Re: Recovery Catalog vs Control File

On Aug 29, 6:23 am, sybra..._at_hccnet.nl wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:07:42 -0700 (PDT), e..._at_chicagorsvp.com wrote:
>
> >I've read a lot about this concept, Recovery Catalog vs Control File.
> >I'm just looking for some real life experience comments.
>
> >I've always thought that using a recovery catalog only gives you yet
> >another instance to back up.
>
> >What are some of your experiences.......it'd help me make my
> >decision.  Reading is not the same as getting real life comments......
>
> The problem with your question is it doesn't mention the database
> version you are using.
> RMAN has been revised with every release of Oracle, amongst others
> making the recovery catalog more and more optional.
> If you are on 9i, you will need a recovery catalog to recover your
> database through a resetlogs operation.
> This is becaused all history in a controlfile is virtually wiped out
> during a resetlogs and you don't  have any info on the SCN of the last
> resetlogs.
>
> On 10g this is no longer required, as you can include the resetlogs
> scn in the file specification of your archivelog.
>
> So the key factor in answering this question is:
> - What operations *require* a recovery catalog
> - Am I planning to use those operations frequently.
>

Mostly agree with this, except if you have some reason to need an old archive log, it is quite a pain to do it without a catalog in 9i. Those situations are (or should be!) very infrequent, but kind of argues that infrequent operations mean you should use a catalog. I was on the nocatalog side until I had to go through that for real, wishing I had a catalog.

The OP says 10g now. The more I look at it the less sure I am about which way I want to go with the catalog. I'll have a standby machine eventually. I'm not convinced the default backup has enough redundancy for my tastes.

jg

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