Hot backup when Oracle Database is up
An Oracle user asks Database Backup and Recovery expert Brian Peasland the following question: "What is the procedure for doing a hot backup when the database is up?"
rman target / run { allocate channel t1 type disk format '/dir/%d_FULL_%U '; backup database; }
Alternatively, you can place a tablespace in hot backup mode by the following:
ALTER TABLESPACE ts_name BEGIN BACKUP;
Once a tablespace is in backup mode, you can use any OS utility to copy the tablespace's datafiles to the backup location. Once the tablespace backup is done, end the tablespace backup:
ALTER TABLESPACE ts_name END BACKUP;
Repeat for each tablespace.
Read more about hot backups and other backup and recovery issues in our Database storage management All-in-One Guide.