Oracle file SNCF<SID>.ORA - what is this?

[former_member123562]

Hi Experts

I have recently performed a hardware migration which included a unicode conversion and oracle upgrade.  The oracle upgrade went from 10 to 11.2.0.3.0.  I have noticed a new file in the oracle_home\database folder and I am unable to find out information about it.  It looks like a backup of the control file (which I have the standard 3 copies in other directories already setup).     I would like to know if this files is essential to restore/disaster recovery - so I now need to ensure the control file is in 4 places or can I use this file to restore the other 3 controlfiles in case of the disaster recover scenario but the database will still start without it.

Many Thanks

Liz

[former_member188883 · Accepted solution]

Hi Liz,

It looks to be Snapshot controlfile required for RMAN recovery.

Please check the value for the parameter

RMAN> show snapshot controlfile name;

Path should match with the location of SNCF<SID>.ora file.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Deepak Kori

[former_member182657]

Hi Liz,

When Oracle database control files are backed up by Volume Shadow Copy Service, the backed up files are referred to as Snapshot Control files. For example, a control file by the name of CONTROL01.CTL is backed up under the name SNCFDATABASE_SID.ORA. Let's consider an example where the database SID is ORCL. In this case the snapshot control file will have the name SNCFORCL.ORA.

Thanks,

Gaurav