The default location of the incremental is the dbs subdirectory under the Oracle home. See, Specifies a list of one or more datafiles.

See Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User's Guide for details. Allows specifying a backup by tag. Incremental backups at level 1 can only be backup sets. The BACKUP command optimizes backups, that is, does not back up files that are identical to files that are already backed up, when the following conditions are met: The CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION ON command has been run. The maximum length of a backup piece filename is platform-specific. RMAN performs backup set failover when backing up backup sets. If you set FILESPERSET but not DISKRATIO, then DISKRATIO defaults to the same value as FILESPERSET. For example, if you archive to multiple destinations, RMAN backs up one copy of each log sequence numbernot each copy of each log sequence number. There is no persistent configuration that controls whether archivelog backups as backupsets are encrypted. To backup a backupset, use BACKUP BACKUPSET. The command instructs RMAN to keep the backup for the next year, but not to keep the archived logs necessary to recover it: Exempting Copies from the Retention Policy: ExampleThe following example copies the control file and two datafiles and exempts them from the retention policy forever. An incremental backup at level 0 is identical in content to a full backup, but unlike a full backup the level 0 backup is considered a part of the incremental strategy. ), Unused Block Compression Of Datafile Backups to Backup Sets, When backing up datafiles into backup sets, RMAN does not back up the contents of data blocks that have never been allocated. When backing up datafiles into backup sets, RMAN only backs up blocks that are currently in use. RMAN cannot make incremental backups of the, Specifies the names of one or more tablespaces. Some offline datafiles can still be read because they still exist on disk. If you do not specify a tag name, then by default RMAN creates a tag for backups (except for control file autobackups) in the format TAGYYYYMMDDTHHMMSS, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day, HH is the hour (in 24-hour format), MM is the minutes, and SS is the seconds. The term backup refers to the files created by an RMAN BACKUP command. RMAN does not support incremental backups of control files, archived redo logs, or backup sets. All datafiles that would normally be included by, Makes a backup of previous image copies of the datafiles in one or more specified tablespaces. 'filename' specifies an image copy by filename, ALL specifies that all datafile image copies should be backed up. A tag applies to each backup piece in a given copy of a backup set (for AS BACKUPSET) or each image copy (for AS COPY). For details on block change tracking, including how to enable and disable it, see Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Basics. If you run BACKUP AS COPY on a channel that has MAXSETSIZE set, then MAXSETSIZE is silently ignored. RMAN can back up a target or standby database. If the, Limits the set of files to be backed up according to whether a specified number of backups are already present (and not obsolete), or whether the files have been backed up since a specified date. Note: This option cannot be used with BACKUP AS COPY and results in an error message. In practice, most disk drives have physical block sizes of 512 bytes, so this limitation rarely affects backup.

See Also: Oracle Database Reference for more information about the DB_BLOCK_CHECKSUM initialization parameter. If the database is already maintaining block checksums, then this flag has no effect. Backing Up Backup Sets to Tape: ExampleIn this example, the goal is to keep recent backup sets on disk and older backup sets on tape, and to avoid keeping copies of the same backup set on disk and tape simultaneously. Otherwise, you must use the CATALOG command to add the image copies to the RMAN repository before RMAN can use them. The backupSpec level, then backup sets created as a result of different backup specifications can have different tags. You cannot specify DEVICE TYPE DISK when running the BACKUP RECOVERY AREA command. You can also specify the tag at the backupSpec level. Specifies a range of archived redo logs to be backed up. Restoring compressed backup sets is no different from restoring uncompressed backup sets. Note: This option does not apply with AS COPY and results in an error message. To back up a database, tablespace, datafile (current or copy), control file (current or copy), SPFILE, archived log, or backup set. Tags are reusable, so that backup set 100 can have the tag MONDAY_EVENING_BACKUP one week while backup set 105 has the same tag the next week. Specifies that offline datafiles should be excluded from the backup. For each set of duplicate datafile copies, the file with the most recent timestamp will be selected. Tags must be 30 characters or less. You cannot back up the change tracking file with RMAN. Specify the datafile by file number (. You must use some non-RMAN backup solution for any files not in the preceding list. In most other circumstances, compressing backupsets saves enough disk space to be worth the CPU overhead. The backup contains only the standby control file. "CONFIGURE" describes the complete set of circumstances in which autobackups occur. If the sum of physical and logical corruptions detected for a file is no more than its MAXCORRUPT setting, then the backup command completes, and V$DATABASE_BLOCK_CORRUPTION is populated with any corrupt block ranges. Likewise, some features of Oracle, such as external tables or the BFILE datatype, store data in files other than those listed above. Make backups while the database is open and you need to spread the I/O load across several disk spindles to leave bandwidth for online operations . This behavior is similar to RMAN's behavior when backing up archived logs that exist in multiple archiving destinations. RMAN backs up all datafiles that are currently part of the tablespaces. The number of files to be backed up is divided by the number of channels. Although the database depends on other types of files for operation, such as network configuration files, password files, and the contents of the Oracle home, these files cannot be backed up with RMAN. However, you can encounter this limitation when using BACKUP DEVICE TYPE DISK to back your database up to a writeable CD or DVD, or some other device which has a larger physical block size. Note: You cannot assign a tag to a backup of the current control file. If no level 0 backup exists, then RMAN makes one. Each backupSpec clause generates one or more backup sets (AS BACKUPSET) or image copies (AS COPY). If multiple backup sets are created by one BACKUP AS BACKUPSET command, then each backup piece is assigned the same default tag. You cannot specify the PLUS ARCHIVELOG clause on the BACKUP ARCHIVELOG command. The tag is not case sensitive. If no automatic channel is configured for the specified device type, then you must manually allocate a channel for each execution of the BACKUP command.

For example, if you specify the SEQUENCE n clause, then RMAN deletes all archive logs with same sequence number n, including duplicate archived logs (that is, logs with same log sequence number and thread). You cannot make an image copy of a backup set, although you can make an image copy of an image copy. Each independent step can be executed on any channel allocated for a specific device. The limit on the number of files in a backup set will apply even if the total size of the resulting backup set is less than MAXSETSIZEs.

If no such channel is found, then RMAN issues a warning and attempts a a conventional (that is, non-proxy) backup of the specified files. If you specify INCREMENTAL, then in the backupSpec clause you must set one of the following parameters: DATAFILE, DATAFILECOPY, TABLESPACE, or DATABASE.

Incremental backups at level 0 can be either backup sets or image copies. For example, if DISKRATIO is 4 and the datafiles are located on three disks, then RMAN attempts to include datafiles from three disks in each backup set. You cannot stripe a single input file across multiple backup sets. Excludes datafiles or archived redo logs from the backup according to the criteria specified by the following keywords. The percent sign (%) is a wildcard that means zero or more characters; an underscore (_) is a wildcard that means one character. The default size is in bytes, rounded down from kilobytes. If the backupSpec includes datafile 1, and if CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP is ON, then RMAN does not automatically include the control file in the output. A copy of a normal control file (that is, not a standby control file) created with the BACKUP AS COPY CURRENT CONTROLFILE command or the SQL statement ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO '', A standby control file copy created with the BACKUP AS COPY STANDBY CONTROLFILE command or the SQL statement ALTER DATABASE CREATE STANDBY CONTROLFILE. If you have multiple channels allocated, and one channel fails or encounters a problem during a backup step, then RMAN attempts to complete the work on another channel. When determining whether a file has been backed up, the SINCE date is compared with the completion time of the most recent backup. The backup set includes the standby control file and the object backed up. If you rename a tablespace (for example, from users to customers), then RMAN detects that the tablespace has changed its name and updates the recovery catalog on the next resynchronization. If RMAN locates a proxy-capable channel, it calls the media manager to check if it can proxy copy the files. Thus, to limit a backup set to 3 MB, specify MAXSETSIZE = 3M. If the, Deletes the input files upon successful creation of the backup. If you specify FOR STANDBY, then RMAN generates a backup of the control file that is usable during creation of a standby database. For example, ASM does not support the use of the - character in the filenames it uses interally, so a tag including a - (for example, weekly-incremental) is not a legal tag name if you are storing backups in ASM disk groups. Otherwise, you increase restore time for a file without increasing performance. When backing up Oracle files to DISK, the logical block size of the Oracle file to be backed up must be an even multiple of the physical block size of the destination device. See, Specifies the media pool in which the backup should be stored. For example, if you duplexed a backup to 4 locations, then RMAN deletes all 4 backup sets. Assume that this backup set has primary key 1234. FROM TAG 'tag_name' specifies a list of one or more datafile copies, identified by the tag tag_name. If AS BACKUPSET is set, then this feature is only useful if RMAN generates multiple backup sets during the backup. RMAN can apply a binary compression algorithm as it writes data to backup sets. Typically, a tag is a meaningful name such as MONDAY_EVENING_BACKUP or WEEKLY_FULL_BACKUP.

You cannot make a backup (either normal or incremental) in NOARCHIVELOG mode when the database is open or is closed after an instance failure or SHUTDOWN ABORT. The incremental backup created by BACKUP INCREMENTAL FROM SCN is not part of any incremental strategy at the primary database. If the result is less than 64, then it is the number of files placed in each backupset. AS BACKUPSET is the only possibility when backing up to tape, and for creating level 1 incremental backups to any destination. All blocks changed at SCNs greater than or equal to the specified SCN are included in the incremental created by this BACKUP command. RMAN comes with a DISK channel preconfigured but no preconfigured channels for sbt devices. You cannot use the DEVICE TYPE option for a device other than DISK if you have not already run CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE for this device. By default, RMAN creates all backups as backup sets, on tape or on disk. If the backup command is part of a RUN block, subsequent commands in the RUN block do not execute. You run BACKUP DATABASE, BACKUP ARCHIVELOG with ALL or LIKE options, or BACKUP BACKUPSET ALL. This option is a convenient way to back up files that were not backed up during a previous failed backup. Use any name that is meaningful, for example, Tests data and index blocks that pass physical corruption checks for logical corruption, for example, corruption of a row piece or index entry. (The two types of compression should not be used together; see the discussion of BACKUP AS BACKUPSET below for details on choosing between using RMAN compression and the tape compression for backup sets. By default, each backup set contains 4 or fewer datafiles or 16 or fewer archived logs. Tags are not case sensitive. For example, a DISK device with a block size of 2K can only be used as a destination for backups of Oracle files with logical block sizes of 2K, 4K, 6K and so on.

See, Specifies the filenames of one or more datafile image copies. Otherwise a platform-specific default FORMAT (which includes a %U for generating a unique filename) is used. You cannot use the DELETE INPUT option when backing up objects other than datafile copies, archived redo logs, or backup sets. RMAN inspects the header of the control file copy to determine whether it is a standby or nonstandby control file. When the AS COPY option is used, RMAN generates image copies of the input files.

Both levels, then the tag in the backupSpec takes precedence. You can change the default backup type for disk backups to be image copies using the CONFIGURE command. You cannot stripe a single backup set across multiple channels. (In previous releases, this behavior was referred to as NULL compression.).

The incremental backup is created at the source database using the BACKUP INCREMENTALFROM SCN =n form of the BACKUP command.

In other words, all files in the same backup set have the same completion time. Runs the BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL command. Note: You can also specify this option in the backupSpecOperand clause.

If the database being backed up is running at or near its maximum load, you may find the overhead from using AS COMPRESSED BACKUPSET unacceptable. If the disks supply data at 10 bytes/second, and if the tape drive requires 50 bytes/second to keep streaming, then set DISKRATIO = 5 to direct RMAN to include datafiles from at least 5 disks in each backup set. The minimum value must be greater than or equal to the database block size. Consult your media management documentation to see whether the. Specifies that datafiles or archived redo logs that cannot be read due to I/O errors should be excluded from the backup. With the PARTIAL option, the command is considered to have completed successfully and no error is reported by RMAN even if the whole backup is not completed in the specified duration. Note: If you run BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL, or if the specified log range includes logs from prior incarnations, then RMAN backs up logs from prior incarnations to ensure availability of all logs that may be required for recovery through an OPEN RESETLOGS.

The RMAN CONFIGURE, SET and SHOW commands are used to manage the encryption settings for your database backups.

For BACKUP AS BACKUPSET, the completion time for a file in a backup set is the completion time of the entire backup set. The characters used in a tag must be limited to the characters that are legal in filenames on the target filesystem. For SBT backups using a media manager, the length is also limited by the limit in the supported version of the media management API. You can only backup a database running in NOARCHIVELOG mode after a consistent shutdown. For example, a backup of datafile 1 can receive the tag TAG20020208T133437. In the RMAN repository, this backup is not marked with an incremental level when it is recorded in the RMAN repository. If you specify DEVICE TYPE sbt, then you can back up to any media supported by the media manager. Overrides any configured retention policy for this backup so that the backup is not considered obsolete. When using encrypted backups, datafiles from tablespaces with different encryption settings are never written into the same backup set. RMAN's Incremental Roll Forward of Database Copy feature enables you to synchronize a standby database with a source database by creating an incremental backup at the source database containing all changed blocks since the standby was created or last synchronized, and then applying that incremental backup at the standby. Vendors supporting SBT 1.1 must support filenames up to 14 characters. Lets you identify any tagged level 0 incremental to serve as the basis for this level 1 incremental. If you do not want RMAN to try a conventional copy when a proxy copy fails, use the ONLY option. A checksum is a number that is computed from the contents of a data block. This parameter is only enabled when you are backing up datafiles or control files, and when the operating system can give RMAN disk contention and node affinity information.

An image copy is a byte-for-byte identical copy of the original file.

You can create image copy backups of datafiles, datafile copies, and archived redo log files. With MINIMIZE LOAD the backup will take the full specified duration. RMAN makes full backups by default if neither FULL nor INCREMENTAL is specified. RMAN reports a message in V$RMAN_OUTPUT and in the output to the interactive session or log file when channel failover occurs. If the database is open when you run BACKUP ARCHIVELOG, and if the UNTIL clause or SEQUENCE parameter is not specified, then RMAN runs ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT. Sufficient incremental backups taken since the level 0 must exist and be available such that the incremental backup to be created is usable.

The default number of files in each backup set is 4 for datafiles and 16 for archived logs.