Oracle Alert and Trace files

Here is the reference where you can find oracle alert and trace files information. This two files is a good starting point for troubleshooting:

Alert file
The alert.log file contains a record of all significant database events and messages, including:

• all instance startups and shutdowns
• messages to the operator console
• errors that cause trace files to be written.
• CREATE, ALTER and DROP operations on a database, tablespace or rollback segment.

The alert.log file is continuously appended to, so it will grow large fast. You should consider backing it up to tape and routinely deleting it. It is a normal text file, and it may be deleted even when the database is up and running.

The path for SAP is /oracle/saptrace/background

Trace File
The Oracle background processes (LGWR, DBWR, PMON, SMON etc) create special debugging files called 'trace files' when Oracle encounters an exception condition. A trace file contains:

• a call stack trace.
• dumps of SGA, PGA, and supervisor stacks.

The default path is in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/log

You may change the location of these files by setting the following parameter in the init.ora: BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST. To find out what BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST is set to, do the following:

% sqldba mode=line;
SQLDBA> connect internal;
SQLDBA> show parameter user_dump_dest;

or check in the init.ora