Reading an error you have never seen

An ORA number, a trace file and an alert log entry. How to get from an unfamiliar error to a CAUSE without searching for the number and pasting the first answer. Every Oracle error has a number, and the number is a starting point rather than a diagnosis. The same ORA number covers many causes, so pasting it into a search and applying the first suggestion is how people apply a fix for somebody else's problem to their own system. THE METHOD IS FOUR STEPS AND IT IS THE SAME EVERY TIME. ONE: READ THE WHOLE ERROR, NOT THE FIRST LINE. Oracle errors come in STACKS, and the first line is usually generic while the ones beneath it are specific — naming the object, the file, the operation. The useful information is almost always further down than people read. TWO: GET THE OFFICIAL TEXT FOR THE NUMBER, WHICH IS AVAILABLE…

In this module: Module 3 · The database itself

1. 1Instance and database: two different things
2. 2Starting and stopping, properly
3. 3Tablespaces and datafiles
4. 4Redo: the reason recovery is possible
5. 5Archive log mode, and the day it was off
6. 6Undo, and read consistency
7. 7Parameters, and the ones that matter here
8. 8The data dictionary, as a diagnostic tool
9. 9Reading an error you have never seenFree preview
10. 10What breaks: four database-tier failures
11. 11Lab briefing · Stop it, start it, break it