How does one automate on-line backups?

Write a CRON job to:

• Get the tablespace names from Oracle:

  SELECT TABLESPACE_NAME FROM SYS.DBA_TABLESPACES;

• Put the tablespaces in backup mode:

  ALTER TABLESPACE ... BEGIN BACKUP;

• Get the database file names from Oracle:

  SELECT NAME FROM SYS.V_$DATAFILE;
  
  SELECT NAME FROM SYS.V_$CONTROLFILE;
  
  SELECT MEMBER FROM SYS.V_$LOGFILE;

• Backup the files using pax, tar, ufsdump, dd, cpio or whatever file copy command you fancy. Note that if your database is on a raw partition, you can only use dd. Some examples:

  $ find . -depth -print | cpio -ocBv >/dev/tapedevice
  $ dd if=/dev/raw_device of=/dev/tape_device BS=8k
  $ pax -w -f archive.pax *

• End backup mode for all the tablespaces.

  ALTER TABLESPACE ... END BACKUP;

Note: See the scripts section for some examples.