Saturday, April 27, 2013

Oracle made a few changes in Oracle 11g OCM Exam Environment and Exam Topics


Exam Environment

Current Environment
(Till 12th May 2013)
New Release Environment
(From 13th May 2013 onwards)
Oracle Linux Release 5.4 (64-bit)
Oracle Linux Release 5.4 (32-bit)
Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Release
11.2.0.1.0 (64-bit)
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.3.0 (32-bit)
Oracle Enterprise Management Grid Control 10g version 10.2.0.5 (64-bit) with repository database 11.1.0.6
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Grid Control Release 1 (11.1.0.1.0)  (32-bit)

Following are the few changes in Exam Topics:

Added in Server Configuration

·         Use OPatch to install a patch
·         Use Enterprise Manager Configuration Assistant (EMCA) utility

Removed from Data Warehouse Management  

* Note: The topic "Configure and manage Streams for capture, propagation and apply" will be retired in the new release of this exam from 13th May 2013.

Fore more information on 11g OCM Exam, Click here.

Regards,
Sabdar Syed.



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE" while converting database using DGMGRL.

As part of my OCM Exam preparation while practicing the Data Guard scenarios such as converting the database from physical standby to snapshot standby and from snapshot standby to physical standby using Data Guard Broker, the following warning messages were generated:

Unable to connect to database
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor

Failed.
Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.

Please complete the following steps and reissue the CONVERT command:
        start up and mount instance "stby" of database "stby"

Here is how, I was testing:

DGMGRL> connect sys@orcl
Password: <enter the password here>
Connected.

Show the configuration:

DGMGRL> show configuration;

Configuration - DGConfig01

  Protection Mode: MaxPerformance
  Databases:
    orcl - Primary database
    stby - Physical standby database

Fast-Start Failover: DISABLED

Configuration Status:
SUCCESS

Convert the Physical Standby Database to Snapshot Standby Database:


DGMGRL> convert database 'stby' to snapshot standby;
Converting database "stby" to a Snapshot Standby database, please wait...
Database "stby" converted successfully

Note: Converting the database from Physical Standby to Snapshot Standby database was succeeded, but it failed while reverting from Snapshot Standby to Physical Standby.

DGMGRL> convert database 'stby' to physical standby;
Converting database "stby" to a Physical Standby database, please wait...
Operation requires shutdown of instance "stby" on database "stby"
Shutting down instance "stby"...
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
Operation requires startup of instance "stby" on database "stby"
Starting instance "stby"...
Unable to connect to database
ORA-12514: TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor

Failed.
Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.

Please complete the following steps and reissue the CONVERT command:
        start up and mount instance "stby" of database "stby"

Solution A:

First of all this is just a warning message, all you need to do is startup mount the database as instructed in the above warning message to resolve the issue.

But, the issue is that the Data Guard Broker was attempting to connect to a service called < db_unique_name>_DGMGRL i.e. stby_DGMGRL. On the server, the service name stby_DGMGRL.sabdar.com in the listener.ora file was configured as follows

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (GLOBAL_DBNAME = stby_DGMGRL.sabdar.com)
      (ORACLE_HOME = /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)
      (SID_NAME = stby)
    )

To overcome from this warning message being generated and to fix the issue permanently,  add a static registration for stby_DGMGRL to your $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora. Below is an example.

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
  (SID_LIST =
    (SID_DESC =
      (GLOBAL_DBNAME = stby_DGMGRL)
      (ORACLE_HOME = /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)
      (SID_NAME = stby)
    )
  )

Or Solution B:

Check the value of StaticConnectIdentifier property for stby database:


DGMGRL> show database 'stby' 'StaticConnectIdentifier';
  StaticConnectIdentifier = '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=ocm01.sabdar.com)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=stby_DGMGRL)(INSTANCE_NAME=stby)(SERVER=DEDICATED)))'

Here the SERVICE_NAME is stby_DGMGRL (by default it was set like this when Data Guard Broker configured).

Change the SERVICE_NAME from stby_DGMGRL to stby_DGMGRL.sabdar.com using Data Guard Broker 


DGMGRL> connect sys@stby
Password: <enter the password here>
Connected.

Show the current value for StaticConnectIdentifier property


DGMGRL> show database 'stby' 'StaticConnectIdentifier';
  StaticConnectIdentifier = '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=ocm01.sabdar.com)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=stby_DGMGRL)(INSTANCE_NAME=stby)(SERVER=DEDICATED)))'

Edit the value for StaticConnectIdentifier property

DGMGRL> edit database 'stby' set property 'StaticConnectIdentifier'='(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=ocm01.sabdar.com)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=stby_DGMGRL.sabdar.com)(INSTANCE_NAME=stby)(SERVER=DEDICATED)))';
Property "StaticConnectIdentifier" updated

Note: Above is a one line command


DGMGRL> show database 'stby' 'StaticConnectIdentifier';
  StaticConnectIdentifier = '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=ocm01.sabdar.com)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=stby_DGMGRL.sabdar.com)(INSTANCE_NAME=stby)(SERVER=DEDICATED)))'


Now start conversion:

DGMGRL> convert database 'stby' to physical standby;
Converting database "stby" to a Physical Standby database, please wait...
Error: ORA-16541: database is not enabled

Failed.
Failed to convert database "stby"

Note: Here we have to first start the standby database in mount mode. Then try the 'convert database' command.

[oracle@ocm01 ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=stby

[oracle@ocm01 ~]$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Wed Apr 10 23:34:47 2013

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

SQL> connect /as sysdba
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup mount;
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  680607744 bytes
Fixed Size                  2216464 bytes
Variable Size             406851056 bytes
Database Buffers          264241152 bytes
Redo Buffers                7299072 bytes
Database mounted.

Now start conversion:


DGMGRL> connect sys@stby
Password: <enter the password here>
Connected.

DGMGRL> convert database 'stby' to physical standby;
Converting database "stby" to a Physical Standby database, please wait...
Operation requires shutdown of instance "stby" on database "stby"
Shutting down instance "stby"...
ORA-01109: database not open

Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
Operation requires startup of instance "stby" on database "stby"
Starting instance "stby"...
ORACLE instance started.
Database mounted.
Database "stby" converted successfully

This time the conversion got succeeded. Sometimes, these warning messages may encountered while switch over activity as well.

Regards,
Sabdar Syed.