What Backup strategy would be the best ?

I have a Oracle 8i (8.1.5) database on a Unix Sun Box I am try to decide which backup strategy suits my needs best.

The database which eventually stored in another country so I will have to administrate it via telnet. I was initially thinking about using EXPORT/IMPORT as the backup mechanism but I am worried that if the machine fails and I cannot get the database open (before running the import) then I will not be able to run the import script therefore not recovering my database correctly (I may be wrong on my thinking here !).

The other option I was thinking of using would be RMAN (Recovery Manager), this tool I have only started to look at, I would not be that familiar with it but judging from the help provided by it it seems to have everything I need. Therefor which one of the these approaches would suit best.

I was also hoping to implement a strategy where I take a full backup twice a month and incrementals for every day of the week and a Cummulative backup at the weekend. Would RMAN be able to work on a schedule as the one above ...

If there are other approaches I have not mentioned I would like to hear about them. Many thanks in advance.

Dominic Received on Fri Oct 29 1999 - 08:26:09 CDT