Backup Question

We are using Oracle 7.3.2.3.1 on Netware. I am testing Oracle backup/recovery procedures. On page 23-3 of the Administrator's Guide, it states that if you are running in ARCHIVELOG mode, you only need to backup the control file before and after a structural change to the database. I am assuming this means that you can recover from the structural change with only the control file before the change. To test this, I make a backup of the control file and drop a tablespace. To try and get the tablespace back, I shutdown the database, start the instance, mount and issue:

alter database recover until time 'time_before table was dropped' using backup control file;

The logs are applied and everything appears to have worked. I then try to open the database with:

alter database open resetlogs;

I receive errors indicating that the system tablespace needs recovery due to incomplete recovery. Am I wrong in assuming that the Admin guide means that you can recover from a structural change with only the control file before the structural change? The section on time based recovery states that you need to restore datafiles from before the time of the intended time based recovery. In real life I would backup the entire database before a structural change. I am just curious what the correct answer to this question is.

Thanks for any help,
Jim Anderson Received on Wed Dec 31 1997 - 00:00:00 CST