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

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

From: "Mercadante, Thomas F" <thomas.mercadante@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 10:56:24 -0400
Hot backups *were* a great thing before Rman came out.  But now, they are no
longer needed.  Rman performs the backup with the database is open much
better than the hot backup ever could.  And it's greatest strength is at
recovery time.  It knows what backup files it needs to apply.

And with the 10G version, it can even produce a report for you telling you
which backup files it needs.

A much better solution than hot backups.  I would urge anyone to migrate
away from hot backups to Rman in a minute.  A much more elegant solution.

Tom Mercadante
Oracle Certified Professional


-----Original Message-----
From: QuijadaReina, Julio C [mailto:QuijadJC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:51 AM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: RMAN - To Catalog or not to catalog, that is the question 


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

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