ORA-29861: domain index is marked LOADING/FAILED/UNUSABLE

Error Message

When performing operations using data manipulation language (DML) against an st_geometry attribute, the following Oracle error is encountered: ORA-29861.

Code:
SQL> DELETE FROM flight_path;
DELETE FROM flight_path
            *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-29861: domain index is marked LOADING/FAILED/UNUSABLE

Cause

If the sde.st_spatial_index was not created successfully and is marked as loading, failed or unusable, DML operations that impact the st_geometry attribute are unable to be performed.

When creating a spatial index on a st_geometry index, there is potential that the CREATE INDEX command can fail. For example, the creation of the index can fail if there is not enough tablespace storage for the index segment. If the CREATE INDEX command fails, Oracle does not automatically recover from the failure of creating the domain index and simply marks the index as unusable.

Solution or Workaround

Drop the domain index and then proceed with the DML operation, or ensure the spatial index is created successfully. This can be done in ArcCatalog.