Hi Philip,

In order to do an online backup using RMAN the database must be in
ARCHIVELOG mode. When the database is running in ARCHIVELOG mode, the
archiver (ARCH) background process will make a copy of the online redo
log file to archive backup location. This will allow you to create
point-in-time recovery.

This does not mean that you shouldn't be able to use RMAN to backup the
database if you run in NOARCHIVELOG mode but the only way you can use
RMAN to back up the database is if you shut down the database
consistently (you can't use RMAN if you issue a shutdown abort command).

In fact I think from the documentation placing the database into
ARCHIVELOG mode is not a pre-requisite.

Let me know if someone knows any differently here.

If you want to create online backups but not put the database into
ARCHIVELOG mode then you could possibly look at the following:

- Oracle's Export utility - Logical exports create an export file that
contains a list of SQL statements to recreate the database. The Export
is performed when the database is open and does not affect users work.
You could then backup the export file.

I would suggest that you use cold backups in conjunction with the export
utility.

- snapshot technology - You could look at shutting down the database for
an instant (if at all possible) and then creating a snapshot of the disk
volume. You would then backup the snapshot.

If you are using Solaris you could use fssnap to do this.

Hope this helps.

Nick



-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Weber,
Philip
Sent: Thursday, 20 November 2003 1:58 AM
To: 'veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu'
Subject: [Veritas-bu] RMAN & Archive Logs

Dear all,

I am being told that in order to do an RMAN backup, we must have our
databases in archive log mode.  Lack of space to do so is holding up
getting
some databases on a backup schedule, so does anybody know if this is
true?

Ideally I would like to back the databases up online, accept that I
don't
have point-in-time recovery but be able to recover back to time of
backup,
but not have the overhead of archive logging being turned on - these
database are updated in batch mode only.

thanks for any info.

regards, Phil

Phil Weber
Egg Distributed Hosts - UNIX Systems Engineer
Phone: 01384 26 4136
Mobile: 



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