Mark, I see the x$dual wait while rman does the backup archivelog delete all input as part of the db backup . Here is a output from v$sql 1* SELECT * FROM V$SQL WHERE HASH_VALUE=4913485 SQL> / SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,:"SYS_B_0",:"SYS_B_1"),TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,:"SYS_B_2",:"SYS_B _3"),TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,:"SYS_B_4",:"SYS_B_5") FROM X$DUAL 24562 1392 2008 0 1 0 13 13 13 0 1 2009-01-30/21:00:57 0 13 0 0 13 3 CHOOSE 0 0 0 0 00000402D5A1F648 00000402FBA79CC0 4913485 3957808902 0 backup archivelog: ORA_DISK_1 1350560595 0000024 FINISHED 1605141510 0 10000 4092 0 00000402FF203628 6 N VALID 0 2009-01-30/21:00:57 N but I think the real culprit is disk async IO wait . because everytime I start taking the backup the statspack shows it as the top wait . I did a level 12 trace . and here is the last 5% backup . I see there are so many sleeping for 10 sec wait .not very sure how to proceed from here :) command backup:95.1% complete, time left 00:01:08 DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: callback returned TRUE, skipping sleep DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxr: sleeping for 10 seconds DBGRPC: krmxpoq: xc=4308834080, action="0000012 STARTED", col_l=15, ind=0, sid=15 DBGRPC: krmxpod: xc=4308834080 has finished remote rpc #12 DBGRPC: krmxr: xc=4308834080 chid=ORA_DISK_1 calling peicnt DBGRPC: krmxrpc: xc=4308834080 kpurpc2 rc=0 db=target proc=DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.BACKUPPIECECREATE DBGRPC: krmxrpc: xc=4308834080 finishing RPC #12 to target DBGIO: Type %Comp Blocks Tot Blocks Blksize ElpTime(s) IO Rt(b/s) Name DBGIO: ---- ----- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----- DBGIO: IN 100.0 1048576 1048576 8192 1405 0 /rad/u4/oradata/casemt/casemt01.dbf DBGIO: OUT 1040398 8192 1405 3009233 /rad/ora_bkup/rman/CASEMT_5213_1_6776 78395.dmp DBGIO: AGG 1048576 8192 1405 0 channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 01-FEB-09 channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 01-FEB-09 piece handle=/rad/ora_bkup/rman/CASEMT_5213_1_677678395.dmp comment=NONE channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:23:35 DBGRPC: krmxr: xc=4308834080 finished step DBGRPC: ENTERED krmqgns on [02/01/2009 12:23:30] DBGRPC: krmqgns: looking for work for channel default (krmqgns) DBGRPC: krmqgns: commands remaining to be executed: (krmqgns) DBGRPC: CMD type=backup id=1 status=STARTED DBGRPC: 1 STEP id=1 status=FINISHED DBGRPC: krmqgns: no work found for channel default (krmqgns) DBGRPC: (krmqgns) thanks pk