ORA-19602: cannot backup or copy active file in NOARCHIVELOG mode

Problem:
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You attempted to use RMAN to back up your database and received this error message:

RMAN-03009: failure of backup command on ORA_DISK_1 channel
ORA-19602: cannot backup or copy active file in NOARCHIVELOG mode

This message indicates that before you can create an RMAN online backup, you need to place your database into archivelog mode.

Solution:
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To place your database in archivelog mode, perform the following steps:

1. Connect as sysdba.
2. Shut down your database.
3. Start up in mount mode.
4. Alter the database into archivelog mode.
5. Open your database for use.

If you want to disable archivelog mode, then you would execute all the previous steps, with one change; in step 4, you will need to use the noarchivelog parameter (instead of archivelog mode).

Enabling Archivelog Mode:
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You first need to connect to your database with a schema that has sysdba privileges (usually the sys schema). The following example connects as sys and then issues the commands to enable archivelog mode:

SQL> connect sys/pradeep as sysdba
SQL> shutdown immediate;
SQL> startup mount;
SQL> alter database archivelog;
SQL> alter database open;


Disabling Archivelog Mode:
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If for some reason you want to disable archiving, issue these commands:

SQL> connect sys/pradeep as sysdba
SQL> shutdown immediate;
SQL> startup mount;
SQL> alter database noarchivelog;
SQL> alter database open;

Displaying Archive Information:
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After you have changed the archivelog mode of your database, you might want to verify that the mode has been set properly. To display the status of archiving, you can query V$DATABASE as follows:

SQL> select log_mode from v$database;
LOG_MODE
--------------------
ARCHIVELOG

The SQL*Plus archive log list command displays a useful summary of the archiving
configuration of your database. As shown in the following output, it includes information such
as the archivelog mode, automatic archiving, archive destination, and log sequence numbers.

SQL> archive log list;
Database log mode Archive Mode
Automatic archival Enabled
Archive destination  +FRA
Oldest online log sequence 87950
Next log sequence to archive 87952
Current log sequence 87952

Enabling archivelog mode is a prerequisite for online backups. The previous commands give you a quick way to verify the archivelog mode status of your database.