G Setting Archive Tracing

The Oracle database writes an audit trail of the archived redo log files received from the primary database into a trace file. The LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter controls output generated by the ARCn, LGWR, and foreground processes on the primary database, and the RFS and FAL server processes on the standby database.

G.1 LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE Initialization Parameter

To see the archiving to the standby site, set the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter in the primary and standby initialization parameter files. When you set the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter, it causes the Oracle database to write an audit trail to a trace file as follows:

On the primary database

This causes the Oracle database to write an audit trail of archiving process activity (ARCn and foreground processes, LGWR, and FAL activities) on the primary database in a trace file whose filename is specified in the USER_DUMP_DEST initialization parameter.
On the standby database

This causes the Oracle database to write an audit trail of the RFS process and the ARCn process activity relating to archived redo log files on the standby database in a trace file whose filename is specified in the USER_DUMP_DEST initialization parameter.

G.2 Determining the Location of the Trace Files

The trace files for a database are located in the directory specified by the USER_DUMP_DEST parameter in the initialization parameter file. Connect to the primary and standby instances using SQL*Plus, and issue a SHOW statement to determine the location, for example:

SQL> SHOW PARAMETER USER_DUMP_DEST
NAME                                 TYPE    VALUE
------------------------------------ ------- ------------------------------
user_dump_dest                       string  ?/rdbms/log

G.2.1 Setting the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE Initialization Parameter

The format for the archiving trace parameter is as follows, where trace_level is an integer:

LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE=trace_level

To enable, disable, or modify the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter for a physical standby database, issue a SQL statement similar to the following:

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE=15;

In the previous example, setting the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter to a value of 15 sets trace levels 1, 2, 4, and 8 as described in Section G.2.2.

Issue the ALTER SYSTEM statement from a different standby session so that it affects trace output generated by the remote file service (RFS) and ARCn processes when the next archived redo log file is received from the primary database. For example, enter:

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE=32;

G.2.2 Choosing an Integer Value

The integer values for the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter represent levels of tracing data. In general, the higher the level, the more detailed the information. The following integer levels are available:

Level	Meaning
0	Disables archived redo log tracing (default setting)
1	Tracks archiving of log files
2	Tracks archive status by archive log file destination
4	Tracks archive operational phase
8	Tracks archive log destination activity
16	Tracks detailed archive log destination activity
32	Tracks archive log destination parameter modifications
64	Tracks ARCn process state activity
128	Tracks FAL server process activity
256	Track RFS Logical Client
512	Tracks LGWR redo shipping network activity
1024	Tracks RFS physical client
2048	Tracks RFS/ARCn ping heartbeat
4096	Tracks real-time apply activity
8192	Tracks Redo Apply activity (media recovery or physical standby)

You can combine tracing levels by setting the value of the LOG_ARCHIVE_TRACE parameter to the sum of the individual levels. For example, setting the parameter to 6 generates level 2 and level 4 trace output.

The following are examples of the ARC0 trace data generated on the primary site by the archiving of log file 387 to two different destinations: the service standby1 and the local directory /oracle/dbs.

Note:

The level numbers do not appear in the actual trace output; they are shown here for clarification only.

Level   Corresponding entry content (sample) 
-----   -------------------------------- 
( 1)    ARC0: Begin archiving log# 1 seq# 387 thrd# 1 
( 4)    ARC0: VALIDATE 
( 4)    ARC0: PREPARE 
( 4)    ARC0: INITIALIZE 
( 4)    ARC0: SPOOL 
( 8)    ARC0: Creating archive destination 2 : 'standby1' 
(16)    ARC0:  Issuing standby Create archive destination at 'standby1' 
( 8)    ARC0: Creating archive destination 1 : '/oracle/dbs/d1arc1_387.log' 
(16)    ARC0:  Archiving block 1 count 1 to : 'standby1' 
(16)    ARC0:  Issuing standby Archive of block 1 count 1 to 'standby1' 
(16)    ARC0:  Archiving block 1 count 1 to :  '/oracle/dbs/d1arc1_387.log' 
( 8)    ARC0: Closing archive destination 2  : standby1 
(16)    ARC0:  Issuing standby Close archive destination at 'standby1' 
( 8)    ARC0: Closing archive destination 1  :  /oracle/dbs/d1arc1_387.log 
( 4)    ARC0: FINISH 
( 2)    ARC0: Archival success destination 2 : 'standby1' 
( 2)    ARC0: Archival success destination 1 : '/oracle/dbs/d1arc1_387.log' 
( 4)    ARC0: COMPLETE, all destinations archived 
(16)    ARC0: ArchivedLog entry added: /oracle/dbs/d1arc1_387.log 
(16)    ARC0: ArchivedLog entry added: standby1 
( 4)    ARC0: ARCHIVED 
( 1)    ARC0: Completed archiving log# 1 seq# 387 thrd# 1 
 
(32)  Propagating archive 0 destination version 0 to version 2 
         Propagating archive 0 state version 0 to version 2 
         Propagating archive 1 destination version 0 to version 2 
         Propagating archive 1 state version 0 to version 2 
         Propagating archive 2 destination version 0 to version 1 
         Propagating archive 2 state version 0 to version 1 
         Propagating archive 3 destination version 0 to version 1 
         Propagating archive 3 state version 0 to version 1 
         Propagating archive 4 destination version 0 to version 1 
         Propagating archive 4 state version 0 to version 1 
 
(64) ARCH: changing ARC0 KCRRNOARCH->KCRRSCHED 
        ARCH: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES 
        ARCH: changing ARC0 KCRRSCHED->KCRRSTART 
        ARCH: invoking ARC0 
        ARC0: changing ARC0 KCRRSTART->KCRRACTIVE 
        ARCH: Initializing ARC0 
        ARCH: ARC0 invoked 
        ARCH: STARTING ARCH PROCESSES COMPLETE 
        ARC0 started with pid=8 
        ARC0: Archival started

The following is the trace data generated by the RFS process on the standby site as it receives archived redo log file 387 in directory /stby and applies it to the standby database:

level    trace output (sample) 
----    ------------------ 
( 4)      RFS: Startup received from ARCH pid 9272 
( 4)      RFS: Notifier 
( 4)      RFS: Attaching to standby instance 
( 1)      RFS: Begin archive log# 2 seq# 387 thrd# 1 
(32)      Propagating archive 5 destination version 0 to version 2 
(32)      Propagating archive 5 state version 0 to version 1 
( 8)      RFS: Creating archive destination file: /stby/parc1_387.log 
(16)      RFS:  Archiving block 1 count 11 
( 1)      RFS: Completed archive log# 2 seq# 387 thrd# 1 
( 8)      RFS: Closing archive destination file: /stby/parc1_387.log 
(16)      RFS: ArchivedLog entry added: /stby/parc1_387.log 
( 1)      RFS: Archivelog seq# 387 thrd# 1 available 04/02/99 09:40:53 
( 4)      RFS: Detaching from standby instance 
( 4)      RFS: Shutdown received from ARCH pid 9272