Is backup full database , is backuing up controlfile ?

Question

Hi
i am on 8174
is that enough to cold backup the database?
shutdown immediate;
startup mount;
run {
allocate channel t1 type 'SBT_TAPE';
send 'NB_ORA_POLICY=....';
backup full format 'bk_%U_%t' (database);
or do i need
backup current controlfile; ?
i can see here http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/A87860_01/doc/server.817/a76990/rmanconc.htm#436070
this statment "A full backup is different from a whole database backup, which is a backup of all datafiles and the current control file."
is that means
backup full database , is backuing up controlfile ?(i think yes) and is restoring from it requires any archivelogs?(i think no)
Thanks very much
Edited by: user9145417 on 25-Aug-2010 16:42

Answer 1

The reason to have the current controlfile is that it keeps all the information of the database. If you lose the entire machine, it will be much more difficult to recover to another machine without that controlfile. That is one reason that control files are multiplexed, so that you do not lose all of them.
With 8174 I don't believe there was a method to always included it automatically like with 10g. So yes...always backup your control file with an exact statement.
Will you need archive logs? If you want to do a complete recovery you will need all the archivelogs that occur after the start of the backup untill the time the database crashes.
Do you need to backup the archivelogs within this script? Well that depends if you can think of any circumstance that would require you to recover to a point in time using the backup taken before this one.
Regards
Tim