The Geek Diary

HowTos | Basics | Concepts

How to start up the ASM instance when the spfile is misconstrued or lost

By

The Problem

CRS and the ASM instance can not start up because the spfile is misconstrued or lost.

– Starting ASM instance fails with error:

SQL> startup;
ORA-00099: warning: no parameter file specified for ASM instance
ORA-00304: requested INSTANCE_NUMBER is busy

– Starting up the CRS services fails with error

# crsctl start crs
CRS-4640: Oracle High Availability Services is already active
CRS-4000: Command Start failed, or completed with errors

– Checked the GPnP profile and found that it referred to an spfile which did not exist in the ASM (or shared storage). For example:

$ cat /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/gpnp/gps-rac2/profiles/peer/profile.xml

The Solution

In our case the spfile indicated in the GPnP profile was not found in the ASM diskgroup.

# cat /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/gpnp/gps-rac2/profiles/peer/profile.xml

– In general to be able to start up the CRS properly. There should be a proper pfile or spfile to let the ASM instance startup and/or the gpnp profile should indicate to a proper spfile.

1. Create a new ASM pfile.

# cat ora_+ASM1.ora
+ASM1.asm_diskgroups='DATA','FRA'#Manual Mount
+ASM2.asm_diskgroups='DATA','FRA'#Manual Mount
*.asm_diskstring='/dev/rdsk/emcpower*'
*.asm_power_limit=1
*.diagnostic_dest='/mnt/crs/oracle'
*.instance_type='asm'
*.large_pool_size=12M
*.remote_login_passwordfile='EXCLUSIVE'

2. Start up the ASM instance on the first node:

$ export $ORACLE_SID=[asm instance name]
$ export $ORACLE_HOME=[full path of the asm home]
$ sqlplus / as sysdba

sql> startup pfile=[the full pathname of ora_+ASM1.ora]

The ASM instance shall start up properly

3. Check if the ASM diskgroups are mounted properly or not.

sql> select name,state from v$asm_diskgroup;

4. Create the spfile:

sql> create spfile='+DATA/../spfileasm.ora' from pfile='[the full path name of ora_+ASM1.ora]

5. In the GPnP profile we shall find that the spfile information set properly there.

# cat /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/gpnp/gps-rac2/profiles/peer/profile.xml

6. We need to stop and startup the CRS to make sure that the ASM and the CRS stack startup automatically without any issues.

You May Also Like