Oracle backup with RMAN Options?

Question

I'm trying to learn RMAN but getting confused everytime I read Oracle docs!

Can someone help me what are the differences and when to use the following?

BACKUP DATABASE PLUS ARCHIVELOG DELETE INPUT

BACKUP FULL

Which came from:

run{
backup full tag='INC000000325026'
(database format='/u04/backups/paris/rman/%d_%U_%T' include current controlfile);
}


run{
ALLOCATE CHANNEL d1 DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT '/u01/backups/rman/%d_%U_%T';
BACKUP DATABASE PLUS ARCHIVELOG DELETE INPUT TAG ='FRISK_DB';
}

I want/need to take a cold full backup of a database in a simple way, so which one is suitable?

Answer 1

A Cold Backup is making a copy of the files with the database closed. These commands are both for hot backups using RMAN. They are both preferred over cold backups due to their flexibility.

The difference between the two commands is whether or not archive logs are backed up. If you need be able to recover to any point between your backups or anytime after your most recent backup, then you will need to be in archivelog mode. If you are in archivelog mode then something needs to be done to backup those archive logs and use should use the PLUS ARCHIVELOG syntax.

It is advisable to periodically test a recovery as well to make sure your backups are working and you can recover.