. Remove softlink in $TNS_ADMIN called "listener.ora" which points to $TNS_ADMIN/mydb_myserver/listener.ora

cd $TNS_ADMIN
rm listener.ora

3. Create new listener.ora directly under $TNS_ADMIN

cd $TNS_ADMIN
vi listener.ora
-- add the following --
cdb =
  (DESCRIPTION_LIST =
    (DESCRIPTION =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = minserver.skead.no)(PORT = 1521))
    )
  )

SID_LIST_cdb =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (ORACLE_HOME= /orasw/oracle/product/19_21)
      (SID_NAME = cdb)
    )
  )


USE_SID_AS_SERVICE_cdb = ON
STARTUP_WAIT_TIME_cdb = 0
CONNECT_TIMEOUT_cdb = 10
TRACE_LEVEL_cdb = ADMIN

LOG_DIRECTORY_cdb = /orasw/oracle/product/19_21/network/admin
LOG_FILE_cdb = cdb
TRACE_DIRECTORY_cdb = /orasw/oracle/product/19_21/network/admin
TRACE_FILE_cdb = cdb
ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_cdb = ON
SUBSCRIBE_FOR_NODE_DOWN_EVENT_cdb = OFF

# added parameters for bug# 9286476
LOG_STATUS_cdb  =  ON
INBOUND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_cdb = 60

# ADR is only applicable for 11gDB
DIAG_ADR_ENABLED_cdb  = ON
ADR_BASE_cdb = /orasw/oracle/product/19_21/admin/mydb_myserver

#IFILE=/orasw/oracle/product/19_21/network/admin/mydb_myserver/listener_ifile.ora

4. Run autoconfig

cd $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/scripts/mydb_myserver/
./adautocfg.sh
Enter the APPS user password:

Result: autoconfig succeeds.

5. Create a new softlink under $TNS_ADMIN

cd $TNS_ADMIN
ln -s mindb_minserver/listener.ora listener.ora

Script snipplet to test for subdirectories

echo "Test: are there subdirectories in /orainst/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/cdb ?"
ls $(pwd)/*/ > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? == 0 ]; 
then 
  echo "Yes"
  export PDBDIR=`ls -d */ | awk -F '/' '{ print $1 }'`
  grep ERROR --exclude-dir=${PDBDIR} * | egrep -v $ignorelist
else 
  echo "No"
  grep ERROR * | egrep -v $ignorelist
fi

The code above is based on a finding in this post on Stack Overflow.

Script snipplet to scan the dbca logs for errors

Here is a way to scan the logs in the directory where dbca creates its logfiles, by default under your $ORACLE_BASE/cfgtoollogs/dbca/$ORACLE_SID.

If it happens to be a multitenant database, dbca will create subdirectories for the PDB(s).

If you want to skip scanning these, exclude them from your grep command, like below:

cd /orasw/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/cdb
export PDBDIR=`ls -d */ | awk -F '/' '{ print $1 }'`
export ignorelist='ORA_IGNORE_CVU_ERRORS|exectask.sh|utlrp0.log|RMANUtil\$RMANUtilErrorListener.handleError:1386|RMANUtil\$RMANUtilErrorListener.handleError:1383|RMANEngine.readSqlOutput:1046'
grep ERROR --exclude-dir=${PDBDIR} * | egrep -v $ignorelist

The errors I have excluded are based on my own observations on what's important or not during dbca usage.

Script to check for the number of control files in a database and create minimum two if only one is found

A script that checks for the number of controlfiles and creates two new ones if only one is found.

# 080224: Created 
# Check if there is only one controlfile present. If yes, create two new ones in the desired locations
#!/bin/bash
#cleanup old files
chkcntrfiles() {
rm -f /tmp/chk_cntrfile_location.sql
rm -f /tmp/chk_cntrfile_location.log
sqlfile=/tmp/chk_cntrfile_location.sql
logfile=/tmp/chk_cntrfile_location.log
echo "Check controlfile locations in database " $ORACLE_SID
cat << EoF > ${sqlfile}
   set lines 200 heading off feedback off verify off echo off termout off
   set pages 0
   set trimspool on
   col name format a70
   spool ${logfile}
select name
from v\$controlfile;
exit
EoF

cd /home/oracle/&&sqlplus -s -L / as sysdba @${sqlfile}
}
chkcntrfiles

if [ `cat ${logfile} | wc -l` -ge 2 ]; then
  echo "There are at least 2 controlfiles present"
else
  echo "There is only one controfile present."
  echo "Will now shutdown db and make another copy"
  echo "shutdown immediate" | sqlplus / as sysdba
  export org_contr_file=`cat ${logfile}`
  cp -v $org_contr_file /disk1/oradata/$ORACLE_SID/control01.ctl
  cp -v $org_contr_file /disk2/fra/$ORACLE_SID/control02.ctl
  echo "startup nomount" | sqlplus / as sysdba
  echo "alter system set control_files='/disk1/oradata/$ORACLE_SID/control01.ctl','/disk2/fra/$ORACLE_SID/control02.ctl' scope=spfile;" | sqlplus / as sysdba
  echo "startup mount force;" | sqlplus / as sysdba
  echo "Check new controlfile locations in database " $ORACLE_SID
  chkcntrfiles
  if [ ! `cat ${logfile} | wc -l` -ge 2 ]; then
   echo "We tried creating two new controlfiles but failed for some reason. Manual checkup required."
   exit 1
  fi
  echo "Alles OK!"
  echo "alter database open;" | sqlplus / as sysdba
fi

exit

How come I cannot logon to my instance as sysdba, when the ORACLE_SID variable is set correctly?

Here's a reminder if you use a symbolic link for your ORACLE_HOME variable:

You will not be able to attach to your instance using OS authentication, like under the following circumstances:

echo $ORACLE_SID
testdb01
echo $ORACLE_HOME=/orasw/oracle/product/current
ls -la /orasw/oracle/product/current
lrwxrwxrwx 1 oracle dba 12 Jan 31 08:34 /orasw/oracle/product/current -> 19.21
ls -la 
sqlplus / as sysdba

The above statement will not be able to connect to your instance.

You can, however, connect to the instance by going through the listener instead:

sqlplus sys@testdb01 as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Wed Jan 31 08:38:42 2024
Version 19.21.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2022, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 19c Enterprise Edition Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 19.21.0.0.0

SYS@testdb01>SQL>show user
USER is "SYS"

So in order to create a bequeath session, you need an ORACLE_HOME variable that does not use symbolic links.

See this post about IPC and bequeath sessions for more details.

Solution to ERRORMSG: Invalid SYSTEM database user credential when running txkPostPDBCreationTasks.pl as a part of an EBS database upgrade

When upgrading an EBS database from version 12c to 19c, you have to convert to the mulitenant architechture.

Oracle supplies script for this entire operation as outlined in Doc ID 580629.1 "Interoperability Notes: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 with Oracle Database 19c"

When reaching section 6 "Run the post PDB script" you are supposed to run the txkPostPDBCreationTasks.pl script which updates the PDB information.

I found that this script is essential and it must run to completion. It is restartable, so if it fails for some reason, you can fix the root cause and rerun the script.

Here is the error I ran into. The logfile shows it, and it's simple to understand:

==============================
Inside searchFileContents()...
==============================
log_file: /u01/app/oracle/product/19x00_231017/appsutil/log/TXK_POST_PDB_Fri_Jan_26_19_15_34_2024/validate_system_password.log
pattern: ERROR
================
Pattern found...
================
EXIT STATUS: 1
Invalid SYSTEM database user credentials.
LOG FILE: /u01/app/oracle/product/19x00_231017/appsutil/log/TXK_POST_PDB_Fri_Jan_26_19_15_34_2024/validate_system_password.log.
*******FATAL ERROR*******
PROGRAM : (/u01/app/oracle/product/19x00_231017/appsutil/bin/txkPostPDBCreationTasks.pl)
TIME    : Fri Jan 26 19:18:47 2024
FUNCTION: main::validateSystemSchemaCredentials [ Level 1 ]
ERRORMSG: Invalid SYSTEM database user credentials.
*******FATAL ERROR*******
PROGRAM : (/u01/app/oracle/product/19x00_231017/appsutil/bin/txkPostPDBCreationTasks.pl)
TIME    : Fri Jan 26 19:18:47 2024
FUNCTION: main::validateSystemSchemaCredentials [ Level 1 ]
ERRORMSG: Invalid SYSTEM database user credentials.

So the system password was not set correctly. Note that this is the only error in the logfile. All other tests had passed!

Since this is a non-EBS password, it can be set manually with the alter user statement, which I did.

Log on to the cdb:

export ORACLE_SID=cdb
sqlplus / as sysdba
alter user system identified by by mysecretpassword container=all;

Test your connection, preferrably from the apptier. Log on to the PDB, in this case EBSTEST, using the system account:

sqlplus system@EBSTEST
Enter password:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 19c Enterprise Edition Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
SQL> show user
USER is "SYSTEM"

So the password is now confirmed to be correct.

You can now rerun the script

export ORACLE_SID=cdb

# source the environment
cd $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil
. ./txkSetCfgCDB.env dboraclehome=<your 19c OH path here>

perl $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin/txkPostPDBCreationTasks.pl -dboraclehome=<your 19c OH path here> \
-outdir=<your 19c OH path here>/appsutil/log -cdbsid=cdb -pdbsid=EBSTEST \
-appsuser=<APPSUSER> -dbport=<LISTENING PORT> -servicetype=onpremise

Why is it essential that the script runs to completion, correctly without errors?

First of all, it updates important tables in the APPS schema. During an upgrade to 19c, the UTL_FILE_DIRS are no longer found in the database init.ora file or the spfile. It is saved in the tables v$parameter and v$parameter2.

select name, value from v$parameter where name = 'utl_file_dir';

and 

select name, value from v$parameter where name = 'utl_file_dir';

should yield the same output as the text file found in your $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/EBSTEST_utlfiledir.txt file.

In my case the

$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/EBSTEST_utlfiledir.txt

showed

/sw/oracle/product/temp/EBSTEST
/usr/tmp/EBSTEST
/<oracle_19c_home>/appsutil/outbound/EBSTEST_<myservername>

Second, it creates two environment files in your $ORACLE_HOME that can be used to source the cdb and the PDB environments,respectively. The are called

cdb_<yourservername>.env

EBSTEST_<yourservername>.env

Third, it creates your database server's context file, $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/EBS_<yourservername>.xml

Without all of the above correctly done, you cannot proceed with running autoconfig on your apptier. It will keep failing until you fix the database-part of your migration.

How to find installed patches through SQL in an EBS database

During an EBS upgrade, I had to check whether or not a specific patch, 8796558, still needed to be applied.
Turned out is no longer relevant; it has been rolled up in cummulative patch sets. See listing below.

set lines 200
col patch_name format a30
 
SELECT DISTINCT a.bug_number,e.patch_name, e.patch_type, TRUNC(c.end_date) applied_Date
FROM ad_bugs a, ad_patch_run_bugs b, ad_patch_runs c, ad_patch_drivers d , ad_applied_patches e
WHERE
a.bug_id = b.bug_id AND
b.patch_run_id = c.patch_run_id AND
c.patch_driver_id = d.patch_driver_id AND
d.applied_patch_id = e.applied_patch_id AND
a.bug_number in
('8796558')
ORDER BY 2 DESC;
 
BUG_NUMBER                     PATCH_NAME                     PATCH_TYPE                     APPLIED_DATE
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------
8796558                        22644544                       PATCH-SET                      04-SEP-19  
8796558                        21236633                       PATCH-SET                      27-MAI-16  
8796558                        19030202                       PATCH-SET                      15-DES-15  
8796558                        17774755                       PATCH-SET                      11-OKT-14  
 
22644544 --> Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3+ Recommended Patch Collection 5 [RPC5]
21236633 --> Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3+ Recommended Patch Collection 4 [RPC4]
19030202 --> Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3+ Recommended Patch Collection 2 [RPC2]
17774755 --> Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3+ Recommended Patch Collection 1 [RPC1]

[DBT-50000] Unable to check available system memory when running dbca

dbca returned the following error upon launch:

[FATAL] [DBT-50000] Unable to check available system memory.
   CAUSE: An exception occured while checking kernel parameter.
*ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:*
Exception details
 - The default location for framework home is not available. It must be specified

Cause:

The TMP and/or TMPDIR directory doesn't exist.

Solution:

Make sure the .bash_profile contains the correct values for the TMP and TMPDIR directories. It must be an accessible and writable directory.

In my case:

mkdir -p /u01/ora19c/tmp

Open .bash_profile, and add the following

OWNER=ora19c;export OWNER
TMP=/u01/$OWNER/tmp;export TMP
TMPDIR=/u01/$OWNER/tmp;export TMPDIR

Launch dbca again. It should now proceed as expected.

This article from IBM pointed me in the right direction.

Doc ID 2534894.1 "How To Change Default TEMP Location When Creating Database By DBCA?" is also onto the same solution, but here oracle show you how to append the -j flag to your dbca command, e.g

 dbca -J-Djava.io.tmpdir=/home/oracle/tmp

Syntax for dropping standby redo logs

In one of my primary databases, I had several old standby redo log files that were forgotten from a previous relocation using Data Guard. They could all be dropped at this point.

set lines 200
col member format a50
select s.group#,s.thread#,s.sequence#,s.archived,s.status,f.member, f.type
from v$standby_log s, v$logfile f
where f.type = 'STANDBY'
and s.group# = f.group#;

    GROUP#    THREAD#  SEQUENCE# ARC STATUS     MEMBER                                             TYPE
---------- ---------- ---------- --- ---------- -------------------------------------------------- -------
         6          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo06.log         STANDBY
         7          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo07.log         STANDBY
         8          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo08.log         STANDBY
         9          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo09.log         STANDBY
        10          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo10.log         STANDBY
        11          1          0 YES UNASSIGNED /data03/oradata/prod01/onlinelog/stb_redo11.log         STANDBY

Syntax for dropping:

SQL> alter database drop standby logfile group n;

In my case

alter database drop standby logfile group 6;
alter database drop standby logfile group 7;
etc etc.



The official Oracle 19c Alter Database documentation is here

Workaround for error adstpall.sh: too few arguments specified when stopping the EBS 12.2 server processes

ebs@ebsserver1.oric.no 35642926]$ $ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME/adstpall.sh –skipNM -skipAdmin
 
You are running adstpall.sh version 120.22.12020000.7
 
 
Enter the WebLogic Server password:
adstpall.sh: too few arguments specified.
 
USAGE:  adstpall.sh  [-skipNM] [-skipAdmin] [-nothreading]
        adstpall.sh  -secureapps [-skipNM] [-skipAdmin]
        adstpall.sh -nodbchk [-skipNM] [-skipAdmin]
        adstpall.sh -mode=allnodes
 
 
adstpall.sh: exiting with status 1

Reason: You have copied the text directly from step 5 in the documentation

Turns out the docs use a different dash character than the expected one. The one used in the documentation is most likely copied from MS word or similar, which is interpreted differently than the regular dash character:

Incorrect: –skipNM
Correct:   -skipNM

In other words, the documented command below is incorrect:

$ $ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME/adstpall.sh –skipNM -skipAdmin

Workaround: execute it with the correct dash

$ $ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME/adstpall.sh -skipNM -skipAdmin

Thanks to Marco DeDecker from Oracle Netherlands for finding and pointing out this error.