RMAN “Catalog start with” returns “no files found to be unknown to the database”
Posted by Kamran Agayev A. on January 2nd, 2016
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>
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:10 pm
What was a permission for *.bkp files?
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:14 pm
Owner of all files were oracle:oinstall and permission of the folder and all files were changed by “chmod 777”
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:17 pm
“chmod 777” changes permission only for file|directory listed as a parameter.
Have you used “-R” option to change permissions recursively?
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Yes sure, permission of all files were changed
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:20 pm
Well, then that’s very weird
Happy New Year!
January 2nd, 2016 at 6:20 pm
Ahan
You too my friend. Thanks for the comments
January 3rd, 2016 at 4:18 am
Are you sure you didn’t have those backup in the repository? The message “no files found to be unknown to the database” is quite self-explanatory. RMAN thinks those backups are already cataloged. You didn’t show us the output of the list backup command before you moved the files around, so I can only guess.
January 5th, 2016 at 4:39 am
Hi
Yes I’m sure I don’t have those backups in the repository already, because I tried to delete all what I have and catalog the backups from scratch, but failed again
January 3rd, 2016 at 6:13 am
Hi Kamran,
I had a similar issue long time ago. Try as below, this might work as it worked for me.
RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup/’;
See the forward slash after /orabackup. There is a small difference in /orabackup and /orabackup/. I’ve read somewhere but unable to get the link now.
Thanks!
January 5th, 2016 at 4:38 am
Hi Selvakumar
I tried almost all possible options, but failed when using root folder to catalog. The same problem also happens when you set ORACLE_HOME with / ending
January 4th, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Selvakumar. This worked:
RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup/’;