In Oracle 12.2 an archive log directory is accepted, if top level directory does not exist: oracle@localhost:/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1/dbs/ [DMK] ls -l /u02/oradata/DMK/ total 2267920 drwxr-xr-x. 2 oracle dba 96 Dec 6 05:36 arch ... Now database accepts(…)