SQL generating SQL

I have just come to the stunning realization (yes, I am sort of new at this) that my backups that I have been creating are useless. I need to do complete backups at night without shutting down. Right now I am just using the cron (Linux rh6.2) to dump the directories to tape without shutting down. Well, this is useless because the datafiles are being written to and the headers and synch are getting hosed up. To make a long story short, I am looking for an efficient script that would capture all my datafiles, control file, and archive logs, so I can put them in "backup mode", and then copy them to tape one at a time. I am told the best way to do this is to use "sql generating sql" to create a script. It is my understanding that this method would freeze the headers while still allowing the datafile to be written to. Please tell me if i am barking up the wrong tree. This is obviously very important and any help would be appreciated.

Oracle 8161 on Linux RedHat 6.2

Thanks Received on Fri Sep 28 2001 - 08:05:45 CDT