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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>

 

 

11 Responses to “RMAN “Catalog start with” returns “no files found to be unknown to the database””

  1. Nikolay Ivankin Says:

    What was a permission for *.bkp files?

  2. Kamran Agayev A. Says:

    Owner of all files were oracle:oinstall and permission of the folder and all files were changed by “chmod 777”

  3. Nikolay Ivankin Says:

    “chmod 777” changes permission only for file|directory listed as a parameter.
    Have you used “-R” option to change permissions recursively?

  4. Kamran Agayev A. Says:

    Yes sure, permission of all files were changed

  5. Nikolay Ivankin Says:

    Well, then that’s very weird :-)

    Happy New Year!

  6. Kamran Agayev A. Says:

    Ahan :)
    You too my friend. Thanks for the comments

  7. mrj Says:

    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.

  8. Kamran Agayev A. Says:

    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

  9. Selvakumar Nagulan Says:

    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!

  10. Kamran Agayev A. Says:

    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

  11. Mustafa DOĞANAY Says:

    Thanks Selvakumar. This worked:

    RMAN> catalog start with ‘/orabackup/’;

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