For SAP systems with productive Oracle databases, the database mode is set to ARCHIVELOG. This mode causes the database system to save an online redo log file (i.e., the archive process ARCH is initiated and produces the corresponding offline redo log files in the archiving directory) before the database changes recorded in the redo log files are overwritten during a log file switch.
If the background process ARCH for archiving redo logs fails, the system shuts down until the error is corrected.
There are the following causes for this problem:
Recovery Procedure
Proceed as follows during recovery:
Enter the following SQLPLUS commands:
archive log list
If the ARCH process was not started or is not currently active (the line
Automatic archival DISABLED is displayed), start it by entering the following SQLPLUS command:connect internal
archive log start
Also check the parameters in the init.ora file that control the archiving process. Make sure the archiving process is started automatically during the next database startup. See
Setting Up Archiving.You will probably have to cancel the background process ARCH and restart it, specifying a new target directory. To do this, use the following SQLPLUS commands:
archive log stop
archive log start '<new path>'
<new path> is the name of the "directory" that will be used for archiving. Note the following special naming conventions for this "directory": Oracle interprets the last part of the specified path as a file prefix, it therefore must not physically exist in the directory. Find out about the default settings of the background process ARCH in the init.ora file (see Setting Up Archiving). The database must remain active when you stop and restart the ARCH process.
Note that the path is automatically reset to the predefined value in profile init.ora the next time you start up the database.
Make sure that BRARCHIVE is able to archive the offline redo log files.