RE: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question

  • From: "QuijadaReina, Julio C" <QuijadJC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 10:51:14 -0400

Dennis,

Thanks. Sorry, I should have elaborated a little bit more...In your post
you said:
>I never got hot backup working, so I can't respond to that issue.

And so, I just wanted to point out that in the process I use my prod db
is never shut down and that it is not too hard to get hot backups to
work with RMAN on 9.2.0 if you ever would like to try it ;-)

Regards,
Julio

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DENNIS WILLIAMS
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:36 AM
To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question 

Julio
   Congratulations. Is there a point here somewhere?

Dennis Williams
DBA
Lifetouch, Inc.
dwilliams@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of QuijadaReina, Julio C
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:34 AM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question 


Dennis,

I have three databases on 9.2.0 (prod, train, and recovery catalog) and
use OS schedule jobs to run a couple of scripts, which do the following:

1. Connect to the target(my prod db) and recovery catalog. I use the
'cmdfile' switch to point to a text file with the backup commands for
RMAN to run. I also use the 'mslog' switch to create a log file that I
can go check after the backup.
2. In the text file I have RMAN commands to resync catalog and backup
prod db plus archivelog. This backs up a)datafiles, b)SPFILE, and c)
Control files 3. Backup recovery catalog

Once a week, I copy prod into train using the 'dup' command. And just
for giggles...I connect to train Monday morning to check I got a fresh
copy of prod and it has been faithful since.

At no point in this process a shut down my prod db. 

Kind regards,
Julio 


-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DENNIS WILLIAMS
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:46 AM
To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question 

Ron
    Joe and Fuad make some excellent points, so I won't repeat those.
    I never got hot backup working, so I can't respond to that issue.
Perhaps someone else on the list can. My gut reaction is that if you
have something that works, has been tested, and you trust, then stick
with that.
 
As far as RMAN catalog or not, I would make the following points:
   - Nocatalog (controlfile mode) was enhanced considerably in 9i.
   - Catalog can give you a central view of all backups across your
system.
For example, on 9i I went nocatalog and have a script that sends me the
success/failure. But if somehow the cron job stops working, I might not
notice that I didn't receive an email.
   - Catalog mode can make upgrades frustrating. In general the catalog
database must be kept at a level ahead of the target databases.
   - Even in catalog mode, the backup information is still stored in the
controlfile, so you can still perform a distaster recovery without using
the catalog. That is my standard procedure.
   

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Smith, Ron L.
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:29 AM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question 


We are getting ready to start using RMAN on several new 9i Linux
databases.
I guess the first question would be is RMAN really that much better then
using home grown dynamic hot backup scripts?  We have developed these
for our Oracle/NT environment and they seem to work fine.
The second question would be should we use a recovery catalog?  The
catalog seems to add a lot of complexity to the setup and to a disaster
recovery plan.
 
Thanks!
Ron

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