Symantec Backup Exec

What should I do if I get a message that an attempt by Backup Exec to change the state of the Oracle database timed out?

For media server operations, the Oracle database may take some time to change states, such as from open to shut down, from shut down to mount, and so on. A SQLplus script in Backup Exec allows a default time-out of 10 minutes to handle the changing database state. For Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC), a srvctl script is used.

The time-out for database state change is named SqlplusTimeout.

You may need to change the length of the default time-out if the following error message appears:

An attempt by Backup Exec to change the state of the database timed out. For details, refer to the Database Script output section in the job log. Contact your database administrator to change the state of the database.

Try shutting down the database. If you succeed, then the SQLplus time-out is too short. Change the default time-out appropriately, based on how long it took to shut down the database. If you cannot shut down the database, contact your DBA to troubleshoot the database.

If the time-out is too short, then restore jobs and offline backups may fail with a time-out error. If the time-out is too long, and the database does not respond to the state change request, the job takes longer to fail.

See Changing the SqlplusTimeout for Oracle instances on Windows computers.

See Changing the SqlplusTimeout for Oracle instances on Linux computers.

What should I do if a job continues to run on the media server even after it ends on the Oracle RMAN console?

When a backup or restore operation is run on an automatically allocated channel, and if the channel is not released, the job continues to run on the media server even after the operation ends on the RMAN console. The channel is not released if the RMAN console is not exited, or if a new manual channel is not allocated on that console. The job ends on the media server when either the automatic channel is released, or after a time-out period elapses without any activity on that channel, whichever occurs first. If a new backup or restore operation is started within the time-out period on the same automatic channel, a new job is not created. Instead, the existing job performs the operation at the media server.

The channel time-out has a default value of 10 minutes, which is recommended for most purposes. If the time-out is too short, then multiple jobs are created for successive operations on a channel. If the time-out is too long, the job runs for a long time on the media server unnecessarily, after the operation has ended.

See Changing the time-out for an automatic RMAN channel for Oracle instances on Windows computers.

See Changing the time-out for an automatic RMAN channel for Oracle instances on Linux computers.

The error “Unable to attach to a resource…” is displayed when Oracle instance information changes

Whenever Oracle instance information changes, you must update the Remote Agent Utility. If credential information is not updated or is incorrect, the error “Unable to attach to a resource…” may be displayed when you run a backup job. If this message appears, you must bring the server online and configure the information.

What should I do if the error ORA-12546: TNS: Permission denied appears on the Linux computer where Oracle is installed?

If a Backup Exec operation fails on the Linux computer on which the Oracle instances are installed, and the error in the RMAN output section is ORA-12546: TNS: Permission denied, then you must change the machine-level resource credentials in the job. The resource credentials must be an account that is a member of the dba and beoper groups on the Linux computer. Retry the operation.