Backup problem of Oracle XE

Question

Hi,
Greetings.
OS: windows XP
DB: Oracle 10g xe
I wanted to backup the xe database.
Firstly, I chose the simplest way according to the 2day DBA, clicking the "*backup database*" menu item.
But I only got a popup dialog, showing messages like "*The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.*"
I failed to solve this problem and the program terminated always.
So, if someone has any idea about this, please help me. I really want to use this simplest way.
Then, I had to use the backup.bat script in D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\BIN from a cmd.exe window.
This time, I got error message below.
As I am a newbie of Oracle Db, I am really confused by the errors.
Could someone help me solve this?
++sql statement: create pfile=''D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\DATABASE\SPFILE2INIT.ORA'' from spfile++
++RMAN-00571: ===========================================================++
++RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============++
++RMAN-00571: ===========================================================++
++RMAN-03009: failure of sql command on default channel at 11/24/2010 16:36:12++
++RMAN-11003: failure during parse/execution of SQL statement: create pfile='D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\'++
++DATABASE\SPFILE2INIT.ORA' from spfile++
++ORA-27041: unable to open file++
++OSD-04002: unable to open file++
++O/S-Error: (OS 2) The system cannot find the file specified.++
FYI, the whole output of running the backup.bat script is below,
D:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\BIN>Backup.bat
Warning: Log archiving (ARCHIVELOG mode) is currently disabled. If
you restore the database from this backup, any transactions that take
place between this backup and the next backup will be lost. It is
recommended that you enable ARCHIVELOG mode before proceeding so
that all transactions can be recovered upon restore. See the section
+'Enabling ARCHIVELOG Mode...' in the online help for instructions.+
Backup with log archiving disabled will shut down and restart the
+database. Are you sure [Y/N]? y+
Backup in progress...
Recovery Manager: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Wed Nov 24 16:35:37 2010
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
connected to target database: XE (DBID=2604187256, not open)
RMAN> set echo on;
+2> shutdown immediate;+
+3> startup mount;+
+4> configure controlfile autobackup format for device type disk clear;+
+5> configure retention policy to redundancy 2;+
+6> configure controlfile autobackup on;+
+7> sql "create pfile=''D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\DATABASE\SPFILE2INIT.ORA'' from spfile";+
+8> backup as backupset device type disk database;+
+9> configure controlfile autobackup off;+
+10> alter database open;+
+11> delete noprompt obsolete;+
+12>+
echo set on
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
database dismounted
Oracle instance shut down
connected to target database (not started)
Oracle instance started
database mounted
Total System Global Area     805306368 bytes
Fixed Size                     1289996 bytes
Variable Size                209715444 bytes
Database Buffers             591396864 bytes
Redo Buffers                   2904064 bytes
RMAN configuration parameters are successfully reset to default value
old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
sql statement: create pfile=''D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\DATABASE\SPFILE2INIT.ORA'' from spfile
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03009: failure of sql command on default channel at 11/24/2010 16:36:12
RMAN-11003: failure during parse/execution of SQL statement: create pfile='D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\
DATABASE\SPFILE2INIT.ORA' from spfile
ORA-27041: unable to open file
OSD-04002: unable to open file
O/S-Error: (OS 2) The system cannot find the file specified.
Recovery Manager complete.
+==================== ERROR =============================+
Backup of the database failed.
RMAN Error - See log for details .
Log file is at D:\ORACLEXE\APP\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\SERVER\DATABASE\OXE_BACKUP_CURRENT.LOG.
+==================== ERROR =============================+
Press any key to continue . . .
Edited by: 815223 on Nov 24, 2010 9:37 PM

Answer 1

I am really confused by the errorsYes that is understandable, for first timers in oracle the environment can be intimidating, its not easy interpreting the errors and knowing what the system is trying to tell you.
The rman backup utility pretty much works "out of the box" with defaults for most everything. And the XE installs a database, its "out of the box" defaults are noarchivelog mode, and changing that is easy (well, after its done it seems that way ;) )
First off, looks like the database wasn't running when the backup started, note the "connected to target database: XE (DBID=2604187256, *not open*)". Check the services applet and see if the database service is running- a shortcut to get there is Start/Run and type in services.msc.
Installer adds about 5 service entries, the database service is called OracleServiceXE, if its not showing a "Running" left click it to highlight the entry, and click the Start Service button.
Now try the SQL statement that the backup.bat is trying to run, its just making a pfile backup of the server parameter file- in a command box (Start/Run type in cmd) run sqlplus and connect sysdba, try a variation on pfile backup (i.e. if you have a d:\temp folder, or adjust as appropriate):
$ sqlplus /nolog
SQL>connect /as sysdba;
... Connected ...
SQL> create pfile='d:\temp\initXE_bkup.ora' from spfile;
...That will give you a backup parameter file, so if something happens to the server parameter file (i.e a parameter is set incorrectly in the spfile) you should be able to get past a startup problem via startup specifying that pfile:
SQL>connect /as sysdba;
... Connected ...
SQL> shutdown immediate;
... database unmounted ... database closed ...
SQL> startup pfile='d:\temp\initXE_bkup.ora';
... database open ...
SQL> shutdown immediate;
SQL> startup;
... database open ...The startup by itself will use the instance spfile. Or a startup mount; is the first part of changing to archivelog mode. However, comma, if a location for the archivelog files isn't set the database uses the flash recovery area, its good practice to create a folder for archivelog files and set the logfile destination and a format for the logfile names.
And the 2 day DBA doc, backup and recovery chapter, is a good place to get more info on managing backups http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B25329_01/doc/admin.102/b25107/backrest.htm#i1004902