RMAN Backups residing remotely

Question

Oracle Version: 11.2.0.3 x64
OS: Win 2008 server x64
Hi Experts.
We need to replicate a database on one of our boxes, with very limited space on disk. The database size is roughly 200gb, free space on disk is 250gb, and the RMAN backups are roughly 80gb.
The RMAN backup pieces have been cataloged with the following path:
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT   'd:\rman\%d\bkup_%d_%U';So, if we attempt a restore/replication on the local server, RMAN would look for backups on the local D drive, under D:\rman\<db_name>\
In the past we used to copy the RMAN backups on the local server where the replication is required, and perform the replication locally without any issues; however, with a very limited space that won't fit both the replicated instance and the RMAN copies, we're not quite sure how further proceed!?
Can we instruct the RMAN replication session to look for backups in a remote server?
We do keep 3 weeks of RMAN backups on disk, hence the 80GB RMAN backups size. As far as I remember a full backup has been performed last Sun. Can we only bring over Sun full backup (and any subsequent incremental backups)? or do we need to copy the whole thing across to the local server?
Any ideas please?
Thanks

Answer 1

I've been trying the duplicate command with the "from active database" clause but we're getting some permissions errors that I'm not sure about:
C:\Users\oracle>rman target sys/xxx@vssrp auxiliary sys/password@vssrl
Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.3.0 - Production on Sat Sep 1 16:28:25 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.
connected to target database: vssrp (DBID=1391811405)
connected to auxiliary database: vssrl (not mounted)
RMAN> run {
2>    allocate channel c1 type disk;
3>    allocate auxiliary channel DUP type disk;
4>    duplicate target database to vssrl from active database;
5> }
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
allocated channel: c1
channel c1: SID=1252 device type=DISK
allocated channel: DUP
channel DUP: SID=673 device type=DISK
Starting Duplicate Db at 01-SEP-12
contents of Memory Script:
   sql clone "create spfile from memory";
executing Memory Script
sql statement: create spfile from memory
contents of Memory Script:
   shutdown clone immediate;
   startup clone nomount;
executing Memory Script
Oracle instance shut down
connected to auxiliary database (not started)
Oracle instance started
Total System Global Area    3140026368 bytes
Fixed Size                     2259312 bytes
Variable Size                788530832 bytes
Database Buffers            2315255808 bytes
Redo Buffers                  33980416 bytes
allocated channel: DUP
channel DUP: SID=578 device type=DISK
contents of Memory Script:
   sql clone "alter system set  db_name =
''vssrp'' comment=
''Modified by RMAN duplicate'' scope=spfile";
   sql clone "alter system set  db_unique_name =
''vssrl'' comment=
''Modified by RMAN duplicate'' scope=spfile";
   shutdown clone immediate;
   startup clone force nomount
   backup as copy current controlfile auxiliary format  'C:\ORACLE\ORADATA\CONTROLFILE\vssrl\CONTROL01.CTL';
   restore clone controlfile to  'D:\ORACLE\ORADATA\CONTROLFILE\vssrl\CONTROL02.CTL' from
'C:\ORACLE\ORADATA\CONTROLFILE\vssrl\CONTROL01.CTL';
   restore clone controlfile to  'D:\ORACLE\ORADATA\vssrl\CONTROL03.CTL' from
'C:\ORACLE\ORADATA\CONTROLFILE\vssrl\CONTROL01.CTL';
   alter clone database mount;
executing Memory Script
sql statement: alter system set  db_name =  ''vssrp'' comment= ''Modified by RMAN duplicate'' scope=spfile
sql statement: alter system set  db_unique_name =  ''vssrl'' comment= ''Modified by RMAN duplicate'' scope=spfile
Oracle instance shut down
Oracle instance started
Total System Global Area    3140026368 bytes
Fixed Size                     2259312 bytes
Variable Size                788530832 bytes
Database Buffers            2315255808 bytes
Redo Buffers                  33980416 bytes
allocated channel: DUP
channel DUP: SID=578 device type=DISK
Starting backup at 01-SEP-12
channel c1: starting datafile copy
copying current control file
released channel: c1
released channel: DUP
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of Duplicate Db command at 09/01/2012 16:29:14
RMAN-05501: aborting duplication of target database
RMAN-03015: error occurred in stored script Memory Script
RMAN-03009: failure of backup command on c1 channel at 09/01/2012 16:29:14
ORA-17629: Cannot connect to the remote database server
ORA-17627: ORA-01031: insufficient privileges
ORA-17629: Cannot connect to the remote database serverAs you can see from the above, we're logging in to both databases (target and aux) as sys; also the local OS oracle user is a member of administrators and can write files on to disks.
Any idea please?
Thanks