Oracle Database 10g -- ORA-27059: could not reduce file size

Problem

You get an error on the alert log similar to below:

Mon Jan 19 00:14:58 2015
Errors in file /opt/oracle/admin/DB1/udump/DB1_ora_25979.trc:
ORA-00202: control file: '/redologsa/oracle/oradata/DB1/controlfile/control01.ctl'
ORA-27059: could not reduce file size
SVR4 Error: 28: No space left on device
Additional information: 2
Mon Jan 19 00:14:58 2015
Control file expanded from 1742 blocks to 1934 blocks denied by OS
kccwnc: following controlfile record written over:
 RECID #14559 Recno 1443 Record timestamp
 10/15/14 06:02:31
 piece #1
  copy #1
 pool 0
  Backup set key: stamp=860997750, count=20630
  V$RMAN_STATUS: recid=18446744071562029400, stamp=18446744071562029392
  Flags: <deleted> <concurrent access> <compressed>
  Device: DISK
  Handle:
  Media-Handle:
  Comment:
  Tag: TAG20141015T060229
  Completion time
 10/15/14 06:02:34

You check free space on drives and confirm the lack of free space

-bash-3.2$ df -h /redologsa
Filesystem             size   used  avail capacity  Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c2t0d4s0      2.0G   1.9G     0K   100%    /redologsa

Solution

Check the control_file_record_keep_time parameter:

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     100    

The parameter was set to high. Reduce the value to make some room in the controlfile for new records