Hi all,
So, right after a patching, a client environment started receiving entries on alert log like:
ORA-00700: soft internal error, arguments: [PITL6], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [] ORA-00700: soft internal error, arguments: [kdt_bseg_srch_cbk PITL5], [11], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [] ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [kdt_bseg_srch_cbk PITL1], [2], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []
First a quick word regarding ORA-700: An ORA-700 is a so-called ‘soft’ assert. Soft asserts are triggered when the caller wants to make a note of the fact that something unexpected has happened, but would like to continue on because the failure is not fatal to the process or the instance. This was introduced in 12c and got some of ORA-600 messages (the informative ones), to leave ORA-600 for more critical issues.
Now to the errors: This is a clear match to Bug 28483184 (Bug 28483184 – ORA-600[PITL1] ON UPDATE TO COMPRESSED BLOCK WITH FIX FOR BUG 28364411 INSTALLED), which consists in a known defect in the Oracle code allows continued insertion of non-header block rows past the number of block ITLs in data blocks of OLTP-compressed tables.
More info: MOS Errors Noted in 12.2 and Above During DML on Compressed Tables: ORA-00600 [PITL1] / ORA-00600 [kdt_bseg_srch_cbk PITL1] / ORA-00700 [PITL6] / ORA-00700 [kdt_bseg_srch_cbk PITL5] (Doc ID 2420831.1)
To fix it: Patch on RDBMS for bug 28483184 and reorganize on involved tables. Seems to me that the patch only fixes the incorrect creation of non-header blocks, but doesn’t fix those that already have the problem in place.
My twists: I’d recommend you to increase a little bit the PCTFREE during the table reorganization, also based on Oracle’s recommendation. Recreating the tables with a larger PERCENT FREE will enable more space for ITLs. This is advantageous since the fix changes out a block that has the maximum amount of ITLs for one that has less ITLs.
If arranging a patching window is a big problem, note this patch is online installable. I’d recommend to do it offline using RAC Rolling however, as this seems a more consistent process in general.
So in summary, recommended actions are:
– Apply Patch 28483184 (RAC Rolling, Standby-First and online installable).
– Reorganize table, using methods mentioned by Suresh (ex: Create table as select (CTAS), Alter table move, Data Pump export / import, Online redefinition)
Hope that helps you!
