User-Managed Backup and Recovery
User-managed backup and recovery is a process that allows you to back up and restore your Oracle database by issuing an appropriate combination of operating system commands, SQL*Plus commands, and custom Oracle utility commands.
At this time, Recovery Manager (RMAN), described later in this chapter, has largely replaced user-managed backup and recovery, and Oracle Corporation is no longer enhancing its older user-managed backup and recovery processes. RMAN provides all of the capabilities of user-managed backup and recovery, offers quite a few additional features, and is easier to use than user-managed backup and recovery.
Nevertheless, user-managed backup and recovery still works, and there may be reasons why you may prefer to use this method. For example, you may be supporting Oracle databases prior to Oracle8, when RMAN was introduced; your staff may not be as familiar with RMAN as with these older procedures; or your own administrative plan may not yet have been changed to embrace RMAN.
With user-managed backup and recovery, you can make either consistent or inconsistent backups. The processes differ depending on what type of backup you are performing:
- Consistent backup
To make a consistent backup, you must shut down the database normally. Consistent backups are the only type of backup supported in NOARCHIVELOG mode, because recovery cannot be performed in this mode.
- Inconsistent backup
You can make an inconsistent backup with the database (or ...