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Oracle ORA-00250 Error: Causes and Solutions Complete Guide

#oracle #database #dba #sql

ORA-00250: Archiver Not Started — Causes, Fixes & Prevention

What Is ORA-00250?

ORA-00250 is an Oracle database error that occurs when an archiving-related operation is attempted but the Archiver (ARCn) background process is not running. This error typically surfaces in databases running in ARCHIVELOG mode, where Oracle relies on the ARCn process to copy filled online redo logs to archive log destinations. If the archiver has stopped or failed to start, Oracle raises ORA-00250 to signal that archiving is unavailable.

Top 3 Causes

1. Archiver Process Crashed Due to Disk Space Exhaustion

The most common cause is the archive log destination running out of disk space. When the ARCn process cannot write archive log files, it terminates, leaving the archiver in a STOPPED state.

-- Check archiver status
SELECT ARCHIVER FROM V$INSTANCE;

-- Check archive destination status and space usage
SELECT DEST_ID, DEST_NAME, STATUS, DESTINATION,
       SPACE_LIMIT, SPACE_USED
FROM V$ARCHIVE_DEST_STATUS
WHERE STATUS != 'INACTIVE';

-- List recent archived logs to check for gaps
SELECT SEQUENCE#, NAME, COMPLETION_TIME
FROM V$ARCHIVED_LOG
ORDER BY COMPLETION_TIME DESC
FETCH FIRST 10 ROWS ONLY;
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2. Archiver Manually Stopped and Not Restarted

DBAs sometimes stop the archiver manually for maintenance using ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG STOP and forget to restart it. Without the archiver running in ARCHIVELOG mode, once all online redo log groups are filled, the entire database will hang.

-- Verify if archiver was manually stopped
ARCHIVE LOG LIST;

-- Check archive processes detail
SELECT PROCESS, STATUS, LOG_SEQUENCE, STATE
FROM V$ARCHIVE_PROCESSES;
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3. Invalid or Inaccessible Archive Destination Configuration

If LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST or LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n points to a non-existent path or a directory with insufficient permissions, the ARCn process will fail immediately on startup. This is a frequent issue after storage reconfigurations or migrations.

-- Check archive destination parameters
SHOW PARAMETER LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST;

-- View current destination configuration
SELECT DEST_ID, DEST_NAME, STATUS, TARGET, DESTINATION
FROM V$ARCHIVE_DEST
WHERE STATUS != 'INACTIVE';
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Quick Fix Solutions

Step 1: Confirm the archiver is stopped

SELECT ARCHIVER FROM V$INSTANCE;
-- Result: STOPPED means archiver is not running
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Step 2: Fix the root cause (free disk space or correct the path), then restart the archiver

-- Restart the archiver
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG START;

-- If archive destination is wrong, fix it first
ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1 = 'LOCATION=/u01/app/oracle/archive'
  SCOPE=BOTH;

ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_1 = ENABLE SCOPE=BOTH;

-- Then restart
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG START;

-- Force archive the current redo log
ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT;

-- Confirm archiver is running again
SELECT ARCHIVER FROM V$INSTANCE;
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Step 3: Check the alert log for the root cause

-- Find alert log location
SELECT VALUE FROM V$DIAG_INFO WHERE NAME = 'Diag Trace';

-- Query recent errors from alert log (Oracle 11g+)
SELECT ORIGINATING_TIMESTAMP, MESSAGE_TEXT
FROM V$DIAG_ALERT_EXT
WHERE MESSAGE_TEXT LIKE '%ORA-%'
  AND ORIGINATING_TIMESTAMP > SYSDATE - 1
ORDER BY ORIGINATING_TIMESTAMP DESC;
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Prevention Tips

1. Monitor Archive Log Space Proactively

Set up automated monitoring to alert the DBA team when archive log destination usage exceeds 70–80%. Use RMAN to regularly back up and delete archived logs to keep space available.

-- Monitoring query for archive space usage
SELECT DEST_NAME,
       DESTINATION,
       ROUND((SPACE_USED / NULLIF(SPACE_LIMIT,0)) * 100, 2) AS USED_PCT
FROM V$ARCHIVE_DEST_STATUS
WHERE STATUS != 'INACTIVE';
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2. Set Up Archiver Health Check Automation

Use Oracle Scheduler or an external monitoring tool (OEM, custom scripts) to periodically check V$INSTANCE.ARCHIVER. If the status returns STOPPED, trigger an automatic restart and immediately notify the on-call DBA. This reduces the risk of ORA-00257 (archiver stuck error that blocks all user connections) cascading from an undetected ORA-00250.

Related Oracle Errors

Error Code Description
ORA-00257 Archiver error — connects restricted until resolved (disk full)
ORA-00255 Error archiving log sequence
ORA-19502 Write error on archive file (disk or permission issue)
ORA-16020 Archive destination limit exceeded

Important: ORA-00250 left unresolved quickly leads to ORA-00257, which blocks all non-SYSDBA connections to the database. Always treat ORA-00250 as a high-priority incident.

📖 Want a more detailed guide?
Check out the full in-depth version (Korean) on oraerror.com — includes detailed analysis, additional SQL examples, and prevention tips.

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