Re: RMAN v Control Files

These newsgroups are a know-it-all's heaven. I was simply using the acronym RCVCAT for "recover catalog" duhhhhh.... And I was just trying to be helpful. It must be a terrible burden to know everything Howard...

If you do use a recovery catalog (happy now?) you can issue the RESET DATABASE TO INCARNATION N; command which for us has been a BIG DEAL. If you have to do multiple restores to a point-in-time (without having to manually find the correct copy of the controlfile) that is further back than the previous restore you need this. As I said, we found this out the hard way before switching to using all controlfiles. We do use 8i on about 600 databases.

Bill

"Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message news:pan.2003.02.17.10.06.01.940955_at_yahoo.com.au...
> On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 01:02:09 +0000, Bill & Mary Border wrote:
>
> > If you're asking about the age-old question of whether
> > or not to use an RMAN recovery catalog...
> >
> > Pros to using RCVCAT:
> >
> > - The concept of database "incarnations" only works if
> > you are using an RCVCAT. We found out (the hard)
> > way that this is a big deal. That is, if you use the
> > controlfile instead of an RCVCAT, you won't be able
> > to use "incarnations". A BIG DEAL
> > - Some of the reporting is better
> >
> > Cons to using RCVCAT:
> >
> > - Increased support required (one or more additional
> > instances to support).
> > - If you have multiple DB's with the same DBID, each
> > will require its own RCVCAT, which is not practical
> > in our case.
> >
> > Write to me if you need more info.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> Bill:
>
> RCVCAT was the Oracle 8.0 (eight zero) method of creating catalogs. It
> isn't current, and your information is out of date.
>
> There *are* functional restrictions in 8i and 9i with not having a catalog
> database. The principle one is you can't do TSPITR (tablespace point in
> time recovery) unless you have a catalog database... but when was the last
> time you ever did a TSPITR??
>
> As for the business of incarnations... I'm not sure what you're saying.
> That you can't do incomplete recoveries with RMAN without a catalog? Not
> true. Or that you can't restore to a prior incarnation after having issued
> a resetlogs unless you're using a catalog? Not a big deal, if so, because
> I can't really see why anyone would ever need or want to restore to a
> prior incarnation, given the data loss involved.
>
> Your circumstances might be different, of course, in which case you
> qualify as a 'complicated backup needs' environment.
>
> But in 9i, it really isn't an issue not to have a catalog, TSPIRs aside.
>
> Regards
> HJR
>
>
Received on Mon Feb 17 2003 - 08:51:20 CST