Besides being limited by system requirements, the backup and recovery solution you choose should be driven by the features that you want. Table 1-2 compares the features of the different backup methods.
Table 1-2 Feature Comparison of Backup Methods
| Feature | Recovery Manager | User-Managed | Export |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Closed database backups |
Supported. Requires instance to be mounted. |
Supported. |
Not supported. |
|
Open database backups |
Supported. No need to use |
Supported. Must use |
Requires rollback or undo segments to generate consistent backups. |
|
Incremental backups |
Supported. |
Not supported. |
Not supported. |
|
Corrupt block detection |
Supported. Identifies corrupt blocks and logs in |
Not supported. |
Supported. Identifies corrupt blocks in the export log. |
|
Automatic record keeping of files in backups |
Supported. Establishes the name and locations of all files to be backed up (whole database, tablespace, datafile or control file backup). |
Not supported. Files to be backed up must be specified manually. |
Supported. Performs either full, user, or table backups. |
|
Recovery catalogs |
Supported. Backups are recorded inthe RMAN repository, which is contained in the control file and optionally in the recovery catalog database. |
Not supported. DBA must keep own records of backups. |
Not supported. |
|
Backups to media manager |
Supported. Interfaces with a media manager. RMAN also supports proxy copy, a feature that allows the media manager to manage the transfer of data. |
Supported. Backup to tape is manual or controlled by a media manager. |
Supported. |
|
Backs up initialization parameter file |
Supported. |
Supported. |
Not supported. |
|
Backs up password and networking files |
Not supported. |
Supported. |
Not supported. |
|
Platform-independent language for backups |
Supported. |
Not supported. |
Supported. |