RMAN Snapshot Controlfile for RAC database in 11gR2


Just thought of quickly updating the change made in RMAN Snapshot Controlfile behavior for RAC database with Oracle 11gR2 and later. Well, if you are wondering why post 11gR2 upgrade the RMAN Snapshot Controlfile backup for your RAC database is failing with 'ORA-00245: control file backup operation failed', here is the reason plus  a workaround to tackle the issue.


According to MOS [ID 1263621.1], it is an expected behavior with 11gR2 or later in contrast to earlier Oracle versions.  Since all instances of the RAC database shares the same snapshot controlfile, you must ensure that the SCF for a RAC database is configured on a shared device plus all instances of the RAC database must have access to the file.


The error in the context is likely to appear if all instances of  RAC database can't access the snapshot controlfile. Therefore, the following RMAN configuration across all instances (on each node) should avoid the situation:


Syntax:


RMAN>  CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO ;




References:
RMAN Snapshot Controlfile Must Reside on Shared Device for RAC database in 11g [ID 1263621.1]