Enabling Archivelog mode, Oracle7- any issues?

From: Thomas T <T_at_T>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 17:38:13 -0400
Message-ID: <3f565f45$1@rutgers.edu>

So I've read books, online docs, and even found Howard Rogers' "Backup & Recovery Workshop" document.

I've got a Novell 5 server running an Oracle7 database, on Novell 5, which has not been in archivelog mode since Oracle6. It's one of those things that I've meant to look at, and in cleaning off my desk (!), I've been reminded of it. We take cold backups nightly; the database doesn't see much in the way of transactions- and when it does, we always grab a before & after export file. But it'd be nice to be able to take hot backups, and let the library cache and buffer cache fill up with "useful" things instead of re-filling themselves each morning.

Are there any issues with turning archivelog mode on? Everything I've read says to "issue these statements and it's done." Granted, I don't doubt what I've read; I'd just like to hear some feedback/opinions from actual DBA's.

Seems like this is all I have to do from server manager:

connect internal (remember, Oracle 7.3, no fancy 9i here...) startup mount
alter database archivelog
alter database open
alter system archive log start to 'vol1:oranw_d2\archives'

Then I'd issue a shutdown, perform a cold backup to tape, and finally, go into my init.ora and add the following commands:

log_archive_start=true
log_archive_dest=vol1:oranw_d2\archives
log_archive_format=arc%s.%t  (really the Oracle7 default, but might as well

type it in)

After which, I load up server manager again, and issue the startup command.

I mainly have one question about the above procedure- the alter system archive log start command. Am I correct in assuming I should add the "to (pathname)" parameter? Nothing I've read, save for the Oracle command docs, mention adding that parameter. The docs just say to issue "alter system archive log start".

Or, since I'll be shutting the database down immediately to take a cold backup, does it matter? There really won't be a chance for an online redo log to fill up and write to disk. Even if it did, couldn't I find it on the drive, and move it manually (via the o/s) to the "proposed" future log_archive_dest directory?

Or should I just get a jump on things and add log_archive_dest to the init.ora before I even put the database into archivelog mode? Then I'd just say "alter system archive log start"? (I believe this to be the right answer...?)

*One more question, while I'm at it. It looks like, once the archived logs get put onto tape, I can delete them from the disk. I'd like to delete them after 48 hours. Does that sound reasonable? Or should I just leave them on the disk, keep an eye on disk usage, and delete old logfiles as I see fit? What if I need to recover (unlikely!) 96 hours previous- would I restore the previous 48 hours of log files back onto the disk, and that, along with the current 48 hours, would give me my total 96 hours to recover from?

Sorry to ask so many questions but I can't seem to find any of this in the literature I've read...

Thanks!

-Thomas Received on Wed Sep 03 2003 - 16:38:13 CDT