Now that we've understood the nature and importance of database backups, it's time to delve into the details of actually running them. When running backups in Oracle, we have a number of choices to make. Will our backups run while the database is open or shut down? Will we back up using Oracle's tools, or will we do it manually? Will we back up the entire database or only a portion of it? How do these choices affect the steps that will be needed for recovery? In this chapter, we will answer these and many such questions. We will understand the details of how to run enterprise-level backups of an Oracle database, as well as how to maintain and automate them.
In this chapter, we shall:
Create user-managed backups
Explore the Recovery Manager tool
Create RMAN offline backups
Create RMAN online hot backups
Create incremental backups
Perform backup maintenance activities
Automate backups