MRP process stuck at old sequence even after restoring incremental backup from primary database.

The below article applies to oracle database 11gR2 release and further releases.

Issue:
MRP process on physical standby stuck at old sequence of archive log even after recovering the standby database using the incremental backup from the primary database.


Diagnosis:
The incarnation of database at the standby database was different (or say newer) from the primary database. Please see the below logs:


Standby database:
RMAN> list incarnation;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

List of Database Incarnations
DB Key  Inc Key DB Name  DB ID            STATUS  Reset SCN  Reset Time
------- ------- -------- ---------------- --- ---------- ----------
1       1       MWQ      2446434119       ORPHAN  9515432557014 07-AUG-17
2       2       MWQ      2446434119       ORPHAN  9515432560577 07-AUG-17
3       3       MWQ      2446434119       CURRENT 9515667276518 22-AUG-17

RMAN>


Primary database:
RMAN> list incarnation;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

List of Database Incarnations
DB Key  Inc Key DB Name  DB ID            STATUS  Reset SCN  Reset Time
------- ------- -------- ---------------- --- ---------- ----------
1       1       MWQ      2446434119       PARENT  9515432557014 07-AUG-17
2       2       MWQ      2446434119       CURRENT 9515432560577 07-AUG-17

RMAN> 


Resolution:

Before executing 'recover database noredo' to recover the incremental backup data on standby database, reset the incarnation of standby database as that of current incarnation value of primary database using below rman command:

RMAN> reset database to incarnation 2;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
database reset to incarnation 2
RMAN>