Problem Description:
Oracle DTC (Direct-to-Cloud) restore operation was failing with error ORACLE_DTC26.
The underlying Oracle errors indicated that the restore could not create the control file in the specified ASM (Automatic Storage Management) directory.
Cause:
Pre-existing parameter file (init<SID>.ora) with the same database name on the target server.
This file contained an incorrect control_files parameter that pointed to a non-existent ASM directory path associated with a different database.
The restore process defaulted to using this incorrect file because a database with the same SID already existed on the target, which triggered the "use existing SPFile" logic.
Traceback / Logs:
The following error messages were observed in the rman.log, confirming the failure to create the control file and the non-existent directory path.
ORA-19504: failed to create file "+REDO/DUMMY_DB_OLD/CONTROLFILE/control01_01.ctl"
ORA-15173: entry 'DUMMY_DB_OLD' does not exist in directory '/'
The application logs(OracleJob.log) showed that the system was intentionally using an existing SPFile:
ts=2025-08-26T16:50:53.384786019Z filename=restore_redirected_command.go:766 message="Source db exists. setting useExistingSpfile true"
ts=2025-08-26T16:50:57.495093314Z filename=restore_redirected_command.go:1307 message="Starting DB with existing SPFile."
ts=2025-08-26T16:51:07.119214677Z filename=restore_redirected_command.go:1320 message="Db started with existing spfile" dbSID=DUMMY_DB
Resolution:
The issue was resolved by directly addressing the incorrect parameter file on the target server.
The incorrect control_files parameter in the existing init<SID>.ora file located in the $ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory was manually corrected to point to the proper ASM path (e.g., +REDO/DUMMY_DB_NEW/CONTROLFILE/control01_01.ctl).
Option 2, move/rename this existing pfile file and select the spfile option from the Druva console,this will first create a temporary pfile and then overwrite by downloading with the selected spfile, allowing the database control files to be created in the correct ASM location, and the restore proceeded successfully.
Note: Make sure to add the ASM storage parameters under Druva console to force restore to ASM.
Recommendation/Reference:
When performing a redirected Oracle restore to a target server where a database instance of the same name has existed previously, it is crucial to check for and either remove or correct any leftover parameter files (pfile or spfile) in the $ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory.
To prevent such issues, explicitly provide a correct, custom parameter file during the restore configuration to ensure all parameters, especially file paths like control_files and db_create_file_dest, are accurate for the target environment.