Making Whole Database Backups with RMAN

You can perform whole database backups with the database mounted or open. To
perform a whole database backup, from the RMAN prompt, use the BACKUP
DATABASE command. The simplest form of the command requires no parameters, as
shown in this example:

RMAN> BACKUP DATABASE;
This example shows the procedure for taking a whole database backup to the default
destination:

RMAN> BACKUP DATABASE; # uses automatic channels to make backup
RMAN> SQL 'ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT'; # switches logs and archives all logs

By archiving the logs immediately after the backup, you ensure that you have a full set
of archived logs through the time of the backup. This guarantees that you can perform
media recovery after restoring this backup.

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