How to purge GI files from ADR HOME in 12.1.0.2 and above (Doc ID 1969131.1)

Last updated on JUNE 25, 2023

Applies to:

Goal

The trace files in GI home is using up a large amount of disk space in ADR HOME, so some of those files are in need to be purged/deleted without affecting ADR rule.

Starting with the 12.1.0.2 release, Oracle Grid Infrastructure began using the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR) to manage its alert log, diagnostic (trace) files, and related data.  All such data is now collected under an "ADR Home" directory, which for a GI installation on a given node has the form:
  <ORACLE_BASE>/diag/crs/<hostname>/crs
where
  <ORACLE_BASE> is the base file system location specified at install time.
  <hostname> is the unqualified IP hostname of the node.
(On Windows systems, backslashes are used rather than forward slashes.)

Unlike the Oracle database, GI does not have a background process that  purges old ADR data automatically.  All GI daemons use a trace file rotation scheme that limits each daemon to a fixed total amount of trace data, but command line programs (such as crsctl) do not.  Each execution of a command line program may, depending on the command and the result, produce a distinct trace file whose name includes the executable name and, for uniqueness, a numeric Operating System "process ID".  Over time, depending on command use and the amount of activity in the system, a large number of trace files (.trc) and their companion ADR metadata files (.trm) can accumulate in GI's ADR home.

If the file system that holds the ADR home becomes completely full, there is an exposure to various issues.  At minimum, new diagnostic and alert log data may fail to be preserved.  If other components are using the same file system, their functions may be impacted.  Therefore, GI's ADR diagnostic data that is older than a certain amount can and should be removed from time
to time to free up disk space in the file system.

Solution

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