Using Online Backup Mode

Overview

The Oracle online (hot) backup feature allows a database to be replicated while users continue to access it. This eliminates the need to shut down the database during an EVM-Oracle job. When this feature is combined with snapshot replication or three-member clone replication, there is virtually no interruption of database operations. To enable the online backup feature:

 

Starting Archivelog Mode

From the Oracle Server Manager issue the commands shown below. To permanently set the archivelog mode, you must modify the init.ora file.

    alter database archivelog;
    archive log start

    alter database open;

 

Specifying Tablespaces

To back up a database you must specify each tablespace. This is done by issuing multiple commands in a script file. To select a tablespace for online backup you would include the command:

    alter tablespace <tablespace_name> begin backup;

To take a tablespace out of online backup mode, you would include the command:

    alter tablespace <tablespace_name> end backup;

Example

To specify tablespaces USR and WEB for online backup in a script file, you would include the commands:

    alter tablespace USR begin backup;
    alter tablespace WEB begin backup;