ORA-00205: error in identifying control file, check alert log for more info

ORA-00205: error in identifying control file, check alert log for more info

 [oracle@NVMBD1BZY150D00 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.3.0 Production on Thu Oct 16 11:01:28 2014

Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 2.0176E+10 bytes

Fixed Size                  2237048 bytes

Variable Size            2550140296 bytes

Database Buffers         1.7583E+10 bytes

Redo Buffers               41488384 bytes

ORA-00205: error in identifying control file, check alert log for more info

In alert log file following information about error in detail.

Thu Oct 16 11:22:54 2014

MMNL started with pid=20, OS id=14441

starting up 1 dispatcher(s) for network address '(ADDRESS=(PARTIAL=YES)(PROTOCOL                                                                                        =TCP))'...

starting up 1 shared server(s) ...

ORACLE_BASE from environment = /data/oracle/app/oracle

Thu Oct 16 11:22:54 2014

ALTER DATABASE   MOUNT

ORA-00210: cannot open the specified control file

ORA-00202: control file: '/data/oracle/app/oracle/oradata/TEST/control02.ctl'

ORA-27086: unable to lock file - already in use

Linux-x86_64 Error: 11: Resource temporarily unavailable

After researching lot found articles about ORA-01102. This article elaborate on this issue more clearly. Below is the Metalink on the ORA-01102 and the solution.

Problem Description:

You are trying to startup the database and you receive the following error:

ORA-01102: cannot mount database in EXCLUSIVE mode

Cause: Some other instance has the database mounted exclusive or shared.

Action: Shutdown other instance or mount in a compatible mode.

Problem Explanation:

A database is started in EXCLUSIVE mode by default. Therefore, the ORA-01102 error is misleading and may have occurred due to one of the following reasons:

there is still an "sgadef<sid>.dbf" file in the "ORACLE_HOME/dbs"  directory

 the processes for Oracle (pmon, smon, lgwr and dbwr) still exist

 shared memory segments and semaphores still exist even though the

database has been shutdown

 there is a "ORACLE_HOME/dbs/lk<sid>" file

Solution Description:

Verify that the database was shutdown cleanly by doing the following:

1. Verify that there is not a "sgadef<sid>.dbf" file in the directory "ORACLE_HOME/dbs".

       

% ls $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/sgadef<sid>.dbf  If this file does exist, remove it.

% rm $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/sgadef<sid>.dbf

2. Verify that there are no background processes owned by "oracle"

      

 % ps -ef | grep ora_ | grep $ORACLE_SID

If background processes exist, remove them by using the Unix

command "kill". For example:

 % kill -9 <rocess_ID_Number>

3. Verify that no shared memory segments and semaphores that are owned by "oracle" still exist

% ipcs -b

If there are shared memory segments and semaphores owned by "oracle", remove the shared memory segments

       

 % ipcrm -m <Shared_Memory_ID_Number>

and remove the semaphores

 % ipcrm -s <Semaphore_ID_Number>

NOTE: The example shown above assumes that you only have one

database on this machine. If you have more than one

database, you will need to shutdown all other databases

before proceeding with Step 4.

4. Verify that the "$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/lk<sid>" file does not exist

5. Startup the instance

[oracle@NVMBD1BZY150D00 dbs]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.3.0 Production on Thu Oct 16 13:33:05 2014

Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 2.0176E+10 bytes

Fixed Size             2237048 bytes

Variable Size       2550140296 bytes

Database Buffers    1.7583E+10 bytes

Redo Buffers          41488384 bytes

Database mounted.

Database opened.

Solution Explanation:

The "lk<sid>" and "sgadef<sid>.dbf" files are used for locking shared memory. It seems that even though no memory is allocated, Oracle thinks memory is still locked. By removing the "sgadef" and "lk" files you remove any knowledge oracle has of shared memory that is in use. Now the database can start.

I hope this article helped you. Your suggestions/feedback are most welcome.

Keep learning... Have a great day!!!