11g Quick Steps to Package and Send Critical Error Diagnostic Information to Support

11g Quick Steps to Package and Send Critical Error Diagnostic Information to Support
		Modified 19-SEP-2011     Type HOWTO     Status PUBLISHED

In this Document
  Goal
  Solution
  References

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Applies to:

Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition - Version: 11.1.0.6 to 11.2.0.2 - Release: 11.1 to 11.2
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

Starting with Oracle 11g, Alert.log and trace file are generated in a new format and are located in Automatic Diagnostic Repository ( ADR ).
Refer to the Document 422893.1 to know ADR in detail.
This article explains how to find and send the alert.log and relevant trace files to support when a critical error occur in database, using ADRCI tool.

Solution

Oracle 11g provides tools and methods to automatically identify and gather trace files related to a problem (a critical error in database) or an incident (An occurrence of a problem). This facility is known as Incident Packaging Services (IPS). Support Workbench (GUI) and ADRCI (Command Line) are the two interfaces to Incident Packaging Services.
Every occurrence of a critical error (problem) in the database creates an incident.
Steps in identifying and sending files to support.
1. You are notified of a critical error reported in the database

SQL> select * from atab;
select * from atab
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01578: ORACLE data block corrupted (file # 6, block # 11)
ORA-01110: data file 6: '/opt/oracle/oradata/db11g/tt.dbf' 

2. Check for the error reported in the Alert.log and in the ADR .
To check for the error reported in ADR :
Invoke adrci :
with 11g Environment set , from the OS prompt

%]adrci

Set the home path :

adrci>show home
--show home will list all the ADR HOMES. set the database ADR home.
adrci>set homepath database home 

Check for the problem reported

adrci> show problem

ADR Home = /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/db11g/db11g:
*************************************************************************
PROBLEM_ID PROBLEM_KEY LAST_INCIDENT LASTINC_TIME
-------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------
1 ORA 1578 18104 2009-06-01 22:06:19.501207 +10:00
1 rows fetched 

You can have multiple problems reported . Create a package for the one which needs to be investigated .

3. Check for the incidents reported for the problem which needs to be packaged
Each occurance of the problem is called 'incident'. Alert.log will show all the incidents reported .  Each incident will be associated with a unique incident id .
From ADR, execute 'show incident' command  for the required problem key. You can get the problem key from 'show problem' command output :

adrci> show incident -p "problem_key='ORA 1578'"

ADR Home = /opt/oracle/diag/rdbms/db11g/db11g:
*************************************************************************
INCIDENT_ID PROBLEM_KEY CREATE_TIME
-------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
18147 ORA 1578 2009-06-01 22:02:08.805002 +10:00 

You can see multiple incidents reported for the same problem.
Note the incident number for which you need to create a package.

4. Package the trace files invoking IPS .
Generate the package using 'IPS pack' command in the specified path . Example below shows the package for the incident created in /tmp.

adrci> ips pack incident 18147 in /tmp
Generated package 9 in file /tmp/ORA1578_20090602113045_COM_1.zip, mode complete 

Examples of IPS PACK :

ips pack problem 100 in /tmp
--Generates the package for the problem id 100 in /tmp


ips pack incident 6439 in /tmp
--Generates the package for the incident id 6439 in /tmp


ips pack problemkey "ORA 1578"
--Generates the package for the problem with the problem_key 'ORA 1578'


ips pack seconds 8
--Generates the package with the incidents occured in last 8 seconds.

ips pack time '2007-05-01 10:00:00.00' to '2007-05-01 23:00:00.00'
--Generates the package with the incidents occured between the times '2007-05-01 10:00:00.00' and '2007-05-01 23:00:00.00'