Re: Oracle online backups -- switching to archivelog mode as necessary?

Michael P wrote:
> I apologize for what might be an obvious question, but I've been forced to
> take on an Oracle DBA role for a few months. I have fair experience with
> relational databases, but I haven't done many Oracle DBA tasks.
>
> One of the things I'd like to do is implement online backups, preferably
> without rman.
>
> Every thing I read about online backups makes it sound like you need to
> have archivelog on when you use them. I'm wondering if I can just turn it
> on when I want to do a backup.
>
> For example:
> [archive log mode is off]
> alter system switch logfile
> archive log start
> [Put all tablespaces into backup mode, copy tablespace data files]
> alter system switch logfile [three times, since I have three redo logs]
> archive log stop
> [copy redo log files to backup server/tape]
> alter database backup controlfile [...]
>
> Would that work? Is there any reason I have to leave the database in
> archivelog mode all the time?

The proof is in the pudding.
Try it on a test DB & see what happens.

Rhetorical questions -
1) Is there any reason to keep the database up & online during backups? 2) Do you really not care about losing changed data between backups?

     (if so, why do backups at all?) Received on Thu Dec 18 2003 - 20:01:39 CST