Online Documentation for SQL Manager for Oracle

Backup a database


A database backup is created by means of the Backup Database Wizard. To launch it choose Services | iconServices_BackupDatabase Backup Database main menu item.

There are two ways to create a backup of an oracle database: User-managed script and Recovery manager (RMAN).

Recovery Manager (RMAN) is an Oracle utility that can back up and restore database files. It is a feature of the Oracle database server and does not require separate installation.

User-managed script method consists in using operating system commands for backups.

 

Note: Use of RMAN is highly recommended because it is more robust and greatly simplifies administration.

The following are possible circumstances in which you may choose to employ user-managed methods rather than use RMAN:

  • You are migrating from an older version of the database to the current version and do not immediately want to update your legacy backup scripts.
  • You maintain a network containing Oracle7 and later databases and want a single backup and recovery method to handle all databases in the same way. RMAN only supports Oracle databases of release 8.0 or greater.
  • All your RMAN backup are lost and you are forced to restore user-managed backups and perform recovery with the SQL*Plus RECOVER command.

 

To perform Oracle backup with user-managed script:

  1. Select the RadioButton User-managed script wizard option in the Backup using group on the first step of the wizard.
  2. On the second step define whether you want to perform hot (on-line) or cold (off-line) backup. A hot backup is performed while the database is open and available for use. A cold backup is performed while the database is off-line and unavailable to its users.

Note: It is easier to restore from off-line backups as no recovery (from archived logs) would be required to make the database consistent. Nevertheless, on-line backups are less disruptive and don't require database downtime.

  1. Select datafiles of the database to backup on the third step.
  2. On the next step set additional options for user-managed script, including OS to use commands for in the generated script: Unix, Windows or Manually (specify the copy command).

 

To perform Oracle backup with Recovery manager:

  1. Select the RadioButton Recovery manager (RMAN) option in the Backup using group on the first step of the wizard.
  2. On the second step define whether you want to perform hot (on-line) or cold (off-line) backup. A hot backup is performed while the database is open and available for use. A cold backup is performed while the database is off-line and unavailable to its users.

Note: It is easier to restore from off-line backups as no recovery (from archived logs) would be required to make the database consistent. Nevertheless, on-line backups are less disruptive and don't require database downtime.

  1. On the third step specify the backup type: Full or Incremental.
  2. On the next step set additional options for Recovery manager such as: Username and Password to define under which user the RMAN session will be created; Catalog settings (catalog is considered as a special database which stores backup settings); RMAN script execution (the OS to build the command file for).