RMAN-06172: no AUTOBACKUP found or specified handle is not a valid copy or piece

 You are attempting to restore a database to another server.  

So, you have verified that you have controlfile and datafile backups on the source server  :

RMAN> list backup of controlfile;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

List of Backup Sets
===================


BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
51      Full    11.52M     DISK        00:00:01     20-FEB-21
        BP Key: 51   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20210220T114245
        Piece Name: /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_02_20/o1_mf_s_1065008565_j3119p5t_.bkp
  Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 1093419      Ckp time: 20-FEB-21

BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
55      Full    11.52M     DISK        00:00:02     04-MAY-21
        BP Key: 55   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20210504T232054
        Piece Name: /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703254_j92slr2m_.bkp
  Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 1126526      Ckp time: 04-MAY-21

BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
56      Full    11.48M     DISK        00:00:01     04-MAY-21
        BP Key: 56   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20210504T232851
        Piece Name: /home/oracle/controlfile.bak
  Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 1126757      Ckp time: 04-MAY-21

BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
57      Full    11.52M     DISK        00:00:02     04-MAY-21
        BP Key: 57   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20210504T232853
        Piece Name: /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703733_j92t1pow_.bkp
  Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 1126766      Ckp time: 04-MAY-21

RMAN>

You have copied the backups to the target, new, server and attempt to restore :

oracle19c>rman target /

Recovery Manager: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Wed May 5 22:27:26 2021
Version 19.3.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database (not started)

RMAN> startup nomount;

Oracle instance started

Total System Global Area    1207958960 bytes

Fixed Size                     8895920 bytes
Variable Size                318767104 bytes
Database Buffers             872415232 bytes
Redo Buffers                   7880704 bytes

RMAN> restore controlfile from '/home/oracle/controlfile.bak';

Starting restore at 05-MAY-21
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=20 device type=DISK

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at 05/05/2021 22:27:47
RMAN-06172: no AUTOBACKUP found or specified handle is not a valid copy or piece

RMAN>
RMAN> quit


Recovery Manager complete.
oracle19c>ls /home/oracle/controlfile.bak
/home/oracle/controlfile.bak
oracle19c>ls /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_02_20/o1_mf_s_1065008565_j3119p5t_.bkp
/opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_02_20/o1_mf_s_1065008565_j3119p5t_.bkp
oracle19c>ls /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703254_j92slr2m_.bkp
/opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703254_j92slr2m_.bkp
oracle19c>ls /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703733_j92t1pow_.bkp
/opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703733_j92t1pow_.bkp
oracle19c>

So, why do you get the RMAN-06172 error ?  All the controlfile backups, including the manual backup to /home/oracle/controlfile.bak and the three autobackups, one from February 2021 and two from 04-May-2021 are available.

oracle19c>oerr rman 6172
6172, 1, "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
//          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 control file copy. In may be that it does not
//          exist.
// *Action: Modify AUTOBACKUP search criteria or verify the handle.
oracle19c>
oracle19c>ls -l /home/oracle/controlfile.bak
-rw-r-----. 1 root root 12058624 May  4 23:28 /home/oracle/controlfile.bak
oracle19c>ls -l /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_02_20/o1_mf_s_1065008565_j3119p5t_.bkp
-rw-r-----. 1 root root 12091392 Feb 20 11:42 /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_02_20/o1_mf_s_1065008565_j3119p5t_.bkp
oracle19c>ls -l /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703254_j92slr2m_.bkp
-rw-r-----. 1 root root 12091392 May  4 23:20 /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703254_j92slr2m_.bkp
oracle19c>ls -l /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703733_j92t1pow_.bkp
-rw-r-----. 1 root root 12091392 May  4 23:28 /opt/oracle/FRA/HEMANT/autobackup/2021_05_04/o1_mf_s_1071703733_j92t1pow_.bkp
oracle19c>

You get the "error" message that there are no AUTOBACKUPs because the "oracle19c" account is unable to actually *read* those pieces.  It can list them using "ls" because it has permission to read the OS folders containing them, but it does no have permission to read the files owned by root without having granted read permission.

So, before you start wondering about your AUTOBACKUP configuration or search criteria specification like "RESTORE CONTROLFILE FROM AUTOBACKUP MAXDAYS 30",  check if the backup pieces are readable.

My Posts on RMAN

 My series of posts on RMAN :

1. 1 : Backup Job Details

2. 2 : ArchiveLog Deletion Policy

3. 3 : The DB_UNIQUE_NAME in Backups to the FRA

4. 4 : Recovering from an Incomplete Restore

5. 4b : Recovering from an Incomplete Restore with OMF Files

6. 5 : Useful KEYWORDs and SubClauses

7. 5b : (More) Useful KEYWORDs and SubClauses

8. 5c : (Some More) Useful KEYWORDs and SubClauses

9. 6 : RETENTION POLICY and CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME

10. 7 : Recovery Through RESETLOGS -- how are the ArchiveLogs identified ?

11. 8 : Using a Recovery Catalog Schema

12. 9 : Querying the RMAN Views / Catalog

13. 10 : VALIDATE

An older series of "tips" :

14. Tips -- 1

15. Tips -- 2

16. Tips -- 3

17. Tips -- 4

Other RMAN posts not in the  above series : (not in any particular order)

18. RMAN's CATALOG command

19. RESTORE and RECOVER a NOARCHIVELOG Database, with Incremental Backups

20. RESTORE and RECOVER a NOARCHIVELOG Database, with Incremental Backups -- 2nd Post

21. Primary and Standby in the same RMAN Catalog

22. Understanding Obsolescence of RMAN Backups

23. "SET TIME ON" in RMAN

24. RMAN Backup of a Standby Database

25. RMAN Image Copy File Names

26. Verifying an RMAN Backup

27. Verifying an RMAN Backup - Part 2

28. Misinterpreting RESTORE DATABASE VALIDATE

29. RMAN Backup and Recovery for Loss of ALL Files

30. CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUPs are OBSOLETE[d]

31.RMAN Consistent ("COLD" ?) Backup and Restore

32. Archive Log Deletion Policy with a Standby Database

33. Datafiles not Restored -- using V$DATAFILE and V$DATAFILE_HEADER

34. Read Only Tablespaces and BACKUP OPTIMIZATION

35. Full Recovery of Standby Database over the network

36. Restoring a lost Datafile on a Standby Database and knowing about V$RECOVER_FILE

37. Multiple Channels in RMAN are not always balanced

38. RMAN-06172: no AUTOBACKUP found or specified handle is not a valid copy or piece

39. Restoring a Standby Database to the Primary

Pro*C in Oracle

 Oracle also ships a Pro*C Precompiler that can convert a Pro*C source file to a C source file which can then be compiled  using a C Compiler (e.g  using "gcc").  Of course, you need the Pro*C Developer Licence to use this product.

Here is a quick demo with the command line display and then the actual code below.

oracle19c>ls -ltr
total 12
-rw-r--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 2255 May  1 18:07 instancedbinfo.pc
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall  786 May  1 18:14 Compile_my_ProC.SH
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall  356 May  1 18:15 Run_my_ProC.SH
oracle19c>./Compile_my_ProC.SH
*****Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH
*****Set C_INCLUDE_PATH
*****PreCompile Pro*C program file

Pro*C/C++: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Sat May 1 18:15:17 2021
Version 19.3.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

System default option values taken from: /opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/precomp/admin/pcscfg.cfg

*****Compile using C Compiler and specifying Oracle Client library file libclntsh.so
*****Compiled files:
-rw-r--r--. 1 oracle oinstall  2255 May  1 18:07 instancedbinfo.pc
-rw-r--r--. 1 oracle oinstall     0 May  1 18:15 instancedbinfo.lis
-rw-r--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 11875 May  1 18:15 instancedbinfo.c
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 oracle oinstall 14424 May  1 18:15 instancedbinfo
oracle19c>
oracle19c>
oracle19c>
oracle19c>./Run_my_ProC.SH
*****Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH
*****Set Connection String
*****Execute the program
Connected to ORACLE
At ORCLCDB which is on oracle-19c-vagrant  running 19.0.0.0.0 and is OPEN, started at 01-MAY-21 17:54:52
This is ORCLPDB1 database running in READ WRITE mode since 01-MAY-21 05.55.21.573 PM +08:00

oracle19c>

The file "instancedbinfo.pc" is my Pro*C source code.

I Precompile it using the "proc" precompiler into "instancedbinfo.c".  Any compilation errors would have been logged into "instancedbinfo.lis"

Then, the same script "Compile_my_ProC.SH" compiles the C program source code into an executable "instancedbinfo" using "gcc"

Finally, I use "Run_my_ProC.SH" to execute the file "instancedbinfo"  (which is now an executable) and the execution displays information about the Pluggable database it is connected to.

Here is the code for the two shell scripts :

oracle19c>cat Compile_my_ProC.SH

echo "*****Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/include:/usr/include/linux:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/precom/lib:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH


echo "*****Set C_INCLUDE_PATH"
C_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/include:/usr/include/linux:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/precom/lib:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/lib:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/precomp/public
export C_INCLUDE_PATH

echo "*****PreCompile Pro*C program file"
proc instancedbinfo.pc

echo "*****Compile using C Compiler and specifying Oracle Client library file libclntsh.so"
gcc instancedbinfo.c -o instancedbinfo  -L /opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/lib -l clntsh

echo "*****Compiled files:"
ls -ltr instancedbinfo*
oracle19c>


oracle19c>cat Run_my_ProC.SH

echo "*****Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/include:/usr/include/linux:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/precom/lib:/opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

echo "*****Set Connection String"
CNCTSTRING=hemant/hemant@orclpdb1
export CNCTSTRING

echo "*****Execute the program"
./instancedbinfo
oracle19c>

The Compilation script specifies the LD_LIBRARY_PATH and the Paths to the Include (.h Header) files.  

It then executes "proc"  (which is in $ORACLE_HOME/bin) to precompile the "instancedbinfo.pc" source file.

Finally, it calls "gcc" to compile the c-language source code file (generated by the Precomipler), also specifiying the client shared library file libclntsh.so  in $ORACLE_HOME/lib  (only "-l clntsh" is sufficient to identify the file name).  The compiled executable is called "instancedbinfo" with Execute Permission.

The Run script specifies the Connect-String that the executable will be reading from the environment and executes it.

Here is the code of the source Pro*C file :

oracle19c>cat instancedbinfo.pc

/* standard C includes */
#include << stdio.h >>
#include << stdlib.h >>
#include << string.h >>



/* Oracle Pro*C includes from $ORACLE_HOME/precomp/public */
#include << sqlca.h >>
#include << sqlda.h >>
#include << sqlcpr.h >>




/* my variables */
varchar     MYinstanceName[16];
varchar     MYhostName[64];
varchar     MYversion[17];
varchar     MYstatus[12];
varchar     MYinstanceStartupTime[18];
varchar     MYdbName[128];
varchar     MYdbOpenMode[10];
varchar     MYdbOpenTime[32];



/* function for error handling */
void sql_error(msg)
    char msg[200];
{
    char err_msg[128];
    size_t buf_len, msg_len;

    EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR CONTINUE;

    printf("\n%s\n", msg);
    buf_len = sizeof (err_msg);
    sqlglm(err_msg, &buf_len, &msg_len);
    printf("%.*s\n", msg_len, err_msg);

    EXEC SQL ROLLBACK RELEASE;
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}


/* MAIIN program */
int main(argc,argv)
   int   argc;
   char *argv[];
{

/* read Connection String from environment -- or, it could have been hardcoded here */
   const char *conn = getenv("CNCTSTRING");
      if (!conn) {
        printf("! require CNCTSTRING env variable\n");
        return (1);
      }

    EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR DO sql_error("ORACLE error--\n");

/* connect to targe database */
    EXEC SQL CONNECT :conn ;
    printf("Connected to ORACLE \n");


/* execute query and populate variables */
/* NOTE : This expects to connect to a PDB ! */
/* If the target is a Non-PDB, change references from v$pdbs to V$database */
    EXEC SQL SELECT  instance_name,host_name, version,
                     to_char(startup_time,'DD-MON-RR HH24:MI:SS'), status,
                     name, open_mode, to_char(open_time)
             INTO    :MYinstanceName, :MYhostName, :MYversion,
                     :MYinstanceStartupTime, :MYstatus,
                     :MYdbName, :MYdbOpenMode, :MYdbOpenTime
             FROM    v$instance, v$pdbs ;


/* display query results */
printf("At %s which is on %s  running %s and is %s, started at %s \n",
        MYinstanceName.arr, MYhostName.arr, MYversion.arr, MYstatus.arr, MYinstanceStartupTime.arr);
printf("This is %s database running in %s mode since %s \n",
        MYdbName.arr, MYdbOpenMode.arr, MYdbOpenTime.arr);
printf("\n");

/* end of MAIN */
}
oracle19c>

(Note :  I have put doube angle brackets for the #includes so as to preserve them in HTML)

Pro*C allows embedding of SQL calls into a C program be including the Proc include files and then running the source code through a Precompiler.

My Pro*C source code file is 2,255 bytes and the C source code is 11,875 bytes.

Note that the variables defined as varchar in my Pro*C source file are actually become C structures :

/* my variables */
/* varchar     MYinstanceName[16]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[16]; } MYinstanceName;

/* varchar     MYhostName[64]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[64]; } MYhostName;

/* varchar     MYversion[17]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[17]; } MYversion;

/* varchar     MYstatus[12]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[12]; } MYstatus;

/* varchar     MYinstanceStartupTime[18]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[18]; } MYinstanceStartupTime;

/* varchar     MYdbName[128]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[128]; } MYdbName;

/* varchar     MYdbOpenMode[10]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[10]; } MYdbOpenMode;

/* varchar     MYdbOpenTime[32]; */
struct { unsigned short len; unsigned char arr[32]; } MYdbOpenTime;

Similarly, my EXEC SQL query also gets re-written :

{
    struct sqlexd sqlstm;
    sqlstm.sqlvsn = 13;
    sqlstm.arrsiz = 8;
    sqlstm.sqladtp = &sqladt;
    sqlstm.sqltdsp = &sqltds;
    sqlstm.stmt = "select instance_name ,host_name ,version ,to_char(startup\
_time,'DD-MON-RR HH24:MI:SS') ,status ,name ,open_mode ,to_char(open_time) int\
o :b0,:b1,:b2,:b3,:b4,:b5,:b6,:b7  from v$instance ,v$pdbs ";
    sqlstm.iters = (unsigned int  )1;
    sqlstm.offset = (unsigned int  )51;
    sqlstm.selerr = (unsigned short)1;
    sqlstm.sqlpfmem = (unsigned int  )0;
    sqlstm.cud = sqlcud0;
    sqlstm.sqlest = (unsigned char  *)&sqlca;
    sqlstm.sqlety = (unsigned short)4352;
    sqlstm.occurs = (unsigned int  )0;
    sqlstm.sqhstv[0] = (unsigned char  *)&MYinstanceName;
    sqlstm.sqhstl[0] = (unsigned long )18;
    sqlstm.sqhsts[0] = (         int  )0;
    sqlstm.sqindv[0] = (         short *)0;
    sqlstm.sqinds[0] = (         int  )0;
    sqlstm.sqharm[0] = (unsigned long )0;
    sqlstm.sqadto[0] = (unsigned short )0;
    sqlstm.sqtdso[0] = (unsigned short )0;
    sqlstm.sqhstv[1] = (unsigned char  *)&MYhostName;
and so on .....

Pro*C is a very good way of combining C programming with SQL and creating an executable binary instead of an interpreted file (like a Java or Python program outside the database).