Is FRA mandatory for Incrementally Updating Backups ?

resistanceIsFruitful

DB version: 11.2, 12.2, 19c

I have a question on "Incrementally Updating Backups" which some people call "Incremental Merge". Don't know why can't they have just one name for this feature.

This feature, which is described in the link below can reduce the time for recovery.

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/backup.112/e10642/rcmbckba.htm#CHDEHBFF

Backup script will look like below

RUN

{

RECOVER COPY OF DATABASE

WITH TAG 'incr_update';

BACKUP

INCREMENTAL LEVEL 1

FOR RECOVER OF COPY WITH TAG 'incr_update'

DATABASE;

}

In case of database failure

rman> switch database to copy;

rman> recover database;

rman> alter database open

My question:

Is this backup done to Flash Recovery Area ? I mean, is FRA a pre-requisite for "Incrementally Updating Backups" feature ?

Dude!

No, FRA is not required. But you probably don't want RMAN backups in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs. So you will need a format clause and specify the backup destination, or configure FRA which then becomes the default. To use FRA and take advantage of it, however, you must not specify the FRA path.

Dude!

No, FRA is not required. But you probably don't want RMAN backups in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs. So you will need a format clause and specify the backup destination, or configure FRA which then becomes the default. To use FRA and take advantage of it, however, you must not specify the FRA path.