Backing Up Oracle - Computing at Cornell

The normal way to start SQL*Net services is lsnrctl start.
The normal database start script shipped from Oracle is dbstart.
It reads the /etc/oratab file and starts for every instance which is
registered in the oratab file.
7.1.2 Automating RMAN backups
In order to automate Oracle RMAN backups, you use the RMAN cmdfile
option. If you specify cmdfile when invoking RMAN, then RMAN executes
the file specified line by line.
We used a kornshell script which generates and executes RMAN command
files. It is easier to manage a big number of different Oracle instances on the
UNIX platform when all backups are performed the same way. The initial
creation of the script is laborious, but you will benefit because subsequent
corrections or modifications to the backup script need be done only once.
As we started to develop our own script for the backups, we first researched
useful RMAN examples.
In the directory $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/demo are five different RMAN
examples. None of them uses TDP — but the RMAN commands are useful.
We also found good hints and tips in the Oracle8i Recovery Manager User’s
Guide and Reference, A76990-01.
7.1.2.1 How often should backups be done?
This depends on different factors:
Service level agreement with the data owner
Size of the database
Importance of the availability of the database
The type of application using the database
Because we tried to simulate a production environment with small databases,
we scheduled inconsistent whole database backups between 6:00 and 7:00
in the morning and archivelog backups between 7:00 and 19:00 every hour.
7.1.2.2 Job scheduling by the UNIX crontab program
We used the UNIX crontab program from user root to automate database and
archivelog backups. The reason for using the roots crontab is the
centralization aspect — the more different crontabs that are in use, the more
complicated it is to find a schedule.
90 Backing Up Oracle using Tivoli Storage Management