ORA-00257 archiver error. connect internal only, until freed. Well, how can I securely "freed"

my archivelog on 10gR2/Win2k3 has just filled out. I still can connect through SYS into my instance.

Obviously, I would like to increment db_recovery_file_dest_size which is simple, however this database did not have full backup since couple weeks, and I wish to keep it fully working with data up to the moment when archivelog has been filled out (couple hours ago). I can still run SELECT queries.

1. What should one do in order to securly increment recovery dest size, and restart oracle instance? should one just simply execute "Alter system set db_recovery_file_dest_size=20G" and restart oracle as a service in Windows 2k3, or try to backup with rman before? Or maybe there's another more secure way to deal with this situation?
2. Can one set up db_recovery_file_dest_size as unlimited? I have also tried to move 3/4 of my flash content (the oldest part) into different place to make room for the fresh archivelog, but that did not change a thing. In the future, how can one successfully "release" unwanted archive log after rman backup in order to make space for the new archivelog content?

Thanks for all your help. Received on Fri Jun 08 2007 - 22:21:50 CDT