Restoring a database for newbies

Question

I really enjoyed Joel Perez article "RMAN (CATALOG CREATION) STEP BY STEP. After successfully setting up RMAN and created an RMAN backup, I would like to know what are the basic procedures to do a full database restore...
I used this to backup the database:
run {
allocate channel ch1 type disk;
backup
incremental level=0
database
tag = weeklybackup
format '/inc0_%U';
run {
allocate channel ch1 type fidk;
backup current controlfile
tag = controlfilebackup
format '/cntfile_%U';
}

Answer 1

Hi
Restore in a full way the database is very easy. Here you will be able to find some guidelines about it.
RMAN Media Recovery: Basic Steps
If possible, make the recovery catalog available to perform the media recovery. If it is not available, then RMAN uses metadata from the target database control file. If both the control file and recovery catalog are lost, then you can still recover the database--assuming that you have backups of the datafiles and at least one autobackup of the control file.
The generic steps for media recovery using RMAN are as follows:
Place the database in the appropriate state: mounted or open. For example, mount the database when performing whole database recovery, or open the database when performing online tablespace recovery.
To perform incomplete recovery, use the SET UNTIL command to specify the time, SCN, or log sequence number at which recovery terminates. Alternatively, specify the UNTIL clause on the RESTORE and RECOVER commands.
Restore the necessary files using the RESTORE command.
Recover the datafiles using the RECOVER command.
Place the database in its normal state. For example, open it or bring recovered tablespaces online.
Figure 6-1 illustrates an example of RMAN media recovery. The DBA runs the following commands:
RESTORE DATABASE;
RECOVER DATABASE;
RMAN then queries the repository, which in this example is a recovery catalog. The recovery catalog obtains its metadata from the target database control file. RMAN then decides which backup sets to restore, and which incremental backups and archived logs to use for recovery. A server session on the target database instance performs the actual work of restore and recovery.
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96566/rcmconc2.htm#459290
Joel Pérez
http://otn.oracle.com/experts