Viewing the Alert Log

Beginning with Oracle Database 11g, the alert log is written as both an XML-formatted file and as a text file. You can view either format of the file with any text editor, or you can run an ADRCI command to view the XML-formatted alert log with the XML tags omitted. By default, ADRCI displays the alert log in your default editor. You can use the SET EDITOR command to change your default editor.

To view the alert log with ADRCI:

  1. Start ADRCI in interactive mode.

    See "Starting ADRCI and Getting Help" for instructions.

  2. (Optional) Use the SET HOMEPATH command to select (make current) a single ADR home.

    You can use the SHOW HOMES command first to see a list of current ADR homes. See "Homepath" and "Setting the ADRCI Homepath Before Using ADRCI Commands" for more information.

  3. At the ADRCI prompt, enter the following command: 
    SHOW ALERT

    If more than one ADR home is current, you are prompted to select a single ADR home from a list. The alert log is displayed, with XML tags omitted, in your default editor.

  4. Exit the editor to return to the ADRCI command prompt.

The following are variations on the SHOW ALERT command:

SHOW ALERT -TAIL

This displays the last portion of the alert log (the last 10 entries) in your terminal session.

SHOW ALERT -TAIL 50

This displays the last 50 entries in the alert log in your terminal session.

SHOW ALERT -TAIL -F



This displays the last 10 entries in the alert log, and then waits for more messages to arrive in the alert log. As each message arrives, it is appended to the display. This command enables you to perform live monitoring of the alert log. Press CTRL+C to stop waiting and return to the ADRCI prompt.


SPOOL /home/steve/MYALERT.LOG
SHOW ALERT -TERM
SPOOL OFF



This outputs the alert log, without XML tags, to the file /home/steve/MYALERT.LOG.


SHOW ALERT -P "MESSAGE_TEXT LIKE '%ORA-600%'"



This displays only alert log messages that contain the string 'ORA-600'. The output looks something like this:


ADR Home = /u01/app/oracle/product/11.1.0/db_1/log/diag/rdbms/orclbi/orclbi:
******************************************************************************
01-SEP-06 09.17.44.849000000 PM -07:00
AlertMsg1: ORA-600 dbgris01, addr=0xa9876541





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