log file switch completion

Whatever changes you make in the database, the changes are recorded in the online redo log files. These are important files for recovery in the event of a crash. There must be atleast two redo log groups in the database. The online redo log files are used in a circular fashion, i.e., when the current redo log file is full the changes are recorded in the next available online redo log file. When the last redo log file is full the changes are then recorded in the first redo log file overwriting the already available redo changes. If you have enabled the archiving then the online redo log file must have been archived before it is overwritten.


A log switch occurs when the current online redo log file is full. It enables the LGWr process to close the current redo log file and open the next available redo log file and start writing the changes in that file. A checkpoint occurs during the log switch which enables the DBWr to write the dirty buffers to be flushed to the data files.

When the redo log file size is small then the log file gets filled frequently causing log switches to occur more frequently. When a user session waits for log file switch completion wait event, it means the LGWr has not completed its work.

Tuning Option

Increase the size of the online redo log file. Check out the v$log_history view to see how often the log switch has taken place. Size your log files so that the log switch occurs every 30 minutes. For eg., if your current log file size is 50MB and log switch occurs every 5 minutes then increase the file size to 300MB.

Thanks