Interesting issue happened today (running 11.2.0.3 DB on Linux) while using “CATALOG START WITH” command in RMAN. Although I was having all backups under /orabackup folder, RMAN didn’t find anything, reporting “no files found to be unknown to the database” message:

RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup’;

searching for all files that match the pattern /orabackup
no files found to be unknown to the database

RMAN>

I changed the permission to “chmod 777” and checked the owner, used different patterns like “/orabackup/*”, “/orabackup/” and  “/orabackup/*.bkp” but failed. Then I decided to create a folder under the /orabackup folder, moved all files in it and tried “CATALOG START WITH” command again, and succeeded.

RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup’;

searching for all files that match the pattern /orabackup
no files found to be unknown to the database

RMAN>

[oracle@db1 ~]$ cd /orabackup/
[oracle@db1 orabackup]$ mkdir test
[oracle@db1 orabackup]$ mv *.bkp test/
RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup/test’;

searching for all files that match the pattern /orabackup/test

List of Files Unknown to the Database
=====================================
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_database_btqqatr2_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_database_bsqqakoq_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_arch_buqqatrp_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_contolfile_bvqqatsc_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_spfile_c0qqatsk_1_1.bkp

Do you really want to catalog the above files (enter YES or NO)? YES
cataloging files…
cataloging done

List of Cataloged Files
=======================
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_database_btqqatr2_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_database_bsqqakoq_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_arch_buqqatrp_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_contolfile_bvqqatsc_1_1.bkp
File Name: /orabackup/test/mydb_spfile_c0qqatsk_1_1.bkp

RMAN>