Table of Contents

About

Trace File are trace (or dump) file that Oracle Database creates to help you diagnose and resolve operating problems.

Each server and background process writes to a trace file. When a process detects an internal error, it writes information about the error to its trace file.

Linux File Format

The file name format of a trace file is sid_processname_unixpid.trc, where:

  • sid is the instance system identifier
  • processname is a three or four-character abbreviated process name identifying the Oracle Database process that generated the file (for example: pmon, dbwr, ora, or reco)
  • unixpid is the operating system process ID number

The following is a sample trace file name: 

$ORACLE_BASE/diag/rdbms/mydb/mydb/trace/test_lgwr_1237.trc

where ORACLE_BASE is the Oracle Base Directory

How to

Format it

SQL Developer

To see a formatted display of a SQL Trace file, drag the *.trc file onto the area above the SQL Worksheet (or open it by clicking File, then Open).

tkprof

Oracle - Tkprof

Configuration

MAX_DUMP_FILE

Set the MAX_DUMP_FILE initialization parameter to at least 5000, to ensure that the trace file is large enough to store error information.

Documentation / Reference