Ny other way that we can take auto backup in oracle 11g apart from RMAN

oracleoracle-11g-r2

I have tried with RMAN. But is there any other possible way that we can backup database and tables. backup using queries or stored procedures is possible?

Best Answer

The only correct way to back up an Oracle database is to use RMAN. There are alternatives but they are not as reliable as RMAN.

RMAN has a ton of features and this might make it look complicated. But in fact it's not difficult and should always be the choice to back up a database.

RMAN does not do logical backups like tables, indexes, procedures. RMAN does physical backups which means that it backs up the datafiles block wise. It does not care what is inside this block.

I think there are a lot of beginner tutorials on the internet. I personally like the descriptions on http://oracle-base.com/.

To automatically back up a database use the operating system scheduler and run a shell or batch script. This script should do the following tasks:

  • call RMAN an execute an RMAN script
    • backup database
    • backup archivelogs
    • delete archivelogs
  • delete old backups (with RMAN commands)
  • send the logfile to the admin

Some people additionally run an export with datapump after the daily RMAN backup. This can be useful sometimes. But I never use this option. And it should never replace an RMAN backup!