Configuring Backup Device Settings

For disk-based backups, you can configure the default format for backups, the location on disk where backups are stored, and whether backup tasks run in parallel.

For tape backups, you can configure settings such as the number of tape drives and whether backups are compressed. On most platforms, you must integrate a media manager with the Oracle database to use sequential media for storage.

You can use Oracle Secure Backup, which supports both database and file system backups to tape, as your media manager. Oracle Secure Backup provides the same services for RMAN as other third-party SBT interfaces, but is better integrated with Database Control. This section assumes that you make only disk backups.

To configure backup settings for disk:

1. On the Database Home page, click Availability to display the Availability subpage.

2. In the Backup/Recovery section, click Backup Settings.

   The Backup Settings page appears.

3. At the top of the page, click Device.

   The Device subpage of Backup Settings appears.

4. Complete the following steps:

   1. In Parallelism, enter 1.

      Later, when you have had time to review the information in Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide about parallelism and performance in RMAN, you may want to change this value.

   2. Leave the Disk Backup Location field blank so that RMAN directs backups to the fast recovery area.

   3. In the Disk Backup Type section, select Backup Set.

      One advantage of backup sets is that RMAN uses unused block compression to save space when backing up data files. Only those blocks in the data files that have been used to store data are included in the backup set.

5. In Host Credentials section at the bottom of the page, enter values in the Username and Password fields.

   Host credentials are described in "Specifying Credentials for Backup and Recovery Using Database Control".

6. Click Test Disk Backup (near the top of the page) to ensure the credentials and backup location are correct.

   A message appears that states whether the test was successful.

   In this example you do not change the settings on the Backup Set subpages.