Oracle Database 12.2 -- RMAN-06820 When Taking Backups at a Standby Database

Problem

While taking archivelog backups at a standby database, an error reported:

RMAN-06820: warning: failed to archive current log at primary database
cannot connect to remote database

Though the backup succeeds

RMAN is executed as:

rman target /

Solution

As of version 11.2.0.4, archived log backups initiated at the standby database, will force archiving of the current log at the primary database.

Since rman was started with "/" (slash), rman was supplied only with a username ("sys"), and with no password. For the standby to be able to archive the current log at the primary, the standby must connect with a username and password

Use either:

rman target sys/password@standby

Or, a safer approach using a password wallet:

rman target /@standby

For setting up a wallet see:

• Oracle Database -- How to Create and Use a Secure External Password Store (Password Wallet)