Oracle 10g cannot start after cloning server with dd

Question

I used dd to clone a x4100 server with Linux Red Hat. The hardware is identical for old and new servers. Then I changed IP address and host name. The newly restored server is up and running but Oracle gives following errors and cannot start.

Database start:

(...)

Opening oracle.

ALTER DATABASE OPEN
*
ERROR at line 1:

ORA-01113: file 1 needs media recovery    
ORA-01110: data file 1: '/../../system01.dbf'

Trying to log into SQL*Plus....

ORA-01033: ORACLE initialization or shutdown in progress

If I run recover datafile '/../../system01.dbf'; I get

ORA-00283: recovery session canceled due to errors    
ORA-00322: log 3 of thread 1 is not current copy    
ORA-00312: online log 3 thread 1: /../../_REDO3A.log

How can I fix the problem? What is the wrong thing in restoring the Oracle with dd?

Answer 1

dd is a low level unix copying tool. This is not a good way to clone a database, because there are too many places where host and instance information is stored. You say you changed "IP address and host name" but where? how?

The recommended approach would be to use RMAN. The process is defined in the documentation. Find out more.