ORA-00220: controlfile not mounted by first instance,

[Shravana Kumar]

Hi All,

We are using oracle 9.0.1 on Sun Solaris 8.
I have the following problem while starting the database instance.

SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 126804664 bytes
Fixed Size 434872 bytes
Variable Size 104857600 bytes
Database Buffers 20971520 bytes
Redo Buffers 540672 bytes
ORA-00220: controlfile not mounted by first instance, check alert log
for more
info
ORA-00202: controlfile: '/export/home/oracle/dev/SAMPLE/control02.ctl'


The original control files ware deleted unfortunately. so i have to
bring them back from backup. since then, i get this error.

Any one knows, how to fix problem. thanks a lot,

Best Regards,
ShravanaKumar.

[Howard J. Rogers]

"Shravana Kumar" <kumar.shravana@blr.spcnl.co.in> wrote in message
news:3E13528F.8837ABFC@blr.spcnl.co.in...

> Hi All,
>
> We are using oracle 9.0.1 on Sun Solaris 8.
> I have the following problem while starting the database instance.
>
> SQL> startup
> ORACLE instance started.
>
> Total System Global Area 126804664 bytes
> Fixed Size 434872 bytes
> Variable Size 104857600 bytes
> Database Buffers 20971520 bytes
> Redo Buffers 540672 bytes
> ORA-00220: controlfile not mounted by first instance, check alert log
> for more
> info
> ORA-00202: controlfile: '/export/home/oracle/dev/SAMPLE/control02.ctl'
>
>
> The original control files ware deleted unfortunately. so i have to
> bring them back from backup. since then, i get this error.
>
> Any one knows, how to fix problem. thanks a lot,
>

Learn to visit [url]http://tahiti.oracle.com[/url] : you'll find there a complete set
of documentation for Oracle, including an error message search facility.

In your case, you'd see the following for error 220:

Cause: The specified control file has a different mount ID than the other
control files that are being mounted. This means that the first instance to
mount the database did not use this control file.

Action: Find and install the correct control file.

The action says it all, really. You've restored the wrong controlfiles, so
find the correct ones and restore them instead.

And if you're going to then say you've definitely restored the right
controlfiles, I'd say your database was stuffed (possibly you took a 'hot'
copy of the controlfiles, rather than backing them up correctly with the
appropriate 'alter database' command. Hot backups of anything in Oracle are
likely to be internally inconsistent (ie, corrupt), so unless Oracle
provided a mechanism for making them consistent again, they are a definite
no-no. Redo makes hot datafile backup internally consistent, but redo isn't
applied to controlfiles, and no other 'fix up' mechanism is provided either.
So hot backups done simply by using O/S copy commands just don't work).

If your database is stuffed, blow it away and start again. From the number
of posts you've made lately, I'm guessing you are fairly new to this Oracle
malarkey, so hopefully blowing your database away and starting again won't
be too much of a pain.

One way or another, you need to learn about controlfile multiplexing. The
loss of all controlfiles is always a very expensive process in terms of
downtime incurred, and multiplexing should mean you avoid the need for this.

You should also check out the 'alter database backup controlfile to trace'
command, as that will enable you to re-create lost controlfiles without the
need to restore them from a binary backup. This is the preferred mechanism
for backing up controlfiles, incidentally, rather than taking binary
backups.

Regards
HJR

> Best Regards,
> ShravanaKumar.
>