Losing your database is one of the biggest threats that every entity that relies on tech faces today. No matter how many tools and software you have to protect your data, the loss of database is one malware, one technical fault, and one cyber-attack away. However, there are multiple Oracle Backup and Recovery options that you can use in case you end up in such a situation. Each of these methods has its own pros and cons but at the end of the day, do their job well.
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Recovery Manager (RMAN)
Recovery Manager is by far the most popular and the most widely used backup and recovery tool used for data recovery. This tool has the ability to backup, restore and recover data files. Since it is an Oracle utility that is built-in the Oracle server, it does not require to be installed separately. The simplicity of RMAN is one of the major reasons why most database admins are more comfortable with RMAN over other options. Recovery Manager is a highly automated tool that is capable of automatically backing up control files and can minimize the possibility of ending up with fractured blocks.
User-Managed Backups
User-managed backup is another popular method of backup and recovery. Although it is not as robust as RMAN, it still does its job well. User-managed backups rely on using OS commands for creating backups and SQL Plus for recovery and restoration. When using user-managed backups for online recoveries, there is a greater risk of fractured blocks, and therefore a separate method needs to be run to repair fractured blocks once the online backup is completed.
Consistent Backups
A consistent backup requires all data files to be backed up with the same timestamp and sourced to a single System Change Number (SCN). The biggest plus point of consistent whole database backups is that they do not require separate restoration once recovery is completed. It must be noted that consistent backups are only possible when the database is shut down normally. In case there is an abnormal shutdown or “Abort,” you will end up with inconsistent data files.
Inconsistent Backups
Unlike consistent backups, Inconsistent backups do not have all data files sourced to a single SCN, and backup is made from data files from different time stamps. This means that some changes in some data files would be missing. If you are running a 24/7 backup of online data files, you are highly likely to end up with inconsistent backups to be your only choice. In order to ensure that your records are consistent in this case, it is very important that you backup all archived logs during the backup. This is essential to be able to recover the backup since you will need all the redo records in order to make your backup consistent.
