Need to restore and missing dbf file - help please

Question

hi there,
im in a desperate situation so any advice would be welcome.
im running Oracle 9.2.4.6 on aix. 5.2
2 weeks ago i added a dbf file to one of the tablespaces , as a symbolic link. Im almost certain that this dbf file has not been used as there was still lots of space in the tablespace.
ive had 3 disk crash on me - which means i have had to do a full recovey , and then use the archive logs to roll forward.
but i have now discovered that this new dbf has not been backuped up because its a symbolic link.
so i dont think im going to be able to open the database, or roll forward.
(im still restoring the files so not had a chance to try it yet)
the disk crash means i have lost disk files and the system files.
am i able to recover from here if i need to. ie rebuild indexes and system
any other ideas?
thanks if you can help

Answer 1

[oracle@racdb MYLCL]$ ln -s /tmp/ tmp
[oracle@racdb MYLCL]$ ls -ltr
SQL> alter tablespace tools add datafile '/u02/app/oracle/oradata/MYLCL/tmp/tools_tmp.dbf' size 10M;
Tablespace altered.
RMAN> backup incremental level=0 database;
Starting backup at 23-JUL-06
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=137 devtype=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting incremental level 0 datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=/u02/app/oracle/oradata/MYLCL/system01.dbf
input datafile fno=00010 name=/u02/app/oracle/oradata/MYLCL/tmp/tools_tmp.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 23-JUL-06
Finished backup at 23-JUL-06
Symbolic link datafile is backedup, it does not matter how the file is created at the OS level as long as oracle can get to it.
Let me remove the tools_tmp.dbf entirely and try opening the db.
[oracle@racdb MYLCL]$ rm -rf tmp
Database mounted.
ORA-01157: cannot identify/lock data file 10 - see DBWR trace file
ORA-01110: data file 10: '/u02/app/oracle/oradata/MYLCL/tmp/tools_tmp.dbf'
SQL> alter database datafile '/u02/app/oracle/oradata/MYLCL/tmp/tools_tmp.dbf' offline;
Database altered.
If the db was no archivelog mode open with offline drop command.
SQL>ALTER DATABASE OPEN;
Database altered.
Of course this is 10.2.0.2