Tales From A Lazy Fat DBA

What is a Control File ?
Every Oracle Database has a control file, which is a small binary file that records the physical structure of the database. The control file includes:

• The database name
• Names and locations of associated datafiles and redo log files
• The timestamp of the database creation
• The current log sequence number
• Checkpoint information

The control file must be available for writing by the Oracle Database server whenever the database is open. Without the control file, the database cannot be mounted and recovery is difficult.

The control file of an Oracle Database is created at the same time as the database. By default, at least one copy of the control file is created during database creation. On some operating systems the default is to create multiple copies. You should create two or more copies of the control file during database creation. You can also create control files later, if you lose control files or want to change particular settings in the control files.

Backing it up in a binary format:
alter database backup controlfile to ‘/some/arbitrary/path’;
alter database backup controlfile to ‘/some/arbitrary/path’ reuse;

Backing it up in a human readable format:
alter database backup controlfile to trace;
alter database backup controlfile to trace as ‘/some/arbitrary/path’;
alter database backup controlfile to trace as ‘/some/arbitrary/path’ reuse;

Inside of a Control File (Contents):

STARTUP NOMOUNT
CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE “ORCL” NORESETLOGS  ARCHIVELOG
MAXLOGFILES 16
MAXLOGMEMBERS 3
MAXDATAFILES 100
MAXINSTANCES 8
MAXLOGHISTORY 292
LOGFILE
GROUP 1 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo01.log’  SIZE 50M,
GROUP 2 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo02.log’  SIZE 50M,
GROUP 3 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo03.log’  SIZE 50M
— STANDBY LOGFILEDATAFILE
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/system01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/undotbs01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/sysaux01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/users01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/example01.dbf’
CHARACTER SET WE8ISO8859P1
;– Commands to re-create incarnation table
— Below log names MUST be changed to existing filenames on
— disk. Any one log file from each branch can be used to
— re-create incarnation records.
— ALTER DATABASE REGISTER LOGFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_06_29/o1_mf_1_1_%u_.arc’;
— ALTER DATABASE REGISTER LOGFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_06_29/o1_mf_1_1_%u_.arc’;
— Recovery is required if any of the datafiles are restored backups,
— or if the last shutdown was not normal or immediate.
RECOVER DATABASE– All logs need archiving and a log switch is needed.
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG ALL;

— Database can now be opened normally.
ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

— Commands to add tempfiles to temporary tablespaces.
— Online tempfiles have complete space information.
— Other tempfiles may require adjustment.
ALTER TABLESPACE TEMP ADD TEMPFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/temp01.dbf’
SIZE 20971520  REUSE AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 655360  MAXSIZE 32767M;
— End of tempfile additions.
—
—     Set #2. RESETLOGS case
—
— The following commands will create a new control file and use it
— to open the database.
— Data used by Recovery Manager will be lost.
— The contents of online logs will be lost and all backups will
— be invalidated. Use this only if online logs are damaged.

— After mounting the created controlfile, the following SQL
— statement will place the database in the appropriate
— protection mode:
—  ALTER DATABASE SET STANDBY DATABASE TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE

STARTUP NOMOUNT
CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE “ORCL” RESETLOGS  ARCHIVELOG
MAXLOGFILES 16
MAXLOGMEMBERS 3
MAXDATAFILES 100
MAXINSTANCES 8
MAXLOGHISTORY 292
LOGFILE
GROUP 1 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo01.log’  SIZE 50M,
GROUP 2 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo02.log’  SIZE 50M,
GROUP 3 ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/redo03.log’  SIZE 50M
— STANDBY LOGFILE

DATAFILE
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/system01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/undotbs01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/sysaux01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/users01.dbf’,
‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/example01.dbf’
CHARACTER SET WE8ISO8859P1
;

— Commands to re-create incarnation table
— Below log names MUST be changed to existing filenames on
— disk. Any one log file from each branch can be used to
— re-create incarnation records.
— ALTER DATABASE REGISTER LOGFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_06_29/o1_mf_1_1_%u_.arc’;
— ALTER DATABASE REGISTER LOGFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_06_29/o1_mf_1_1_%u_.arc’;
— Recovery is required if any of the datafiles are restored backups,
— or if the last shutdown was not normal or immediate.
RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE

— Database can now be opened zeroing the online logs.
ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;

— Commands to add tempfiles to temporary tablespaces.
— Online tempfiles have complete space information.
— Other tempfiles may require adjustment.
ALTER TABLESPACE TEMP ADD TEMPFILE ‘/u01/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/temp01.dbf’
SIZE 20971520  REUSE AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 655360  MAXSIZE 32767M;
— End of tempfile additions.