Oracle Database Discussions

We are attempting to migrate from an older windows platform to a Windows 2008 platform. The old configuration had two disk drives, and Oracle Express was installed on E: - the new server, being virtual has been configured with only the C: drive.

I've been reading up on RMAN, and have confirmed that the daily backup process on the old server does create an RMAN backup.

I've installed (and several repeat uninstall/installs) a copy of Oracle Express 10g in the default location, accepting all defaults except for my password (which is irrelevant under RMAN).

I've duplicated the directories, I've figured out how to restart the database so I don't have to reinstall, but I am unable to restore the application database. I'm not eager to use other utilities than RMAN, since learning RMAN has already taken up more time than is budgeted for this task.

I receive varying error messages, depending on the techniques I try to use. Usually I receive this closing message:

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of startup command at 12/14/2010 13:39:24
RMAN-04014: startup failed: ORA-02778: Name given for the log directory is invalid

The other message I receive is the following or a variation on the theme:
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss
RMAN-06564: must use the TO clause when the instance is started with SPFILE

The second message is a direct response to the following:
rman target /

startup force nomount;

run
{set controlfile autobackup format for device type disk to 'c:\backup\oracle\XE_%F';
# use 'c:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\database\SPF2FILE_%F'
RESTORE SPFILE FROM AUTOBACKUP;
}

I have no clue how to specify correctly that the SP2FILE.ORA file is the backup of the control file (can provide the script to create the backup if you think it will help, which runs a series of logs to capture settings and then executes the backup.) The backup process was inherited and I cannot explain why the default RMAN process is not being used to create the backup. However, I've been unable to use the default RMAN output to restore on a different server, as well.

Please help - this task is now very late, and I'm not even sure whether I'm asking the correct questions to solve the problem(s) I'm experiencing.