Is it safe to move/recreate alertlog while the database is up and running

 Is it safe to move/recreate alertlog while the database is up and running??


It is totally safe to "mv" or rename it while we are running. Since chopping part of it out would be lengthly process, there is a good chance we would write to it while you are editing it so I would not advise trying to "chop" part off -- just mv the whole thing and we'll start anew in another file.

If you want to keep the last N lines "online", after you mv the file, tail the last 100 lines to "alert_also.log" or something before you archive off the rest.


[oracle@Linux03 trace]$ ls -ll alert_*
-rw-r-----. 1 oracle oracle    488012 Nov 14 10:23 alert_orcl.log

I will rename the existing alertlog file to something
 
[oracle@Linux03 trace]$ mv alert_orcl.log alert_orcl_Pre_14Nov2016.log

[oracle@Linux03 trace]$ ls -ll alert_*
-rw-r-----. 1 oracle oracle 488012 Nov 14 15:42 alert_orcl_Pre_14Nov2016.log
[oracle@Linux03 trace]$ ls -ll alert_*

Now let's create some activity that will need to update the alertlog.

[oracle@Linux03 bin]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Mon Nov 14 16:23:02 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2014, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL> alter system switch logfile;

System altered.

SQL> /

lets see if the new alertlog file has been created.

[oracle@Linux03 trace]$ ls -ll alert_*
-rw-r-----. 1 oracle oracle    249 Nov 14 16:23 alert_orcl.log
-rw-r-----. 1 oracle oracle 488012 Nov 14 15:42 alert_orcl_Pre_14Nov2016.log