Clone DB from standby DB

Question

Hi,
I want to clone (make a copy) of production DB, by using standby DB. How can I archive it?
I have tried to open standby DB as "read-only" mode. Then make a backup of control file. I shutdown the standby DB, make an image copy of all data files of the standby DB to other machine. When I use the backup of control file (after modifying it to change database name, path of data files etc) to create new control file and open the database, it always asks for applying archived log, which does not exist.
Example:
SQL> RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE;
ORA-00279: change 1099186239 generated at 05/04/2007 09:02:42 needed for thread1
ORA-00289: suggestion : /test/arch/590619969_1_67929.arc
ORA-00280: change 1099186239 for thread 1 is in sequence #67929
Any ideal?

Answer 1

Hi,
You dont need to shutdown the standby to make a copy. You can do the copying while it is in read only. After you finish the copy, make the backup controlfile from production and copy it to the clone database.
recover until a certain time for eg.,
recover database until time '2007-05-04 00:00:00' using backup controlfile;
apply the logs
open the clone database using
alter database open resetlogs;
dont forget to put the standby in recovery.
hth