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Document 833663.1

Flash Recovery Area - FAQ (Doc ID 833663.1)

Modified: Nov 21, 2012

Type: FAQ

In this Document
Purpose
Questions and Answers
What is Flash Recovey Area and How to Configure it ?
How to Disable Flash Recovery Area ?
How to Change Flash Recovery Area location ?
How to take backup of Flash Recovery Area ?
How Flash Recovery Area Space managed ?
How RMAN uses Flash Recovery Area and what kind of files are created by RMAN in the Flash Recovery Area ?
How to configure FRA for RAC ?
How to take RMAN backup to FRA ?
How to catalog old backup pieces to FRA ?
If backup pieces available in FRA location and those are not known to FRA then you can update those backup
information to FRA by

How to update FRA space used list about the manually deleted backup pieces or archive logs from FRA ?

References

APPLIES TO:
Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition - Version 10.2.0.1 to 11.2.0.2.0 [Release 10.2 to 11.2]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
***Checked for relevance on 21-Nov-2012***

PURPOSE
This article covers frequently asked question about Flash Recovery Area.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What is Flash Recovey Area and How to Configure it ?
Note 305648.1 What is a Flash Recovery Area and how to configure it?

How to Disable Flash Recovery Area ?

Set the "db_recovery_file_dest" parameter to none. Then the Flash Recovery Area will be disabled.

Run the below commands from your SQLPLUS

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SQL> show parameter db_recovery

NAME VALUE
-------------------------------- -----------------------------db_recovery_file_dest D:\oracle\product\10.2.0/flash_recovery_area
db_recovery_file_dest_size 4G
SQL> alter system set db_recovery_file_dest=' ' scope=both sid='*';

How to Change Flash Recovery Area location ?

- Note 305651.1 : How to change Flash Recovery Area to a new location ?

How to take backup of Flash Recovery Area ?

Flash Recovery Area need to backup to tertiary storage such as tape. The 'backup recovery area' command only
works with SBT channels.FRA backup to disk won't work.
RMAN>BACKUP RECOVERY AREA;
The RMAN disksbt library, which emulates a SBT library (but writes backups to disk
location), can be used to test backup the FRA to a disk location:
For example :
run {
allocate channel dev1 type sbt parms='SBT_LIBRARY=oracle.disksbt, ENV=(BACKUP_DIR=/backup)';
backup recovery area;
}

How Flash Recovery Area Space managed ?

- Note 829755.1 : Space issue in Flash Recovery Area( FRA )
- Note 305812.1 Flash Recovery area - Space management Warning & Alerts
- Note 315098.1 How is the space pressure managed in the Flash Recovery Area - Example.

How RMAN uses Flash Recovery Area and what kind of files are created by RMAN in the Flash
Recovery Area ?
- Note 305796.1 RMAN and Flash Recovery Area Naming Convention of files in Flash Recovery Area
- << Note 566680.1>> : Format Of Backup Pieces Manged In FRA

How to configure FRA for RAC ?

For RAC database the location and disk quota must be the same on all instances. To accomplish this, Oracle
recommends that you place the flash recovery area on the shared ASM disks. In addition, you must set the
DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST and DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE parameters to the same values on all instances.
To use the Flash Recovery feature, you must first configure the flash recovery area for each instance in your Oracle
RAC cluster.

How to take RMAN backup to FRA ?

By default RMAN backup goes to FRA. So if flash recovery area is set and the database compatibility is more than
10.1.0.0 then RMAN backup will by default go to FRA. Do not specify FRA location in the format clause while taking
RMAN backup. In that case backup will go to FRA but it won't be auto managed.
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How to catalog old backup pieces to FRA ?

If backup pieces available in FRA location and those are not known to FRA then you can
update those backup information to FRA by

RMAN>Catalog recovery area;

How to update FRA space used list about the manually deleted backup pieces or archive logs
from FRA ?

RMAN>crosscheck backup;
RMAN>crosscheck archivelog all;
RMAN>delete expired backup;
RMAN>delete expired archivelog all;

REFERENCES

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