DBUA Fails with ORA-17502 Error

While upgrade four-node Oracle RAC environment from 11.2.0.1 to 11.2.0.3, DBUA started to throw ORA-17502 error while creating a new SPFILE for the upgraded database. Not only did DBUA err out but it also deleted the existing SPFILE.

Below is the screenshot of the error:

In order to complete the upgrade process, we have to manually perform the following:

1. Re-create the SPFILE,
2. Complete Post-installation steps (like executing “utlrp.sql”), and
3. Re-create the Cluster Services

I later found out on MOS that this situation can be avoided by pinning the nodes as shown below:

$GRID_HOME/bin/crsctl pin css -n

To find out whether node(s) is pinned or not:

$GRID_HOME/bin/olsnodes -t –n

So, make sure that you pin the nodes before running DBUA to avoid the above errors.