Configuring Backup Policy Settings

You can set the backup policies that govern control file and server parameter file backups, tablespaces to exclude from an entire database backup, and the backup retention policy.

To configure the backup policy settings:

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 Policy.

   The Backup Policy subpage appears.

4. Perform the following actions:

   • Select the Automatically backup the control file and server parameter file (SPFILE) with every backup and database structural change option. Leave the Autobackup Disk Location field blank so that RMAN stores the automatic backups in the fast recovery area.

     The server parameter file and control file are critical to the database and RMAN, and are also relatively small compared to typical data files. Backing them up frequently results in relatively little storage overhead.

   • Select the Optimize the whole database backup by skipping unchanged files such as read-only and offline data files that have been backed up option.

     This option saves space in the fast recovery area.

   • Select the Enable block change tracking for faster incremental backups option. Either leave the Block Change Tracking File field blank (if you specified Oracle-managed files when creating the database) or enter a file name (including path).

     This option takes advantage of the block change tracking feature, which greatly improves incremental backup performance at a small cost of overhead.

5. In the Tablespaces Excluded From Whole Database Backup section, leave the settings as they are.

   This feature enables you to specify a list of tablespaces to exclude from a backup. For example, you do not have to include read-only tablespaces in every backup.

6. In the Retention Policy section, select Retain backups that are necessary for a recovery to any time within the specified number of days (point-in-time recovery). In Days, enter 31.

   This setting enables a recovery policy with retention based on a period of time.

7. In the Archivelog Deletion Policy section, select None.

   This option specifies that logs are eligible for automatic deletion only when they have been backed up to tape or are obsolete based on the retention policy.

8. At the bottom of the page, click OK to save your changes.