A thing I did not know about my database….
The alert.log file chronologically records messages and errors about database operations such as startups and shutdowns, internal errors (ora-00600), links to trace files and much more.
This often makes the alert.log-file, the primary file that needs to be consulted in order to identify and solve issues concerning your database.
Unfortunately there’s no default “auto-cleanup” of this file and so the file can grow to an unmanageable size (e.g. impossible to edit using VI) and that makes it hard to search for message within a certain time frame.
By using Enterprise Manager, it is very easy to browse through this alert.log file and to capture/select only those message you’re interested in by filtering on a start and end date.
An example:
STEP 1: Connect to the EM Database Console:
STEP 2: Click the “Alert Log Content” hyperlink (on the Home-tab)
. . .
STEP 3: Fill in search criteria and push “Go”-button
STEP 4: Result
