Trace File -- Urgent

Question

Hi all,
I am working oracle 9i in NT, my control file size is 5mb, i want to take a backup of my controlfile so i typed this command.
ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO 'E:\ORACLE|CONTROL.CTL';
its working, but i check the path E:\oracle\control.ctl, its a binary file and it have same 5mb size, so i want to backup the control file in user readable format, so i typed this command
ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO TRACE
after that oracle say database alted, but the trace file is not in my user_dump_dest floder, i set the pfile user_dump_dest='E:\oracle\udump'
But also i cant get the trace file,
Anyone kindly tell me, how can i get the user readable backup controlfile in my UDUMP,
if any parameter set in pfile? kindly teel me its urgent
cheers
S.Senthil Kumar

Answer 1

Hi,
by default controlfile trace file should be generated in user_dump_dest:
select c.value || '/' || lower(d.instance) || '_ora_' || ltrim(to_char(a.spid,'fm99999')) || '.trc'
from v$process a, v$session b, v$parameter c, v$thread d
where a.addr = b.paddr
and b.sid = (select sid from v$mystat where rownum=1)
and c.name = 'user_dump_dest';
if it doesn't work for any reason you can use:
alter database backup controlfile to trace as '/path/trace_file_name';
-- Tomek