[CarlosinFL]

I'm going to backup this un-maintained Oracle 11g server in my office. I'm being told it's never been backed up and extremely critical to our success so tomorrow I'll be performing my 1st backup of the database using RMAN. My question is if I connect to the Oracle 11g database and run the:

[oracle@db1 ~]$ rman target=/

Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Mon Feb 13 13:18:05 2012

connected to target database: CQDB (DBID=1854033249)

RMAN> shutdown immediate

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
database closed
database dismounted
Oracle instance shut down

BACKUP DATABASET FORMAT ‘/oracle/u01/app/oracle/backup/%d-%T-%s-%P’;

My question is the above sufficient for a safe full backup? We only have the one single target database called 'cqdb' which houses several schemas. Can you tell me if this is correct? I've shut the database down so it's in a cold state so I don't think I need to configure the FRA (Flash / Fast Recovery Area) but I honestly don't know. This is my 2nd time on a Oracle DBMS.

What about the 'archivelog' files? Do I back those up? Do I need them in case a recovery? Also what about the 'controlfile'? Do I need to back those up as well as the mentioned above?

[LKBrwn_DBA]

Originally Posted by CarlosinFL

... Etc ...tomorrow I'll be performing my 1st backup of the database using RMAN. My question is if I connect to the Oracle 11g database and run the:

If database in archive log mode you do not need to shutdown the database, try this:

$ rman target=/
...
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT '/oracle/u01/app/oracle/backup/%d-%T-%s-%P';
RUN
{
  ALLOCATE CHANNEL ch1 DEVICE TYPE DISK;
  ALLOCATE CHANNEL ch2 DEVICE TYPE DISK;
  BACKUP AS COMPRESSED BACKUPSET
    DATABASE
    INCLUDE CURRENT CONTROLFILE
    PLUS ARCHIVELOG DELETE INPUT;
}

[kimipatel]

Rman Back up is the Physical Backup.. Database on archive log mode. No need to Shutdown the database.. Just Give correct path.