Switch Logfile & Archivelog Current

Alter system switch logfile

It is asynchronous. This command is fast to return to the invoking program because the writing of the redo log to the OS filesystem is done in the background.  Some scripts will place a “sleep 60” command in their backup script to allow time for the redo to complete writing, but this is not a best practice. There is a very small risk in cases where the ARCH process cannot complete writing the redo log, such as cases where the OS archivelog file directory is out of space. It is also risky because the calling script may move on to a subsequent step, assuming that the redo has been written.

Note:

This statement execute if database  Archivelog &  NO Archivelog mode, Just switch logfile from one Group to other Group

Alter system archivelog current

It is synchronous. This is fast because this command waits until the online redo log has completed the writing of the redo log file to the filesystem. This command is safer because it waits for the OS to acknowledge (ACK) that the redo log has been successfully written. Hence, “alter system archivelog current” is the best practice for production backup scripts with RMAN.

Note:

This statement execute if  database in Archivelog mode. It will work in RAC database