A couple of points, afaik you do not need an rman repository for dataguard. I have set up and managed a lot of standby's without a repository. In fact, I dont recall that I have ever used a repository with a standby. In my experience, a repository is most useful in a large (tens of instances) environments for producing backup reports. For a small environment, there are really no advantages to a repository that I have found. On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 9:09 AM, Chris Taylor < christopherdtaylor1994@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Out of curiosity, with nightly FULL rman backups of a production database, > why would you recommend a value greater than 7 for keep time? > > I had a hard time imagining a scenario where you'd have to go back 21 days > for a production recovery - I'm wondering if I'm missing some technical > aspect here... > > Thanks, > Chris > > > > On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Tim Gorman <tim@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> Coming late to the discussion, not sure if anyone else has made this >> point... >> >> Having an RMAN repository (a.k.a. recovery catalog, etc) is belt and >> suspenders (or belt and braces for many). There is always a "recovery >> catalog" in the target database's control files, so you've always got a >> belt to prevent your trousers from falling. If you don't set >> CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME to at least 21, then it's more cheap string >> than a belt, but it's a belt. >> >> A recovery catalog is a replicated copy of the recovery catalog with more >> history, thus suspenders/braces in addition to the belt. >> >> It is not technical merit, but rather personal/corporate choice, that >> determines whether one wears one or both. >> >> -- Andrew W. Kerber 'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.'