RMAN-06172 no autobackup found tips

 Question:  A am getting the RMAN-06172 error on a restore spfile command:

RMAN> restore spfile from autobackup;

Starting restore at 12-06-2010
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=47 devtype=DISK

channel ORA_DISK_1: looking for autobackup on day: 20150606
channel ORA_DISK_1: no autobackup in 7 days found

RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at 06/12/2010 05:52:15
RMAN-06172: no autobackup found or specified handle is not a valid copy or piece

Answer:  The docs note this for the ORA-06172 error resolution:

RMAN-06172:  No autobackup found or specified handle is not a valid copy or piece

Cause: A restore could not proceed because no autobackup was found or the specified handle is not a valid copy or backup piece.

In case of restore from autobackup, it may be the case that a backup exists, but it does not satisfy the criteria specified in the user's restore operands.

In case of restore from handle, it may be the handle is not a backup piece or controlfile copy. It may be that it does not exist.

Action: Modify autobackup search criteria or verify the handle.

Your specific problem trying to recover your spfile is the is in the file location pathing. Oracle looks by default in the $ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory and you need to change your RMAN command to point to the real spfile location:

RMAN> restore spfile from autobackup db_recovery_file_dest='/u01/oracle/flash_recovery_area' db_name='mysid';

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