Re: Oracle archive mode and hot backups
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 16:57:01 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <c487fa0b-3a6f-4f8a-a10c-727bc5c1b370_at_q40g2000prh.googlegroups.com>
On Aug 6, 2:35 pm, Jeff Morgan <jefang6..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
> We have an Oracle 10g database on UNIX moving to a new data center.
> We are still testing a stage server. The DBA state that the standard
> is to have the database in archive mode to allow for hot backups.
>
> We ran into an issue when the 17 gigs of space in the archive folder
> was full. The DBA's solution was to write a script to automatically
> delete archive files when the folder reaches 10 gigs. I questioned
> the need to create archive files if they are ultimately deleted. The
> DBA stated that the actual archive files are not used and can be
> deleted. The archive mode is only used for hot backups.
>
> From what I have researched, the archive files are required for
> recovery. Can anyone shed some light on the whole archive/hot backup?
There is a manual about backup and recovery basics at tahiti.oracle.com. The modern way of doing backups is a tool called RMAN, which stands for Recovery Manager. What is important, especially when moving to a new server, is to be sure your recovery is workable. Many people consider that is the _one thing_ a DBA _must_ be able to do, without losing data. This implies there must be a business decision made as to what level of recovery will be necessary, which is usually formalized into a document called a Service Level Agreement (SLA). There are situations where you don't need to be running in archivelog mode, but in general a production quality OLTP system must be. Now, if what you mean by "stage server" is something that, say, is in between an OLTP system and a data warehouse, it may indeed not be necessary to run in archivelog mode. But we have insufficient information to advise you of that. But many of us have also seen enough stupidity in the real world that Sybrand often is correct in negativity.
RMAN is made to scale from the very small to fairly large. What exactly are you doing?
Some hints about posting here: http://dbaoracle.net/readme-cdos.htm
jg
-- _at_home.com is bogus. “Man we have 2 have the most nasty food of any team. Damn can we upgrade 4 str8 years the same ish maybe that's y we can't we the SB we need.” - $2500 tweet http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/05/1s5chargers221450-not-sweet-tweet/?uniontribReceived on Thu Aug 06 2009 - 18:57:01 CDT