DBA Interview

                         DBA INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1.WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR ?
INSTALLING AND UPGRADING THE ORACLE SERVER AND APPLICATION TOOLS.
ALLOCATING SYSTEM STORAGE AND PLANNING FUTURE STORAGE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DATABASE SYSTEM. MANAGING PRIMARY
DATABASE STRUCTURES (TABLESPACES) MANAGING PRIMARY OBJECTS
(TABLE,VIEWS,INDEXES) ENROLLING USERS AND MAINTAINING SYSTEM
SECURITY. ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH ORALCE LICENSE AGREEMENT
CONTROLLING AND MONITORING USER ACCESS TO THE DATABASE.
MONITORING AND OPTIMIZING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DATABASE.
PLANNING FOR BACKUP AND RECOVERY OF DATABASE INFORMATION.
MAINTAIN ARCHIVED DATA ON TAPE BACKING UP AND RESTORING THE
DATABASE. CONTACTING ORACLE CORPORATION FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT.

2.EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HOT BACKUP AND A COLD BACKUP

AND THE BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH? 
A HOT BACKUP IS BASICALLY TAKING A BACKUP OF THE DATABASE WHILE IT
IS STILL UP AND RUNNING AND IT MUST BE IN ARCHIVE LOG MODE. A COLD
BACKUP IS TAKING A BACKUP OF THE DATABASE WHILE IT IS SHUT DOWN
AND DOES NOT REQUIRE BEING IN ARCHIVE LOG MODE. THE BENEFIT OF
TAKING A HOT BACKUP IS THAT THE DATABASE IS STILL AVAILABLE FOR
USE WHILE THE BACKUP IS OCCURRING AND YOU CAN RECOVER THE
DATABASE TO ANY POINT IN TIME. THE BENEFIT OF TAKING A COLD BACKUP
IS THAT IT IS TYPICALLY EASIER TO ADMINISTER THE BACKUP AND
RECOVERY PROCESS. IN ADDITION, SINCE YOU ARE TAKING COLD BACKUPS
THE DATABASE DOES NOT REQUIRE BEING IN ARCHIVE LOG MODE AND THUS
THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT PERFORMANCE GAIN AS THE DATABASE IS NOT
CUTTING ARCHIVE LOGS TO DISK.

3. EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DATA BLOCK, AN EXTENT AND A

SEGMENT? 
A DATA BLOCK IS THE SMALLEST UNIT OF LOGICAL STORAGE FOR A
DATABASE OBJECT. AS OBJECTS GROW THEY TAKE CHUNKS OF ADDITIONAL
STORAGE THAT ARE COMPOSED OF CONTIGUOUS DATA BLOCKS. THESE
GROUPINGS OF CONTIGUOUS DATA BLOCKS ARE CALLED EXTENTS. ALL THE
EXTENTS THAT AN OBJECT TAKES WHEN GROUPED TOGETHER ARE
CONSIDERED THE SEGMENT OF THE DATABASE OBJECT.

4. COMPARE AND CONTRAST TRUNCATE AND DELETE FOR A TABLE? 

BOTH THE TRUNCATE AND DELETE COMMAND HAVE THE DESIRED OUTCOME
OF GETTING RID OF ALL THE ROWS IN A TABLE. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE TWO IS THAT THE TRUNCATE COMMAND IS A DDL OPERATION AND JUST
MOVES THE HIGH WATER MARK AND PRODUCES A NOW ROLLBACK. THE
DELETE COMMAND, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS A DML OPERATION, WHICH WILL
PRODUCE A ROLLBACK AND THUS TAKE LONGER TO COMPLETE.
5. WHAT COMMAND WOULD YOU USE TO CREATE A BACKUP CONTROL FILE?
ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROL FILE TO TRACE.

6.  HOW WOULD YOU GO ABOUT INCREASING THE BUFFER CACHE HIT

RATIO? 
USE THE BUFFER CACHE ADVISORY OVER A GIVEN WORKLOAD AND THEN
QUERY THE V$DB_CACHE_ADVICE TABLE. IF A CHANGE WAS NECESSARY
THEN I WOULD USE THE ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_CACHE_SIZE COMMAND.

7.  EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN $ORACLE_HOME AND

$ORACLE_BASE? 
ORACLE_BASE IS THE ROOT DIRECTORY FOR ORACLE. ORACLE_HOME
LOCATED BENEATH ORACLE_BASE IS WHERE THE ORACLE PRODUCTS
RESIDE.
8. WHEN A USER PROCESS FAILS, WHAT BACKGROUND PROCESS CLEANS UP
AFTER IT?
   PMON

9.  WHAT BACKGROUND PROCESS REFRESHES MATERIALIZED VIEWS?

THE JOB QUEUE PROCESSES.
10. HOW WOULD YOU DETERMINE WHAT SESSIONS ARE CONNECTED AND
WHAT RESOURCES THEY ARE WAITING FOR?
USE OF V$SESSION AND V$SESSION_WAIT
11. DESCRIBE WHAT REDO LOGS ARE?
REDO LOGS ARE LOGICAL AND PHYSICAL STRUCTURES THAT ARE DESIGNED
TO HOLD ALL THE CHANGES MADE TO A DATABASE AND ARE INTENDED TO
AID IN THE RECOVERY OF A DATABASE.
12. HOW WOULD YOU FORCE A LOG SWITCH?
ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;

13. NAME A TABLESPACE AUTOMATICALLY CREATED WHEN YOU CREATE A

DATABASE? 
      THE SYSTEM TABLESPACE.

14.  WHAT ARE THE MINIMUM PARAMETERS SHOULD EXIST IN THE

PARAMETER FILE (INIT.ORA) ? 
DB NAME - MUST SET TO A TEXT STRING OF NO MORE THAN 8 CHARACTERS
AND IT WILL BE STORED INSIDE THE DATAFILES, REDO LOG FILES AND
CONTROL FILES AND CONTROL FILE WHILE DATABASE CREATION.
DB_DOMAIN - IT IS STRING THAT SPECIFIES THE NETWORK DOMAIN WHERE
THE DATABASE IS CREATED. THE GLOBAL DATABASE NAME IS IDENTIFIED BY
SETTING THESE PARAMETERS
(DB_NAME & DB_DOMAIN) CONTORL FILES - LIST OF CONTROL FILENAMES OF
THE DATABASE. IF NAME IS NOT MENTIONED THEN DEFAULT NAME WILL BE
USED. 
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS - TO DETERMINE THE NO OF BUFFERS IN THE BUFFER
CACHE IN SGA.
PROCESSES - TO DETERMINE NUMBER OF OPERATING SYSTEM PROCESSES
THAT CAN BE CONNECTED TO ORACLE CONCURRENTLY. THE VALUE SHOULD
BE 5 (BACKGROUND PROCESS) AND ADDITIONAL 1 FOR EACH USER.
ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS - LIST OF ROLLBACK SEGMENTS AN ORACLE
INSTANCE ACQUIRES AT DATABASE STARTUP. ALSO OPTIONALLY
LICENSE_MAX_SESSIONS,LICENSE_SESSION_WARNING AND
LICENSE_MAX_USERS.
15. CAN ONE RENAME A TABLESPACE?
NO, THIS IS LISTED AS ENHANCEMENT REQUEST 148742. WORKAROUND: 
EXPORT ALL OF THE OBJECTS FROM THE TABLESPACE
DROP THE TABLESPACE INCLUDING CONTENTS
RECREATE THE TABLESPACE
IMPORT THE OBJECTS
16. CAN ONE RESIZE TABLESPACES AND DATA FILES?
ONE CAN MANUALLY INCREASE OR DECREASE THE SIZE OF A DATAFILE FROM
ORACLE 7.2 USING THE COMMAND.
ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE 'FILENAME2' RESIZE 100M;
BECAUSE YOU CAN CHANGE THE SIZES OF DATAFILES, YOU CAN ADD MORE
SPACE TO YOUR DATABASE WITHOUT ADDING MORE DATAFILES. THIS IS
BENEFICIAL IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT REACHING THE MAXIMUM
NUMBER OF DATAFILES ALLOWED IN YOUR DATABASE. 
MANUALLY REDUCING THE SIZES OF DATAFILES ALLOWS YOU TO RECLAIM
UNUSED SPACE IN THE DATABASE. THIS IS USEFUL FOR CORRECTING
ERRORS IN ESTIMATIONS OF SPACE REQUIREMENTS. 
ALSO, DATAFILES CAN BE ALLOWED TO AUTOMATICALLY EXTEND IF MORE
SPACE IS REQUIRED. LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING COMMAND: 
CREATE TABLESPACE PCS_DATA_TS
DATAFILE 'C:\ORA_APPS\PCS\PCSDATA1.DBF' SIZE 3M
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
DEFAULT STORAGE (INITIAL 10240
NEXT 10240
MINEXTENTS 1
MAXEXTENTS UNLIMITED
PCTINCREASE 0)
ONLINE
PERMANENT;
17. WHY AND WHEN SHOULD I BACKUP MY DATABASE?
BACKUP AND RECOVERY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF A
DBAS JOB. IF YOU LOSE YOUR COMPANY'S DATA, YOU COULD VERY WELL
LOSE YOUR JOB. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CAN ALWAYS BE REPLACED,
BUT YOUR DATA MAY BE IRREPLACEABLE! 
NORMALLY ONE WOULD SCHEDULE A HIERARCHY OF DAILY, WEEKLY AND
MONTHLY BACKUPS, HOWEVER CONSULT WITH YOUR USERS BEFORE
DECIDING ON A BACKUP SCHEDULE. BACKUP FREQUENCY NORMALLY
DEPENDS ON THE FOLLOWING FACTORS: 
. RATE OF DATA CHANGE/ TRANSACTION RATE 
. DATABASE AVAILABILITY/ CAN YOU SHUTDOWN FOR COLD BACKUPS? 
. CRITICALITY OF THE DATA/ VALUE OF THE DATA TO THE COMPANY 
. READ-ONLY TABLESPACE NEEDS BACKING UP JUST ONCE RIGHT AFTER YOU
MAKE IT READ-ONLY 
. IF YOU ARE RUNNING IN ARCHIVELOG MODE YOU CAN BACKUP PARTS OF A
DATABASE OVER AN EXTENDED CYCLE OF DAYS 
. IF ARCHIVE LOGGING IS ENABLED ONE NEEDS TO BACKUP ARCHIVED LOG
FILES TIMEOUSLY TO PREVENT DATABASE FREEZES 
. ETC. 
CAREFULLY PLAN BACKUP RETENTION PERIODS. ENSURE ENOUGH BACKUP
MEDIA (TAPES) ARE AVAILABLE AND THAT OLD BACKUPS ARE EXPIRED IN-
TIME TO MAKE MEDIA AVAILABLE FOR NEW BACKUPS. OFF-SITE VAULTING IS
ALSO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 
FREQUENTLY TEST YOUR ABILITY TO RECOVER AND DOCUMENT ALL
POSSIBLE SCENARIOS. REMEMBER, IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT WILL GET
YOU. MOST FAILED RECOVERIES ARE A RESULT OF ORGANIZATIONAL
ERRORS AND MISCOMMUNICATIONS.
18. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RESTORING AND RECOVERING? 
RESTORING INVOLVES COPYING BACKUP FILES FROM SECONDARY STORAGE
(BACKUP MEDIA) TO DISK. THIS CAN BE DONE TO REPLACE DAMAGED FILES
OR TO COPY/MOVE A DATABASE TO A NEW LOCATION. 
RECOVERY IS THE PROCESS OF APPLYING REDO LOGS TO THE DATABASE TO
ROLL IT FORWARD. ONE CAN ROLL-FORWARD UNTIL A SPECIFIC POINT-IN-
TIME (BEFORE THE DISASTER OCCURRED), OR ROLL-FORWARD UNTIL THE
LAST TRANSACTION RECORDED IN THE LOG FILES. SQL> CONNECT SYS AS
SYSDBA
SQL> RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL TIME '2001-03-06:16:00:00' USING BACKUP
CONTROLFILE;

19. WHEN CREATING A USER, WHAT PERMISSIONS MUST YOU GRANT TO

ALLOW THEM TO CONNECT TO THE DATABASE? 
GRANT THE CONNECT TO THE USER.
20. WHAT IS STATSPACK AND HOW DOES ONE USE IT? 
STATSPACK IS A SET OF PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND REPORTING
UTILITIES PROVIDED BY ORACLE FROM ORACLE8I AND ABOVE. STATSPACK
PROVIDES IMPROVED BSTAT/ESTAT FUNCTIONALITY, THOUGH THE OLD
BSTAT/ESTAT SCRIPTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. FOR MORE INFORMATION
ABOUT STATSPACK, READ THE DOCUMENTATION IN FILE
$ORACLE_HOME/RDBMS/ADMIN/SPDOC.TXT. 
INSTALL STATSPACK: 
CD $ORACLE_HOME/RDBMS/ADMIN
SQLPLUS "/ AS SYSDBA" @SPDROP.SQL -- INSTALL STATSPACK -
SQLPLUS "/ AS SYSDBA" @SPCREATE.SQL-- ENTER TABLESPACE NAMES
WHEN PROMPTED
USE STATSPACK: 
SQLPLUS PERFSTAT/PERFSTAT
EXEC STATSPACK.SNAP; -- TAKE A PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOTS 
EXEC STATSPACK.SNAP; 
O GET A LIST OF SNAPSHOTS
SELECT SNAP_ID, SNAP_TIME FROM STATS$SNAPSHOT; 
@SPREPORT.SQL -- ENTER TWO SNAPSHOT ID'S FOR DIFFERENCE REPORT
OTHER STATSPACK SCRIPTS: 
. SPPURGE.SQL - PURGE A RANGE OF SNAPSHOT ID'S BETWEEN THE
SPECIFIED BEGIN AND END SNAP ID'S 
. SPAUTO.SQL - SCHEDULE A DBMS_JOB TO AUTOMATE THE COLLECTION OF
STATPACK STATISTICS 
. SPCREATE.SQL - INSTALLS THE STATSPACK USER, TABLES AND PACKAGE
ON A DATABASE (RUN AS SYS). 
. SPDROP.SQL - DEINSTALL STATSPACK FROM DATABASE (RUN AS SYS) 
. SPPURGE.SQL - DELETE A RANGE OF SNAPSHOT ID'S FROM THE DATABASE 
. SPREPORT.SQL - REPORT ON DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VALUES RECORDED
IN TWO SNAPSHOTS 
. SPTRUNC.SQL - TRUNCATES ALL DATA IN STATSPACK TABLES
21. HOW DO YOU ADD A DATA FILE TO A TABLESPACE?
ALTER TABLESPACE <TABLESPACE_NAME> ADD DATAFILE
<DATAFILE_NAME> SIZE
22. WHAT IS SAVE POINT?
FOR LONG TRANSACTIONS THAT CONTAIN MANY SQL STATEMENTS,
INTERMEDIATE MARKERS OR SAVEPOINTS CAN BE DECLARED WHICH CAN BE
USED TO DIVIDE A TRANSACTION INTO SMALLER PARTS. THIS ALLOWS THE
OPTION OF LATER ROLLING BACK ALL WORK PERFORMED FROM THE
CURRENT POINT IN THE TRANSACTION TO A DECLARED SAVEPOINT WITHIN
THE TRANSACTION. 
23. WHAT IS MEAN BY PROGRAM GLOBAL AREA (PGA)? 
IT IS AREA IN MEMORY THAT IS USED BY A SINGLE ORACLE USER PROCESS.
24. HOW DOES ONE MANAGE ORACLE DATABASE USERS?
ORACLE USER ACCOUNTS CAN BE LOCKED, UNLOCKED, FORCED TO CHOOSE
NEW PASSWORDS, ETC. FOR EXAMPLE, ALL ACCOUNTS EXCEPT SYS AND
SYSTEM WILL BE LOCKED AFTER CREATING AN ORACLE9IDB DATABASE
USING THE DB CONFIGURATION ASSISTANT (DBCA). DBA'S MUST UNLOCK
THESE ACCOUNTS TO MAKE THEM AVAILABLE TO USERS. 
LOOK AT THESE EXAMPLES: 
ALTER USER SCOTT ACCOUNT LOCK -- LOCK A USER ACCOUNT
ALTER USER SCOTT ACCOUNT UNLOCK; -- UNLOCKS A LOCKED USERS
ACCOUNT
ALTER USER SCOTT PASSWORD EXPIRE; -- FORCE USER TO CHOOSE A NEW
PASSWORD
25. HOW DOES ONE TUNE ORACLE WAIT EVENTS?
SOME WAIT EVENTS FROM V$SESSION_WAIT AND V$SYSTEM_EVENT VIEWS:

EVENT NAME: TUNING RECOMMENDATION:

DB FILE TUNE SQL TO DO LESS I/O. MAKE SURE ALL OBJECTS ARE
SEQUENTIAL READ ANALYZED. REDISTRIBUTE I/O ACROSS DISKS.
BUFFER BUSY INCREASE DB_CACHE_SIZE (DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS PRIOR TO
WAITS 9I)/ ANALYZE CONTENTION FROM SYS.V$BH
LOG BUFFER INCREASE LOG_BUFFER PARAMETER OR MOVE LOG FILES
SPACES TO FASTER DISKS
26. CAN ONE MONITOR HOW FAST A TABLE IS IMPORTED?
IF YOU NEED TO MONITOR HOW FAST ROWS ARE IMPORTED FROM A RUNNING
IMPORT JOB, TRY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS:
METHOD 1: 
SELECT SUBSTR(SQL_TEXT,INSTR(SQL_TEXT,'INTO "'),30) TABLE_NAME,
ROWS_PROCESSED,
ROUND((SYSDATE-TO_DATE(FIRST_LOAD_TIME,'YYYY-MM-DD
HH24:MI:SS'))*24*60,1) MINUTES,
TRUNC(ROWS_PROCESSED/((SYSDATE-TO_DATE(FIRST_LOAD_TIME,'YYYY-
MM-DD HH24:MI:SS'))*24*60)) ROWS_PER_MIN
FROM SYS.V_$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'INSERT %INTO "%'
AND COMMAND_TYPE = 2
AND OPEN_VERSIONS > 0;
FOR THIS TO WORK ONE NEEDS TO BE ON ORACLE 7.3 OR HIGHER (7.2 MIGHT
ALSO BE OK). IF THE IMPORT HAS MORE THAN ONE TABLE, THIS STATEMENT
WILL ONLY SHOW INFORMATION ABOUT THE CURRENT TABLE BEING
IMPORTED. 
CONTRIBUTED BY OSVALDO ANCAROLA, BS. AS. ARGENTINA. 
METHOD 2:
USE THE FEEDBACK=N IMPORT PARAMETER. THIS COMMAND WILL TELL IMP
TO DISPLAY A DOT FOR EVERY N ROWS IMPORTED.
27. CAN ONE IMPORT TABLES TO A DIFFERENT TABLESPACE?
ORACLE OFFERS NO PARAMETER TO SPECIFY A DIFFERENT TABLESPACE TO
IMPORT DATA INTO. OBJECTS WILL BE RE-CREATED IN THE TABLESPACE
THEY WERE ORIGINALLY EXPORTED FROM. ONE CAN ALTER THIS BEHAVIOUR
BY FOLLOWING ONE OF THESE PROCEDURES: PRE-CREATE THE TABLE(S) IN
THE CORRECT TABLESPACE:
. IMPORT THE DUMP FILE USING THE INDEXFILE= OPTION 
. EDIT THE INDEXFILE. REMOVE REMARKS AND SPECIFY THE CORRECT
TABLESPACES. 
. RUN THIS INDEXFILE AGAINST YOUR DATABASE, THIS WILL CREATE THE
REQUIRED TABLES IN THE APPROPRIATE TABLESPACES
. IMPORT THE TABLE(S) WITH THE IGNORE=Y OPTION. 
CHANGE THE DEFAULT TABLESPACE FOR THE USER:
 . REVOKE THE "UNLIMITED TABLESPACE" PRIVILEGE FROM THE USER 
. REVOKE THE USER'S QUOTA FROM THE TABLESPACE FROM WHERE THE
OBJECT WAS EXPORTED. THIS FORCES THE IMPORT UTILITY TO CREATE
TABLES IN THE USER'S DEFAULT TABLESPACE. 
. MAKE THE TABLESPACE TO WHICH YOU WANT TO IMPORT THE DEFAULT
TABLESPACE FOR THE USER 
. IMPORT THE TABLE.

28. WHAT IS SQL*LOADER AND WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

SQL*LOADER IS A BULK LOADER UTILITY USED FOR MOVING DATA FROM
EXTERNAL FILES INTO THE ORACLE DATABASE. ITS SYNTAX IS SIMILAR TO
THAT OF THE DB2 LOAD UTILITY, BUT COMES WITH MORE OPTIONS.
SQL*LOADER SUPPORTS VARIOUS LOAD FORMATS, SELECTIVE LOADING, AND
MULTI-TABLE LOADS. 
 
29. WHAT IS RMAN? 
RECOVERY MANAGER IS A TOOL THAT: MANAGES THE PROCESS OF
CREATING BACKUPS AND ALSO MANAGES THE PROCESS OF RESTORING
AND RECOVERING FROM THEM.

30. WHAT IS HIT RATIO?

IT IS A MEASURE OF WELL THE DATA CACHE BUFFER IS HANDLING REQUESTS
FOR DATA. HIT RATIO = (LOGICAL READS - PHYSICAL READS - HITS MISSES)/
LOGICAL READS.

31. WHY USE RMAN?

 NO EXTRA COSTS …ITS AVAILABLE FREE
 RMAN INTRODUCED IN ORACLE 8 IT HAS BECOME SIMPLER WITH
NEWER VERSIONS AND EASIER THAN USER MANAGED BACKUPS
 PROPER SECURITY
 YOU ARE 100% SURE YOUR DATABASE HAS BEEN BACKED UP.
 ITS CONTAINS DETAIL OF THE BACKUPS TAKEN ETC IN ITS CENTRAL
REPOSITORY
 FACILITY FOR TESTING VALIDITY OF BACKUPS ALSO COMMANDS LIKE
CROSSCHECK TO CHECK THE STATUS OF BACKUP.
 FASTER BACKUPS AND RESTORES COMPARED TO BACKUPS WITHOUT
RMAN
 RMAN IS THE ONLY BACKUP TOOL WHICH SUPPORTS INCREMENTAL
BACKUPS.
 ORACLE 10G HAS GOT FURTHER OPTIMIZED INCREMENTAL BACKUP
WHICH HAS RESULTED IN IMPROVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE DURING BACKUP
AND RECOVERY TIME
 PARALLEL OPERATIONS ARE SUPPORTED
 BETTER QUERYING FACILITY FOR KNOWING DIFFERENT DETAILS OF
BACKUP
 NO EXTRA REDO GENERATED WHEN BACKUP IS TAKEN..COMPARED TO
ONLINE
 BACKUP WITHOUT RMAN WHICH RESULTS IN SAVING OF SPACE IN HARD
DISK
 RMAN AN INTELLIGENT TOOL
 MAINTAINS REPOSITORY OF BACKUP METADATA
 REMEMBERS BACKUP SET LOCATION
 KNOWS WHAT NEED TO BACKED UP
 KNOWS WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR RECOVERY
 KNOWS WHAT BACKUPS ARE REDUNDANT
UNDERSTANDING THE RMAN ARCHITECTURE
AN ORACLE RMAN COMPRISES OF RMAN EXECUTABLE THIS COULD BE
PRESENT AND FIRED EVEN THROUGH CLIENT SIDE TARGET DATABASE THIS
IS THE DATABASE WHICH NEEDS TO BE BACKED UP .RECOVERY
CATALOG RECOVERY CATALOG IS OPTIONAL OTHERWISE BACKUP DETAILS
ARE STORED IN TARGET DATABASE CONTROLFILE .
IT IS A REPOSITORY OF INFORMATION QUERIED AND UPDATED BY RECOVERY
MANAGER
IT IS A SCHEMA OR USER STORED IN ORACLE DATABASE. ONE SCHEMA CAN
SUPPORT MANY DATABASES
IT CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT PHYSICAL SCHEMA OF TARGET DATABASE
DATAFILE AND ARCHIVE LOG ,BACKUP SETS AND PIECES RECOVERY
CATALOG IS A MUST IN FOLLOWING SCENARIOS
. IN ORDER TO STORE SCRIPTS . FOR TABLESPACE POINT IN TIME RECOVERY 
MEDIA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 
MEDIA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IS A MUST IF YOU ARE USING RMAN FOR
STORING BACKUP IN TAPE DRIVE DIRECTLY.
BACKUPS IN RMAN 
ORACLE BACKUPS IN RMAN ARE OF THE FOLLOWING TYPE
RMAN COMPLETE BACKUP OR RMAN INCREMENTAL BACKUP
THESE BACKUPS ARE OF RMAN PROPRIETARY NATURE

IMAGE COPY 
THE ADVANTAGE OF UING IMAGE COPY IS ITS NOT IN RMAN PROPRIETARY
FORMAT..

BACKUP FORMAT 
RMAN BACKUP IS NOT IN ORACLE FORMAT BUT IN RMAN FORMAT. ORACLE
BACKUP COMPRISES OF BACKUP SETS AND IT CONSISTS OF BACKUP PIECES.
BACKUP SETS ARE LOGICAL ENTITY IN ORACLE 9I IT GETS STORED IN A
DEFAULT LOCATION THERE ARE TWO TYPE OF BACKUP SETS DATAFILE
BACKUP SETS, ARCHIVELOG BACKUP SETS ONE MORE IMPORTANT POINT OF
DATA FILE BACKUP SETS IS IT DO NOT INCLUDE EMPTY BLOCKS. A BACKUP
SET WOULD CONTAIN MANY BACKUP PIECES.
A SINGLE BACKUP PIECE CONSISTS OF PHYSICAL FILES WHICH ARE IN RMAN
PROPRIETARY FORMAT.

EXAMPLE OF TAKING BACKUP USING RMAN 

TAKING RMAN BACKUP
IN NON ARCHIVE MODE IN DOS PROMPT TYPE RMAN 
YOU GET THE RMAN PROMPT
RMAN > CONNECT TARGET
CONNECT TO TARGET DATABASE : MAGIC 
USING TARGET DATABASE CONTROLFILE INSTEAD OF RECOVERY CATALOG

LETS TAKE A SIMPLE BACKUP OF DATABASE IN NON ARCHIVE MODE 

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE ; - - SHUTDOWNS THE DATABASE
STARTUP MOUNT
BACKUP DATABASE ;- ITS START BACKING THE DATABASE
ALTER DATABASE OPEN;
WE CAN FIRE THE SAME COMMAND IN ARCHIVE LOG MODE
AND WHOLE OF DATAFILES WILL BE BACKED
BACKUP DATABASE PLUS ARCHIVELOG;

RESTORING DATABASE
RESTORING DATABASE HAS BEEN MADE VERY SIMPLE IN 9I . 
IT IS JUST RESTORE DATABASE..
RMAN HAS BECOME INTELLIGENT TO IDENTIFY WHICH DATAFILES HAS TO BE
RESTORED
AND THE LOCATION OF BACKUPED UP FILE.

ORACLE ENHANCEMENT FOR RMAN IN 10 G FLASH RECOVERY AREA 

RIGHT NOW THE PRICE OF HARD DISK IS FALLING. MANY DBA ARE TAKING
ORACLE DATABASE BACKUP INSIDE THE HARD DISK ITSELF SINCE IT RESULTS
IN LESSER MEAN TIME BETWEEN RECOVERABILITY.
THE NEW PARAMETER INTRODUCED IS 
DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST = /ORACLE/FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA 
BY CONFIGURING THE RMAN RETENTION POLICY THE FLASH RECOVERY
AREA WILL AUTOMATICALLY DELETE OBSOLETE BACKUPS AND ARCHIVE
LOGS THAT ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED BASED ON THAT CONFIGURATION
ORACLE HAS INTRODUCED NEW FEATURES IN INCREMENTAL BACKUP

CHANGE TRACKING FILE

ORACLE 10G HAS THE FACILITY TO DELIVER FASTER INCREMENTALS WITH
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGED TRACKING FILE FEATURE.THIS WILL
RESULTS IN FASTER BACKUPS LESSER SPACE CONSUMPTION AND ALSO
REDUCES THE TIME NEEDED FOR DAILY BACKUPS 

INCREMENTALLY UPDATED BACKUPS 

ORACLE DATABASE 10G INCREMENTALLY UPDATES BACKUP FEATURES
MERGES THE IMAGE COPY OF A DATAFILE WITH RMAN INCREMENTAL
BACKUP. THE RESULTING IMAGE COPY IS NOW UPDATED WITH BLOCK
CHANGES CAPTURED BY INCREMENTAL BACKUPS.THE MERGING OF THE
IMAGE COPY AND INCREMENTAL BACKUP IS INITIATED WITH RMAN RECOVER
COMMAND. THIS RESULTS IN FASTER RECOVERY.

BINARY COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE REDUCES BACKUP SPACE USAGE BY 50-

75%. 

WITH THE NEW DURATION OPTION FOR THE RMAN BACKUP COMMAND, DBAS
CAN WEIGH BACKUP PERFORMANCE AGAINST SYSTEM SERVICE LEVEL
REQUIREMENTS. BY SPECIFYING A DURATION, RMAN WILL AUTOMATICALLY
CALCULATE THE APPROPRIATE BACKUP RATE; IN ADDITION, DBAS CAN
OPTIONALLY SPECIFY WHETHER BACKUPS SHOULD MINIMIZE TIME OR
SYSTEM LOAD. 
NEW FEATURES IN OEM TO IDENTIFY RMAN RELATED BACKUP LIKE BACKUP
PIECES, BACKUP SETS AND IMAGE COPY 

ORACLE 9I NEW FEATURES PERSISTENT RMAN CONFIGURATION 

A NEW CONFIGURE COMMAND HAS BEEN INTRODUCED IN ORACLE 9I , THAT
LETS YOU CONFIGURE VARIOUS FEATURES INCLUDING AUTOMATIC
CHANNELS, PARALLELISM ,BACKUP OPTIONS, ETC.
THESE AUTOMATIC ALLOCATIONS AND OPTIONS CAN BE OVERRIDDEN BY
COMMANDS IN A RMAN COMMAND FILE.

CONTROLFILE AUTO BACKUPS

THROUGH THIS NEW FEATURE RMAN WILL AUTOMATICALLY PERFORM A
CONTROLFILE AUTO BACKUP. AFTER EVERY BACKUP OR COPY COMMAND. 
BLOCK MEDIA RECOVERY
IF WE CAN RESTORE A FEW BLOCKS RATHER THAN AN ENTIRE FILE WE ONLY
NEED FEW BLOCKS. 
WE EVEN DONT NEED TO BRING THE DATA FILE OFFLINE.
SYNTAX FOR IT AS FOLLOWS 
BLOCK RECOVER DATAFILE 8 BLOCK 22;

CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION 

PRIOR TO 9I WHENEVER WE BACKED UP DATABASE USING RMAN OUR
BACKUP ALSO USED TAKE BACKUP OF READ ONLY TABLE SPACES WHICH
HAD ALREADY BEEN BACKED UP AND ALSO THE SAME WITH ARCHIVE LOG
TOO.
NOW WITH 9I BACKUP OPTIMIZATION PARAMETER WE CAN PREVENT REPEAT
BACKUP OF READ ONLY TABLESPACE AND ARCHIVE LOG. THE COMMAND FOR
THIS IS AS FOLLOWS CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION ON
ARCHIVE LOG FAILOVER 
IF RMAN CANNOT READ A BLOCK IN AN ARCHIVED LOG FROM A
DESTINATION. RMAN AUTOMATICALLY ATTEMPTS TO READ FROM AN
ALTERNATE LOCATION THIS IS CALLED AS ARCHIVE LOG FAILOVER

THERE ARE ADDITIONAL COMMANDS LIKE 

BACKUP DATABASE NOT BACKED UP SINCE TIME '31-JAN-2002 14:00:00'
DO NOT BACKUP PREVIOUSLY BACKED UP FILES
(SAY A PREVIOUS BACKUP FAILED AND YOU WANT TO RESTART FROM WHERE
IT LEFT OFF).
SIMILAR SYNTAX IS SUPPORTED FOR RESTORES
BACKUP DEVICE SBT BACKUP SET ALL COPY A DISK BACKUP TO TAPE
(BACKING UP A BACKUP
ADDITIONALLY IT SUPPORTS
. BACKUP OF SERVER PARAMETER FILE
. PARALLEL OPERATION SUPPORTED
. EXTENSIVE REPORTING AVAILABLE
. SCRIPTING
. DUPLEX BACKUP SETS
. CORRUPT BLOCK DETECTION
. BACKUP ARCHIVE LOGS

PITFALLS OF USING RMAN 

PREVIOUS TO VERSION ORACLE 9I BACKUPS WERE NOT THAT EASY WHICH
MEANS YOU HAD TO ALLOCATE A CHANNEL COMPULSORILY TO TAKE
BACKUP YOU HAD TO GIVE A RUN ETC . THE SYNTAX WAS A BIT COMPLEX …
RMAN HAS NOW BECOME VERY SIMPLE AND EASY TO USE..
IF YOU CHANGED THE LOCATION OF BACKUP SET IT IS COMPULSORY FOR
YOU TO REGISTER IT USING RMAN OR WHILE YOU ARE TRYING TO RESTORE
BACKUP IT RESULTED IN HANGING SITUATIONS
THERE IS NO METHOD TO KNOW WHETHER DURING RECOVERY DATABASE
RESTORE IS GOING TO FAIL BECAUSE OF MISSING ARCHIVE LOG FILE.
COMPULSORY MEDIA MANAGEMENT ONLY IF USING TAPE BACKUP
INCREMENTAL BACKUPS THOUGH USED TO CONSUME LESS SPACE USED TO
BE SLOWER SINCE IT USED TO READ THE ENTIRE DATABASE TO FIND THE
CHANGED BLOCKS AND ALSO THEY HAVE DIFFICULT TIME STREAMING THE
TAPE DEVICE. .
CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT HAS BEEN MADE IN 10G TO OPTIMIZE THE
ALGORITHM TO HANDLE CHANGED BLOCK.

OBSERVATION :-
INTRODUCED IN ORACLE 8 IT HAS BECOME MORE POWERFUL AND SIMPLER
WITH NEWER VERSION OF ORACLE 9 AND 10 G. SO IF YOU REALLY DON'T
WANT TO MISS SOMETHING CRITICAL PLEASE START USING RMAN.

1. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RUN ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS ? 

THE CURRENT ONLINE REDO LOGS ARE ARCHIVED, THE LOG SEQUENCE
NUMBER IS RESET TO 1, NEW DATABASE INCARNATION IS CREATED, AND
THE ONLINE REDO LOGS ARE GIVEN A NEW TIME STAMP AND SCN.

2. IN WHAT SCENARIOS OPEN RESETLOGS REQUIRED ? 

AN ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS STATEMENT IS REQUIRED AFTER

INCOMPLETE RECOVERY (POINT IN TIME RECOVERY) OR RECOVERY WITH A
BACKUP CONTROL FILE. 

3 . WHAT IS SCN (SYSTEM CHANGE NUMBER) ?

THE SYSTEM CHANGE NUMBER (SCN) IS AN EVER-INCREASING VALUE THAT

UNIQUELY IDENTIFIES A COMMITTED VERSION OF THE DATABASE AT A POINT
IN TIME. EVERY TIME A USER COMMITS A TRANSACTION ORACLE RECORDS A
NEW SCN IN REDO LOGS. 

ORACLE USES SCNS IN CONTROL FILES DATAFILE HEADERS AND REDO

RECORDS. EVERY REDO LOG FILE HAS BOTH A LOG SEQUENCE NUMBER AND
LOW AND HIGH SCN. THE LOW SCN RECORDS THE LOWEST SCN RECORDED
IN THE LOG FILE WHILE THE HIGH SCN RECORDS THE HIGHEST SCN IN THE
LOG FILE. 

4. WHAT IS DATABASE INCARNATION ? 

DATABASE INCARNATION IS EFFECTIVELY A NEW “VERSION” OF THE

DATABASE THAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RESET THE ONLINE REDO LOGS
USING “ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;”. 

DATABASE INCARNATION FALLS INTO FOLLOWING CATEGORY CURRENT,

PARENT, ANCESTOR AND SIBLING 

I) CURRENT INCARNATION : THE DATABASE INCARNATION IN WHICH THE

DATABASE IS CURRENTLY GENERATING REDO. 

II) PARENT INCARNATION : THE DATABASE INCARNATION FROM WHICH THE

CURRENT INCARNATION BRANCHED FOLLOWING AN OPEN RESETLOGS
OPERATION. 

III) ANCESTOR INCARNATION : THE PARENT OF THE PARENT INCARNATION IS

AN ANCESTOR INCARNATION. ANY PARENT OF AN ANCESTOR INCARNATION IS
ALSO AN ANCESTOR INCARNATION. 

IV) SIBLING INCARNATION : TWO INCARNATIONS THAT SHARE A COMMON

ANCESTOR ARE SIBLING INCARNATIONS IF NEITHER ONE IS AN ANCESTOR OF
THE OTHER. 

5. HOW TO VIEW INCARNATION HISTORY OF DATABASE ? 

USING SQL> SELECT * FROM V$DATABASE_INCARNATION; 

USING RMAN>LIST INCARNATION;

HOWEVER, YOU CAN USE THE RESET DATABASE TO INCARNATION COMMAND

TO SPECIFY THAT SCNS ARE TO BE INTERPRETED IN THE FRAME OF
REFERENCE OF ANOTHER INCARNATION. 

FOR EXAMPLE MY CURRENT DATABASE INCARNATION IS 3 AND NOW I HAVE

USED 
FLASHBACK DATABASE TO SCN 3000;THEN SCN 3000 WILL BE SEARCH IN
CURRENT INCARNATION WHICH IS 3. HOWEVER IF I WANT TO GET BACK TO
SCN 3000 OF INCARNATION 2 THEN I HAVE TO USE,

RMAN> RESET DATABASE TO INCARNATION 2; 

RMAN> RECOVER DATABASE TO SCN 3000;

1. GIVE ONE METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING A TABLE FROM ONE SCHEMA TO

ANOTHER?  ANSWER: THERE ARE SEVERAL POSSIBLE METHODS, EXPORT-IMPORT,
CREATE TABLE... AS SELECT, OR COPY. 
2. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE IMPORT OPTION IGNORE? WHAT IS IT?S
DEFAULT SETTING? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THE IMPORT IGNORE OPTION TELLS IMPORT TO IGNORE
"ALREADY EXISTS" ERRORS. IF IT IS NOT SPECIFIED THE TABLES THAT ALREADY
EXIST WILL BE SKIPPED. IF IT IS SPECIFIED, THE ERROR IS IGNORED AND THE
TABLES DATA WILL BE INSERTED. THE DEFAULT VALUE IS N. 
3. YOU HAVE A ROLLBACK SEGMENT IN A VERSION 7.2 DATABASE THAT HAS
EXPANDED BEYOND OPTIMAL, HOW CAN IT BE RESTORED TO OPTIMAL? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: USE THE ALTER TABLESPACE ..... SHRINK COMMAND. 
4. IF THE DEFAULT AND TEMPORARY TABLESPACE CLAUSES ARE LEFT OUT
OF A CREATE USER COMMAND WHAT HAPPENS? IS THIS BAD OR GOOD?
WHY? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THE USER IS ASSIGNED THE SYSTEM TABLESPACE AS A
DEFAULT AND TEMPORARY TABLESPACE. THIS IS BAD BECAUSE IT CAUSES USER
OBJECTS AND TEMPORARY SEGMENTS TO BE PLACED INTO THE SYSTEM TABLESPACE
RESULTING IN FRAGMENTATION AND IMPROPER TABLE PLACEMENT (ONLY DATA
DICTIONARY OBJECTS AND THE SYSTEM ROLLBACK SEGMENT SHOULD BE IN
SYSTEM). 
5. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ORACLE PROVIDED PACKAGES THAT DBAS
SHOULD BE AWARE OF? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE TO HIGH 
EXPECTED ANSWER: ORACLE PROVIDES A NUMBER OF PACKAGES IN THE FORM OF
THE DBMS_ PACKAGES OWNED BY THE SYS USER. THE PACKAGES USED BY DBAS
MAY INCLUDE: DBMS_SHARED_POOL, DBMS_UTILITY, DBMS_SQL, DBMS_DDL,
DBMS_SESSION, DBMS_OUTPUT AND DBMS_SNAPSHOT. THEY MAY ALSO TRY TO
ANSWER WITH THE UTL*.SQL OR CAT*.SQL SERIES OF SQL PROCEDURES. THESE
CAN BE VIEWED AS EXTRA CREDIT BUT AREN?T PART OF THE ANSWER. 
6. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CONSTRAINT NAME IS LEFT OUT OF A
CONSTRAINT CLAUSE? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THE ORACLE SYSTEM WILL USE THE DEFAULT NAME OF
SYS_CXXXX WHERE XXXX IS A SYSTEM GENERATED NUMBER. THIS IS BAD SINCE IT
MAKES TRACKING WHICH TABLE THE CONSTRAINT BELONGS TO OR WHAT THE
CONSTRAINT DOES HARDER. 
7. WHAT HAPPENS IF A TABLESPACE CLAUSE IS LEFT OFF OF A PRIMARY
KEY CONSTRAINT CLAUSE? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THIS RESULTS IN THE INDEX THAT IS AUTOMATICALLY
GENERATED BEING PLACED IN THEN USERS DEFAULT TABLESPACE. SINCE THIS WILL
USUALLY BE THE SAME TABLESPACE AS THE TABLE IS BEING CREATED IN, THIS CAN
CAUSE SERIOUS PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS. 
8. WHAT IS THE PROPER METHOD FOR DISABLING AND RE-ENABLING A
PRIMARY KEY CONSTRAINT? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: YOU USE THE ALTER TABLE COMMAND FOR BOTH. HOWEVER,
FOR THE ENABLE CLAUSE YOU MUST SPECIFY THE USING INDEX AND TABLESPACE
CLAUSE FOR PRIMARY KEYS. 
9. WHAT HAPPENS IF A PRIMARY KEY CONSTRAINT IS DISABLED AND THEN
ENABLED WITHOUT FULLY SPECIFYING THE INDEX CLAUSE? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THE INDEX IS CREATED IN THE USER?S DEFAULT TABLESPACE
AND ALL SIZING INFORMATION IS LOST. ORACLE DOESN?T STORE THIS
INFORMATION AS A PART OF THE CONSTRAINT DEFINITION, BUT ONLY AS PART OF
THE INDEX DEFINITION, WHEN THE CONSTRAINT WAS DISABLED THE INDEX WAS
DROPPED AND THE INFORMATION IS GONE. 
10. (ON UNIX) WHEN SHOULD MORE THAN ONE DB WRITER PROCESS BE
USED? HOW MANY SHOULD BE USED? 
LEVEL: HIGH 
EXPECTED ANSWER: IF THE UNIX SYSTEM BEING USED IS CAPABLE OF
ASYNCHRONOUS IO THEN ONLY ONE IS REQUIRED, IF THE SYSTEM IS NOT CAPABLE
OF ASYNCHRONOUS IO THEN UP TO TWICE THE NUMBER OF DISKS USED BY ORACLE
NUMBER OF DB WRITERS SHOULD BE SPECIFIED BY USE OF THE DB_WRITERS
INITIALIZATION PARAMETER. 
11. YOU ARE USING HOT BACKUP WITHOUT BEING IN ARCHIVELOG MODE,
CAN YOU RECOVER IN THE EVENT OF A FAILURE? WHY OR WHY NOT? 
LEVEL: HIGH 
EXPECTED ANSWER: YOU CAN?T USE HOT BACKUP WITHOUT BEING IN ARCHIVELOG
MODE. SO NO, YOU COULDN?T RECOVER. 
12. WHAT CAUSES THE "SNAPSHOT TOO OLD" ERROR? HOW CAN THIS BE
PREVENTED OR MITIGATED? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THIS IS CAUSED BY LARGE OR LONG RUNNING TRANSACTIONS
THAT HAVE EITHER WRAPPED ONTO THEIR OWN ROLLBACK SPACE OR HAVE HAD
ANOTHER TRANSACTION WRITE ON PART OF THEIR ROLLBACK SPACE. THIS CAN BE
PREVENTED OR MITIGATED BY BREAKING THE TRANSACTION INTO A SET OF
SMALLER TRANSACTIONS OR INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE ROLLBACK SEGMENTS
AND THEIR EXTENTS. 
13. HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A DATABASE OBJECT IS INVALID? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: BY CHECKING THE STATUS COLUMN OF THE DBA_, ALL_ OR
USER_OBJECTS VIEWS, DEPENDING UPON WHETHER YOU OWN OR ONLY HAVE
PERMISSION ON THE VIEW OR ARE USING A DBA ACCOUNT. 
14. A USER IS GETTING AN ORA-00942 ERROR YET YOU KNOW YOU HAVE
GRANTED THEM PERMISSION ON THE TABLE, WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU
CHECK? 
LEVEL: LOW 
EXPECTED ANSWER: YOU NEED TO CHECK THAT THE USER HAS SPECIFIED THE FULL
NAME OF THE OBJECT (SELECT EMPID FROM SCOTT.EMP; INSTEAD OF SELECT EMPID
FROM EMP;) OR HAS A SYNONYM THAT POINTS TO THE OBJECT (CREATE SYNONYM
EMP FOR SCOTT.EMP;) 
15. A DEVELOPER IS TRYING TO CREATE A VIEW AND THE DATABASE WON?
T LET HIM. HE HAS THE "DEVELOPER" ROLE WHICH HAS THE "CREATE VIEW"
SYSTEM PRIVILEGE AND SELECT GRANTS ON THE TABLES HE IS USING,
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: YOU NEED TO VERIFY THE DEVELOPER HAS DIRECT GRANTS ON
ALL TABLES USED IN THE VIEW. YOU CAN?T CREATE A STORED OBJECT WITH
GRANTS GIVEN THROUGH VIEWS. 
16. IF YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE TABLE, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET
SIZING DATA FOR THE PRODUCTION TABLE IMPLEMENTATION? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THE BEST WAY IS TO ANALYZE THE TABLE AND THEN USE THE
DATA PROVIDED IN THE DBA_TABLES VIEW TO GET THE AVERAGE ROW LENGTH
AND OTHER PERTINENT DATA FOR THE CALCULATION. THE QUICK AND DIRTY WAY
IS TO LOOK AT THE NUMBER OF BLOCKS THE TABLE IS ACTUALLY USING AND RATIO
THE NUMBER OF ROWS IN THE TABLE TO ITS NUMBER OF BLOCKS AGAINST THE
NUMBER OF EXPECTED ROWS. 
17. HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT HOW MANY USERS ARE CURRENTLY LOGGED
INTO THE DATABASE? HOW CAN YOU FIND THEIR OPERATING SYSTEM ID? 
LEVEL: HIGH 
EXPECTED ANSWER: THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS. ONE IS TO LOOK AT THE
V$SESSION OR V$PROCESS VIEWS. ANOTHER WAY IS TO CHECK THE
CURRENT_LOGINS PARAMETER IN THE V$SYSSTAT VIEW. ANOTHER IF YOU ARE ON
UNIX IS TO DO A "PS -EF|GREP ORACLE|WC -L? COMMAND, BUT THIS ONLY WORKS
AGAINST A SINGLE INSTANCE INSTALLATION. 
18. A USER SELECTS FROM A SEQUENCE AND GETS BACK TWO VALUES, HIS
SELECT IS: 
SELECT PK_SEQ.NEXTVAL FROM DUAL; 
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: SOMEHOW TWO VALUES HAVE BEEN INSERTED INTO THE DUAL
TABLE. THIS TABLE IS A SINGLE ROW, SINGLE COLUMN TABLE THAT SHOULD ONLY
HAVE ONE VALUE IN IT. 
19. HOW CAN YOU DETERMINE IF AN INDEX NEEDS TO BE DROPPED AND REBUILT? 
LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE 
EXPECTED ANSWER: RUN THE ANALYZE INDEX COMMAND ON THE INDEX TO
VALIDATE ITS STRUCTURE AND THEN CALCULATE THE RATIO OF
LF_BLK_LEN/LF_BLK_LEN+BR_BLK_LEN AND IF IT ISN?T NEAR 1.0 (I.E. GREATER
THAN 0.7 OR SO) THEN THE INDEX SHOULD BE REBUILT. OR IF THE RATIO 
BR_BLK_LEN/ LF_BLK_LEN+BR_BLK_LEN IS NEARING 0.3.

                 TUNING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. A table-space has a table with 30 extents in it. Is this bad? Why or why not. 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Multiple extents in and of themselves aren?t bad. However if you also
have chained rows this can hurt performance. 
2. How do you set up table-spaces during an Oracle installation? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: You should always attempt to use the Oracle Flexible Architecture
standard or another partitioning scheme to ensure proper separation of SYSTEM,
ROLLBACK, REDO LOG, DATA, TEMPORARY and INDEX segments. 
3. You see multiple fragments in the SYSTEM table-space, what should you
check first? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: Ensure that users don?t have the SYSTEM tablespace as their
TEMPORARY or DEFAULT tablespace assignment by checking the DBA_USERS view. 
4. What are some indications that you need to increase the SHARED_POOL_SIZE
parameter? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Poor data dictionary or library cache hit ratios, getting error ORA-04031.
Another indication is steadily decreasing performance with all other tuning parameters the
same. 
5. What is the general guideline for sizing db_block_size and
db_multi_block_read for an application that does many full table scans? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: Oracle almost always reads in 64k chunks. The two should have a
product equal to 64 or a multiple of 64. 
6. What is the fastest query method for a table? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Fetch by rowid 
7. Explain the use of TKPROF? What initialization parameter should be turned on
to get full TKPROF output? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: The tkprof tool is a tuning tool used to determine cpu and execution
times for SQL statements. You use it by first setting timed_statistics to true in the
initialization file and then turning on tracing for either the entire database via the sql_trace
parameter or for the session using the ALTER SESSION command. Once the trace file is
generated you run the tkprof tool against the trace file and then look at the output from the
tkprof tool. This can also be used to generate explain plan output. 
8. When looking at v$sysstat you see that sorts (disk) is high. Is this bad or 
good? If bad -How do you correct it? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: If you get excessive disk sorts this is bad. This indicates you need to
tune the sort area parameters in the initialization files. The major sort are parameter is the
SORT_AREA_SIZe parameter. 
9. When should you increase copy latches? What parameters control copy
latches? 
Level: high 
Expected answer: When you get excessive contention for the copy latches as shown by the
"redo copy" latch hit ratio. You can increase copy latches via the initialization parameter
LOG_SIMULTANEOUS_COPIES to twice the number of CPUs on your system. 
10. Where can you get a list of all initialization parameters for your instance?
How about an indication if they are default settings or have been changed? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: You can look in the init.ora file for an indication of manually set
parameters. For all parameters, their value and whether or not the current value is the
default value, look in the v$parameter view. 
11. Describe hit ratio as it pertains to the database buffers. What is the
difference between instantaneous and cumulative hit ratio and which should be
used for tuning? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: The hit ratio is a measure of how many times the database was able to
read a value from the buffers verses how many times it had to re-read a data value from
the disks. A value greater than 80-90% is good, less could indicate problems. If you simply
take the ratio of existing parameters this will be a cumulative value since the database
started. If you do a comparison between pairs of readings based on some arbitrary time
span, this is the instantaneous ratio for that time span. Generally speaking an
instantaneous reading gives more valuable data since it will tell you what your instance is
doing for the time it was generated over. 
12. Discuss row chaining, how does it happen? How can you reduce it? How do
you correct it? 
Level: high 
Expected answer: Row chaining occurs when a VARCHAR2 value is updated and the length
of the new value is longer than the old value and won?t fit in the remaining block space.
This results in the row chaining to another block. It can be reduced by setting the storage
parameters on the table to appropriate values. It can be corrected by export and import of
the effected table. 
13. When looking at the estat events report you see that you are getting busy
buffer waits. Is this bad? How can you find what is causing it?  
Level: high 
Expected answer: Buffer busy waits could indicate contention in redo, rollback or data
blocks. You need to check the v$waitstat view to see what areas are causing the problem.
The value of the "count" column tells where the problem is, the "class" column tells you
with what. UNDO is rollback segments, DATA is data base buffers. 
14. If you see contention for library caches how can you fix it? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Increase the size of the shared pool. 
15. If you see statistics that deal with "undo" what are they really talking
about? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Rollback segments and associated structures. 
16. If a tablespace has a default pctincrease of zero what will this cause (in
relationship to the smon process)? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: The SMON process won?t automatically coalesce its free space
fragments. 
 
17. If a tablespace shows excessive fragmentation what are some methods to
defragment the tablespace? (7.1,7.2 and 7.3 only) 
Level: High 
Expected answer: In Oracle 7.0 to 7.2 The use of the 'alter session set events 'immediate
trace name coalesce level ts#';? command is the easiest way to defragment contiguous free
space fragmentation. The ts# parameter corresponds to the ts# value found in the ts$ SYS
table. In version 7.3 the ?alter tablespace coalesce;? is best. If the free space isn?t
contiguous then export, drop and import of the tablespace contents may be the only way to
reclaim non-contiguous free space. 
18. How can you tell if a tablespace has excessive fragmentation? 
Level: Intermediate 
If a select against the dba_free_space table shows that the count of a tablespaces extents
is greater than the count of its data files, then it is fragmented. 
19. You see the following on a status report: 
redo log space requests 23 
redo log space wait time 0 
Is this something to worry about? What if redo log space wait time is high? How can you fix
this? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Since the wait time is zero, no. If the wait time was high it might indicate
a need for more or larger redo logs.
20. What can cause a high value for recursive calls? How can this be fixed? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: A high value for recursive calls is cause by improper cursor usage,
excessive dynamic space management actions, and or excessive statement re-parses. You
need to determine the cause and correct it By either relinking applications to hold cursors,
use proper space management techniques (proper storage and sizing) or ensure repeat
queries are placed in packages for proper reuse. 
21. If you see a pin hit ratio of less than 0.8 in the estat library cache report is
this a problem? If so, how do you fix it? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: This indicate that the shared pool may be too small. Increase the shared
pool size. 
22. If you see the value for reloads is high in the estat library cache report is this
a matter for concern? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Yes, you should strive for zero reloads if possible. If you see excessive
reloads then increase the size of the shared pool. 
23. You look at the dba_rollback_segs view and see that there is a large number
of shrinks and they are of relatively small size, is this a problem? How can it be
fixed if it is a problem? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: A large number of small shrinks indicates a need to increase the size of
the rollback segment extents. Ideally you should have no shrinks or a small number of large
shrinks. To fix this just increase the size of the extents and adjust optimal accordingly. 
24. You look at the dba_rollback_segs view and see that you have a large
number of wraps is this a problem? 
Level: High 
Expected answer: A large number of wraps indicates that your extent size for your rollback
segments are probably too small. Increase the size of your extents to reduce the number of
wraps. You can look at the average transaction size in the same view to get the information
on transaction size. 
25. In a system with an average of 40 concurrent users you get the following from a query
on rollback extents: 
ROLLBACK CUR EXTENTS 
--------------------- -------------------------- 
R01 11 
R02 8 
R03 12 
R04 9 
SYSTEM 4 
You have room for each to grow by 20 more extents each. Is there a problem? Should you
take any action? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: No there is not a problem. You have 40 extents showing and an average
of 40 concurrent users. Since there is plenty of room to grow no action is needed. 
26. You see multiple extents in the temporary tablespace. Is this a problem? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: As long as they are all the same size this isn?t a problem. In fact, it can
even improve performance since Oracle won?t have to create a new extent when a user
needs one.
INSTALLATION/CONFIGURATION INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Define OFA. 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: OFA stands for Optimal Flexible Architecture. It is a method of placing
directories and files in an Oracle system so that you get the maximum flexibility for future
tuning and file placement. 
2. How do you set up your tablespace on installation? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: The answer here should show an understanding of separation of redo
and rollback, data and indexes and isolation os SYSTEM tables from other tables. An
example would be to specify that at least 7 disks should be used for an Oracle installation
so that you can place SYSTEM tablespace on one, redo logs on two (mirrored redo logs) the
TEMPORARY tablespace on another, ROLLBACK tablespace on another and still have two
for DATA and INDEXES. They should indicate how they will handle archive logs and exports
as well. As long as they have a logical plan for combining or further separation more or less
disks can be specified. 
3. What should be done prior to installing Oracle (for the OS and the disks)? 
Level: Low 
Expected Answer: adjust kernel parameters or OS tuning parameters in accordance with
installation guide. Be sure enough contiguous disk space is available. 
4. You have installed Oracle and you are now setting up the actual instance. You
have been waiting an hour for the initialization script to finish, what should you
check first to determine if there is a problem? 
Level: Intermediate to high 
Expected Answer: Check to make sure that the archiver isn?t stuck. If archive logging is
turned on during install a large number of logs will be created. This can fill up your archive
log destination causing Oracle to stop to wait for more space. 
5. When configuring SQLNET on the server what files must be set up? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: INITIALIZATION file, TNSNAMES.ORA file, SQLNET.ORA file 
6. When configuring SQLNET on the client what files need to be set up? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: SQLNET.ORA, TNSNAMES.ORA 
7. What must be installed with ODBC on the client in order for it to work with
Oracle? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: SQLNET and PROTOCOL (for example: TCPIP adapter) layers of the
transport programs. 
8. You have just started a new instance with a large SGA on a busy existing
server. Performance is terrible, what should you check for? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: The first thing to check with a large SGA is that it isn?t being swapped
out. 
 
9. What OS user should be used for the first part of an Oracle installation (on
UNIX)? 
Level: low 
Expected answer: You must use root first. 
10. When should the default values for Oracle initialization parameters be used
as is? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: Never 
11. How many control files should you have? Where should they be located? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: At least 2 on separate disk spindles. Be sure they say on separate disks,
not just file systems. 
12. How many redo logs should you have and how should they be configured for
maximum recoverability?  
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: You should have at least three groups of two redo logs with the two logs
each on a separate disk spindle (mirrored by Oracle). The redo logs should not be on raw
devices on UNIX if it can be avoided. 
13. You have a simple application with no "hot" tables (i.e. uniform IO and
access requirements). How many disks should you have assuming standard
layout for SYSTEM, USER, TEMP and ROLLBACK tablespaces? 
Expected answer: At least 7, see disk configuration answer above.
          DATA MODELER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe third normal form?
Level: Low 
Expected answer: Something like: In third normal form all attributes in an entity are related
to the primary key and only to the primary key 
2. Is the following statement true or false: 
"All relational databases must be in third normal form" 
Why or why not? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: False. While 3NF is good for logical design most databases, if they have
more than just a few tables, will not perform well using full 3NF. Usually some entities will
be denormalized in the logical to physical transfer process. 
3. What is an ERD? 
Level: Low 
Expected answer: An ERD is an Entity-Relationship-Diagram. It is used to show the entities
and relationships for a database logical model. 
4. Why are recursive relationships bad? How do you resolve them? 
Level: Intermediate 
A recursive relationship (one where a table relates to itself) is bad when it is a hard
relationship (i.e. neither side is a "may" both are "must") as this can result in it not being
possible to put in a top or perhaps a bottom of the table (for example in the EMPLOYEE
table you couldn?t put in the PRESIDENT of the company because he has no boss, or the
junior janitor because he has no subordinates). These type of relationships are usually
resolved by adding a small intersection entity. 
 
5. What does a hard one-to-one relationship mean (one where the relationship
on both ends is "must")? 
Level: Low to intermediate 
Expected answer: This means the two entities should probably be made into one entity. 
6. How should a many-to-many relationship be handled? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: By adding an intersection entity table 
7. What is an artificial (derived) primary key? When should an artificial (or
derived) primary key be used? 
  Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: A derived key comes from a sequence. Usually it is used when a
concatenated key becomes too cumbersome to use as a foreign key. 
8. When should you consider denormalization? 
Level: Intermediate 
Expected answer: Whenever performance analysis indicates it would be beneficial to do so
without compromising data integrity. 
ORACLE CONCEPTS AND ARCHITECTURE DATABASE STRUCTURES
  1. What are the components of physical database structure of Oracle database? 
 Oracle database is comprised of three types of files. One or more datafiles, two are more
redo log files, and one or more control files.

2. What are the components of logical database structure of Oracle database?

 There are tablespaces and database's schema objects.

3. What is a tablespace?
 A database is divided into Logical Storage Unit called tablespaces. A tablespace is used to
grouped related logical structures together.

4. What is SYSTEM tablespace and when is it created?

Every Oracle database contains a tablespace named SYSTEM, which is automatically
created when the database is created. The SYSTEM tablespace always contains the data
dictionary tables for the entire database.
 7. What are Schema Objects?
 Schema objects are the logical structures that directly refer to the database's data. Schema
objects include tables, views, sequences, synonyms, indexes, clusters, database triggers,
procedures, functions packages and database links.
8. Can objects of the same schema reside in different tablespaces?
 Yes.
9. Can a tablespace hold objects from different schemes?
 Yes.
10. What is Oracle table?
 A table is the basic unit of data storage in an Oracle database. The tables of a database
hold all of the user accessible data. Table data is stored in rows and columns.
 11. What is an Oracle view?
 A view is a virtual table. Every view has a query attached to it. (The query is a SELECT
statement that identifies the columns and rows of the table(s) the view uses.)
12. Do a view contain data?
 Views do not contain or store data.
 13. Can a view based on another view?
 Yes.
 14. What are the advantages of views?
 - Provide an additional level of table security, by restricting access to a predetermined set
of rows and columns of a table.
 - Hide data complexity.
 - Simplify commands for the user.
 - Present the data in a different perspective from that of the base table.
 - Store complex queries.
 15. What is an Oracle sequence?
 A sequence generates a serial list of unique numbers for numerical columns of a
database's tables.
 16.  What is a synonym?
 A synonym is an alias for a table, view, sequence or program unit.
 17. What are the types of synonyms?
 There are two types of synonyms private and public.
 18. What is a private synonym?
 Only its owner can access a private synonym.
 19. What is a public synonym?
 Any database user can access a public synonym.
 20. What are synonyms used for?
 -  Mask the real name and owner of an object.
 - Provide public access to an object
 - Provide location transparency for tables, views or program units of a remote database.
 - Simplify the SQL statements for database users.
 21. What is an Oracle index?
 An index is an optional structure associated with a table to have direct access to rows,
which can be created to increase the performance of data retrieval. Index can be created
on one or more columns of a table.
 22.  How are the index updates?
 Indexes are automatically maintained and used by Oracle. Changes to table data are
automatically incorporated into all relevant indexes.
 23. What are clusters?
 Clusters are groups of one or more tables physically stores together to share common
columns and are often used together.
 24. What is cluster key?
 The related columns of the tables in a cluster are called the cluster key.
 25. What is index cluster?
 A cluster with an index on the cluster key.
 26. What is hash cluster?
 A row is stored in a hash cluster based on the result of applying a hash function to the
row's cluster key value. All rows with the same hash key value are stores together on disk.
 27. When can hash cluster used?
 Hash clusters are better choice when a table is often queried with equality queries. For
such queries the specified cluster key value is hashed. The resulting hash key value points
directly to the area on disk that stores the specified rows.
28. What is database link?
A database link is a named object that describes a "path" from one database to another.

29. What are the types of database links?

 Private database link, public database link & network database link.
 30. What is private database link?
 Private database link is created on behalf of a specific user. A private database link can be
used only when the owner of the link specifies a global object name in a SQL statement or
in the definition of the owner's views or procedures.
31. What is public database link?
 Public database link is created for the special user group PUBLIC. A public database link
can be used when any user in the associated database specifies a global object name in a
SQL statement or object definition.
32.  What is network database link?
 Network database link is created and managed by a network domain service. A network
database link can be used when any user of any database in the network specifies a global
object name in a SQL statement or object definition.
33. What is data block?
 Oracle database's data is stored in data blocks. One data block corresponds to a specific
number of bytes of physical database space on disk.
34. How to define data block size?
 A data block size is specified for each Oracle database when the database is created. A
database users and allocated free database space in Oracle data blocks. Block size is
specified in init.ora file and cannot be changed latter.
35. What is row chaining?
In circumstances, all of the data for a row in a table may not be able to fit in the same data
block. When this occurs, the data for the row is stored in a chain of data block (one or
more) reserved for that segment.
36. What is an extent?
An extent is a specific number of contiguous data blocks, obtained in a single allocation and
used to store a specific type of information.
37.  What is a segment? 
A segment is a set of extents allocated for a certain logical structure.
38. What are the different types of segments?
Data segment, index segment, rollback segment and temporary segment.
39. What is a data segment?
Each non-clustered table has a data segment. All of the table's data is stored in the extents
of its data segment. Each cluster has a data segment. The data of every table in the cluster
is stored in the cluster's data segment.
40. What is an index segment?
Each index has an index segment that stores all of its data.
41. What is rollback segment?
A database contains one or more rollback segments to temporarily store "undo"
information.
42. What are the uses of rollback segment?
To generate read-consistent database information during database recovery and to rollback
uncommitted transactions by the users.
43. What is a temporary segment?
Temporary segments are created by Oracle when a SQL statement needs a temporary work
area to complete execution. When the statement finishes execution, the temporary
segment extents are released to the system for future use.
 44. What is a datafile?
 Every Oracle database has one or more physical data files. A database's data files contain
all the database data. The data of logical database structures such as tables and indexes is
physically stored in the data files allocated for a database.
45. What are the characteristics of data files?
A data file can be associated with only one database. Once created a data file can't change
size. One or more data files form a logical unit of database storage called a tablespace.
46. What is a redo log?
The set of redo log files for a database is collectively known as the database redo log.
 47. What is the function of redo log?
 The primary function of the redo log is to record all changes made to data.
 48. What is the use of redo log information?
 The information in a redo log file is used only to recover the database from a system or
media failure prevents database data from being written to a database's data files.
49. What does a control file contains?
 - Database name
 - Names and locations of a database's files and redolog files.
- Time stamp of database creation.
 50. What is the use of control file?
    When an instance of an Oracle database is started, its control file is used to identify the
database and redo log files that must be opened for database operation to proceed. It is
also used in database recovery.

                RMAN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is RMAN ?
Recovery Manager (RMAN) is a utility that can manage your entire Oracle backup and
recovery activities.
Which Files must be backed up? 
Database Files (with RMAN) 
Control Files (with RMAN) 
Offline Redolog Files (with RMAN) 
INIT.ORA (manually) 
Password Files (manually)
 2.   When you take a hot backup putting Tablespace in begin backup mode,
Oracle records SCN # from header of a database file.  What happens when you
issue hot backup database in RMAN at block level backup? How does RMAN
mark the record that the block has been backed up ?  How does RMAN know
what blocks were backed up so that it doesn't have to scan them again?
In 11g, there is Oracle Block Change Tracking feature.  Once enabled; this new 10g feature
records the modified since last backup and stores the log of it in a block change tracking
file. During backups RMAN uses the log file to identify the specific blocks that must be
backed up. This improves RMAN's performance as it does not have to scan whole datafiles
to detect changed blocks.
Logging of changed blocks is performed by the CTRW process which is also responsible for
writing data to the block change tracking file. RMAN uses SCNs on the block level and the
archived redo logs to resolve any inconsistencies in the datafiles from a hot backup. What
RMAN does not require is to put the tablespace in BACKUP mode, thus freezing the SCN in
the header. Rather, RMAN keeps this information in either your control files or in the RMAN
repository (i.e., Recovery Catalog). 
 3.  What are the Architectural components of RMAN?
1.RMAN executable
2.Server processes
3.Channels
4.Target database
5.Recovery catalog database (optional)
6.Media management layer (optional)
7.Backups, backup sets, and backup pieces
4.  What are Channels?
A channel is an RMAN server process started when there is a need to communicate with an
I/O device, such as a disk or a tape. A channel is what reads and writes RMAN backup files.
It is through the allocation of channels that you govern I/O characteristics such as:
Type of I/O device being read or written to, either a disk or an sbt_tape
Number of processes simultaneously accessing an I/O device
Maximum size of files created on I/O devices
Maximum rate at which database files are read
Maximum number of files open at a time

5.  Why is the catalog optional?

Because RMAN manages backup and recovery operations, it requires a place to store
necessary information about the database. RMAN always stores this information in the
target database control file. You can also store RMAN metadata in a recovery catalog
schema contained in a separate database. The recovery catalog
schema must be stored in a database other than the target database.
6.  What does complete RMAN backup consist of ?
A backup of all or part of your database. This results from issuing an RMAN backup
command. A backup consists of one or more backup sets. 

7.  What is a Backup set?

A logical grouping of backup files -- the backup pieces -- that are created when you issue
an RMAN backup command. A backup set is RMAN's name for a collection of files
associated with a backup. A backup set is composed of one or more backup pieces. 

8.  What is a Backup piece?

A physical binary file created by RMAN during a backup. Backup pieces are written to your
backup medium, whether to disk or tape. They contain blocks from the target database's
datafiles, archived redo log files, and control files. When RMAN constructs a backup piece
from datafiles, there are a several rules that it follows:
       A datafile cannot span backup sets
       A datafile can span backup pieces as long as it stays within one backup set
       Datafiles and control files can coexist in the same backup sets
       Archived redo log files are never in the same backup set as datafiles or control files
RMAN is the only tool that can operate on backup pieces. If you need to restore a file from
an RMAN backup, you must use RMAN to do it. There's no way for you to manually
reconstruct database files from the backup pieces. You must use RMAN to restore files from
a backup piece.
 9.  What are the benefits of using RMAN?
1.      Incremental backups that only copy data blocks that have changed since the last
backup. 
2. Tablespaces are not put in backup mode, thus there is noextra redo log generation
during online backups. 
3. Detection of corrupt blocks during backups. 
4. Parallelization of I/O operations. 
5. Automatic logging of all backup and recovery operations. 
6. Built-in reporting and listing commands.
2.       

         GENERAL BACKUP AND RECOVERY QUESTIONS

 
1. Why and when should I backup my database?

Backup and recovery is one of the most important aspects of a DBA's job. If you lose your
company's data, you could very well lose your job. Hardware and software can always be
replaced, but your data may be irreplaceable!

Normally one would schedule a hierarchy of daily, weekly and monthly backups, however
consult with your users before deciding on a backup schedule. Backup frequency normally
depends on the following factors:

    * Rate of data change/ transaction rate

    * Database availability/ Can you shutdown for cold backups?
    * Criticality of the data/ Value of the data to the company
    * Read-only tablespace needs backing up just once right after you make it read-only
    * If you are running in archivelog mode you can backup parts of a database over an
extended cycle of days
    * If archive logging is enabled one needs to backup archived log files timeously to
prevent database freezes
    * Etc.

Carefully plan backup retention periods. Ensure enough backup media (tapes) are available
and that old backups are expired in-time to make media available for new backups. Off-site
vaulting is also highly recommended.

Frequently test your ability to recover and document all possible scenarios. Remember, it's
the little things that will get you. Most failed recoveries are a result of organizational errors
and miscommunication.

2. What strategies are available for backing-up an Oracle database?

 The following methods are valid for backing-up an Oracle database:
    * Export/Import - Exports are "logical" database backups in that they extract logical
definitions and data from the database to a file. See the Import/ Export FAQ for more
details.

    * Cold or Off-line Backups - shut the database down and backup up ALL data, log, and
control files.

    * Hot or On-line Backups - If the database is available and in ARCHIVELOG mode, set
the tablespaces into backup mode and backup their files. Also remember to backup the
control files and archived redo log files.

    * RMAN Backups - while the database is off-line or on-line, use the "rman" utility to
backup the database.

It is advisable to use more than one of these methods to backup your database. For
example, if you choose to do on-line database backups, also cover yourself by doing
database exports. Also test ALL backup and recovery scenarios carefully. It is better to be
safe than sorry.

Regardless of your strategy, also remember to backup all required software libraries,
parameter files, password files, etc. If your database is in ARCHIVELOG mode, you also
need to backup archived log files.

3. What is the difference between online and offline backups?

 A hot (or on-line) backup is a backup performed while the database is open and available
for use (read and write activity). Except for Oracle exports, one can only do on-line backups
when the database is ARCHIVELOG mode.

A cold (or off-line) backup is a backup performed while the database is off-line and
unavailable to its users. Cold backups can be taken regardless if the database is in
ARCHIVELOG or NOARCHIVELOG mode.

It is easier to restore from off-line backups as no recovery (from archived logs) would be
required to make the database consistent. Nevertheless, on-line backups are less disruptive
and don't require database downtime.

Point-in-time recovery (regardless if you do on-line or off-line backups) is only available

when the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode.

4.What is the difference between restoring and recovering?

 Restoring involves copying backup files from secondary storage (backup media) to disk.
This can be done to replace damaged files or to copy/move a database to a new location.
 Recovery is the process of applying redo logs to the database to roll it forward. One can
roll-forward until a specific point-in-time (before the disaster occurred), or roll-forward until
the last transaction recorded in the log files.
SQL> connect SYS as SYSDBA
SQL> RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL TIME '2001-03-06:16:00:00' USING BACKUP
CONTROLFILE;

RMAN> run {
  set until time to_date('04-Aug-2004 00:00:00', 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS');
  restore database;
  recover database;
}

5. My database is down and I cannot restore. What now?

 This is probably not the appropriate time to be sarcastic, but, recovery without backups
are not supported. You know that you should have tested your recovery strategy, and that
you should always backup a corrupted database before attempting to restore/recover it.

Nevertheless, Oracle Consulting can sometimes extract data from an offline database using
a utility called DUL (Disk UnLoad - Life is DUL without it!). This utility reads data in the data
files and unloads it into SQL*Loader or export dump files. Hopefully you'll then be able to
load the data into a working database.

Note that DUL does not care about rollback segments, corrupted blocks, etc, and can thus
not guarantee that the data is not logically corrupt. It is intended as an absolute last resort
and will most likely cost your company a lot of money!

DUDE (Database Unloading by Data Extraction) is another non-Oracle utility that can be
used to extract data from a dead database.

6. How does one backup a database using the export utility?

 Oracle exports are "logical" database backups (not physical) as they extract data and
logical definitions from the database into a file. Other backup strategies normally back-up
the physical data files.

One of the advantages of exports is that one can selectively re-import tables, however one
cannot roll-forward from an restored export. To completely restore a database from an
export file one practically needs to recreate the entire database.

Always do full system level exports (FULL=YES). Full exports include more information
about the database in the export file than user level exports. For more information about
the Oracle export and import utilities, see the Import/ Export FAQ.

7. How does one put a database into ARCHIVELOG mode?

 The main reason for running in archivelog mode is that one can provide 24-hour availability
and guarantee complete data recoverability. It is also necessary to enable ARCHIVELOG
mode before one can start to use on-line database backups.
Issue the following commands to put a database into ARCHIVELOG mode:

SQL> CONNECT sys AS SYSDBA

SQL> STARTUP MOUNT EXCLUSIVE;
SQL> ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;
SQL> ARCHIVE LOG START;
SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

Alternatively, add the above commands into your database's startup command script, and
bounce the database.

The following parameters needs to be set for databases in ARCHIVELOG mode:

log_archive_start         = TRUE
log_archive_dest_1        = 'LOCATION=/arch_dir_name'
log_archive_dest_state_1  = ENABLE
log_archive_format        = %d_%t_%s.arc

NOTE 1: Remember to take a baseline database backup right after enabling archivelog
mode. Without it one would not be able to recover. Also, implement an archivelog backup
to prevent the archive log directory from filling-up.

NOTE 2:' ARCHIVELOG mode was introduced with Oracle 6, and is essential for database
point-in-time recovery. Archiving can be used in combination with on-line and off-line
database backups.

NOTE 3: You may want to set the following INIT.ORA parameters when enabling
ARCHIVELOG mode: log_archive_start=TRUE, log_archive_dest=..., and
log_archive_format=...

NOTE 4: You can change the archive log destination of a database on-line with the
ARCHIVE LOG START TO 'directory'; statement. This statement is often used to switch
archiving between a set of directories.

NOTE 5: When running Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), you need to shut down all
nodes before changing the database to ARCHIVELOG mode. See the RAC FAQ for more
details.
[edit] I've lost an archived/online REDO LOG file, can I get my DB back?

The following INIT.ORA/SPFILE parameter can be used if your current redologs are
corrupted or blown away. It may also be handy if you do database recovery and one of the
archived log files are missing and cannot be restored.

NOTE: Caution is advised when enabling this parameter as you might end-up losing your
entire database. Please contact Oracle Support before using it.
_allow_resetlogs_corruption = true

This should allow you to open the database. However, after using this parameter your
database will be inconsistent (some committed transactions may be lost or partially
applied).

Steps:

    * Do a "SHUTDOWN NORMAL" of the database

    * Set the above parameter
    * Do a "STARTUP MOUNT" and "ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;"
    * If the database asks for recovery, use an UNTIL CANCEL type recovery and apply all
available archive and on-line redo logs, then issue CANCEL and reissue the "ALTER
DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;" command.
    * Wait a couple of minutes for Oracle to sort itself out
    * Do a "SHUTDOWN NORMAL"
    * Remove the above parameter!
    * Do a database "STARTUP" and check your ALERT.LOG file for errors.
    * Extract the data and rebuild the entire database

           USER MANAGED BACKUP AND RECOVERY

This section deals with user managed, or non-RMAN backups.

1. How does one do off-line database backups?

Shut down the database from sqlplus or server manager. Backup all files to secondary
storage (eg. tapes). Ensure that you backup all data files, all control files and all log files.
When completed, restart your database.

Do the following queries to get a list of all files that needs to be backed up:

select name from sys.v_$datafile;

select member from sys.v_$logfile;
select name from sys.v_$controlfile;

Sometimes Oracle takes forever to shutdown with the "immediate" option. As workaround
to this problem, shutdown using these commands:

alter system checkpoint;

shutdown abort
startup restrict
shutdown immediate
Note that if your database is in ARCHIVELOG mode, one can still use archived log files to
roll forward from an off-line backup. If you cannot take your database down for a cold (off-
line) backup at a convenient time, switch your database into ARCHIVELOG mode and
perform hot (on-line) backups.

2.How does one do on-line database backups?

Each tablespace that needs to be backed-up must be switched into backup mode before
copying the files out to secondary storage (tapes). Look at this simple example.

ALTER TABLESPACE xyz BEGIN BACKUP;

! cp xyzFile1 /backupDir/
ALTER TABLESPACE xyz END BACKUP;

It is better to backup tablespace for tablespace than to put all tablespaces in backup mode.
Backing them up separately incurs less overhead. When done, remember to backup your
control files. Look at this example:

ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;   -- Force log switch to update control file
headers           
ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO '/backupDir/control.dbf';

NOTE: Do not run on-line backups during peak processing periods. Oracle will write
complete database blocks instead of the normal deltas to redo log files while in backup
mode. This will lead to excessive database archiving and even database freezes.

3. My database was terminated while in BACKUP MODE, do I need to recover?

 If a database was terminated while one of its tablespaces was in BACKUP MODE (ALTER
TABLESPACE xyz BEGIN BACKUP;), it will tell you that media recovery is required when you
try to restart the database. The DBA is then required to recover the database and apply all
archived logs to the database. However, from Oracle 7.2, one can simply take the individual
datafiles out of backup mode and restart the database.

ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE '/path/filename' END BACKUP;

One can select from V$BACKUP to see which datafiles are in backup mode. This normally
saves a significant amount of database down time. See script end_backup2.sql in the
Scripts section of this site.

From Oracle9i onwards, the following command can be used to take all of the datafiles out
of hotbackup mode:

ALTER DATABASE END BACKUP;

This command must be issued when the database is mounted, but not yet opened.
4.Does Oracle write to data files in begin/hot backup mode?

When a tablespace is in backup mode, Oracle will stop updating its file headers, but will
continue to write to the data files.

When in backup mode, Oracle will write complete changed blocks to the redo log files.
Normally only deltas (change vectors) are logged to the redo logs. This is done to enable
reconstruction of a block if only half of it was backed up (split blocks). Because of this, one
should notice increased log activity and archiving during on-line backups.

To solve this problem, simply switch to RMAN backups.

                RMAN BACKUP AND RECOVERY

This section deals with RMAN backups:

1. What is RMAN and how does one use it?

Recovery Manager (or RMAN) is an Oracle provided utility for backing-up, restoring and
recovering Oracle Databases. RMAN ships with the database server and doesn't require a
separate installation. The RMAN executable is located in your ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

In fact RMAN, is just a Pro*C application that translates commands to a PL/SQL interface.
The PL/SQL calls are stallically linked into the Oracle kernel, and does not require the
database to be opened (mapped from the ?/rdbms/admin/recover.bsq file).

RMAN can do off-line and on-line database backups. It cannot, however, write directly to
tape, but various 3rd-party tools (like Veritas, Omiback, etc) can integrate with RMAN to
handle tape library management.

RMAN can be operated from Oracle Enterprise Manager, or from command line. Here are
the command line arguments:

Argument     Value          Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
target       quoted-string  connect-string for target database
catalog      quoted-string  connect-string for recovery catalog
nocatalog    none           if specified, then no recovery catalog
cmdfile      quoted-string  name of input command file
log          quoted-string  name of output message log file
trace        quoted-string  name of output debugging message log file
append       none           if specified, log is opened in append mode
debug        optional-args  activate debugging
msgno        none           show RMAN-nnnn prefix for all messages
send         quoted-string  send a command to the media manager
pipe         string         building block for pipe names
timeout      integer        number of seconds to wait for pipe input
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is an example:

[oracle@localhost oracle]$ rman

Recovery Manager: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production
Copyright (c) 1995, 2004, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

RMAN> connect target;

connected to target database: ORCL (DBID=1058957020)

RMAN> backup database;

...

2. How does one backup and restore a database using RMAN?

The biggest advantage of RMAN is that it only backup used space in the database. RMAN
doesn't put tablespaces in backup mode, saving on redo generation overhead. RMAN will
re-read database blocks until it gets a consistent image of it. Look at this simple backup
example.

rman target sys/*** nocatalog

run {
  allocate channel t1 type disk;
  backup
    format '/app/oracle/backup/%d_t%t_s%s_p%p'
      (database);
   release channel t1;
}

Example RMAN restore:

rman target sys/*** nocatalog

run {
  allocate channel t1 type disk;
  # set until time 'Aug 07 2000 :51';
  restore tablespace users;
  recover tablespace users;
  release channel t1;
}

The examples above are extremely simplistic and only useful for illustrating basic concepts.
By default Oracle uses the database controlfiles to store information about backups.
Normally one would rather setup a RMAN catalog database to store RMAN metadata in.
Read the Oracle Backup and Recovery Guide before implementing any RMAN backups.

Note: RMAN cannot write image copies directly to tape. One needs to use a third-party
media manager that integrates with RMAN to backup directly to tape. Alternatively one can
backup to disk and then manually copy the backups to tape.

3. How does one backup and restore archived log files?

One can backup archived log files using RMAN or any operating system backup utility.
Remember to delete files after backing them up to prevent the archive log directory from
filling up. If the archive log directory becomes full, your database will hang! Look at this
simple RMAN backup scripts:

RMAN> run {
2> allocate channel dev1 type disk;
3> backup
4>   format '/app/oracle/archback/log_%t_%sp%p'
5>   (archivelog all delete input);
6> release channel dev1;
7> }

The "delete input" clause will delete the archived logs as they are backed-up.

List all archivelog backups for the past 24 hours:

RMAN> LIST BACKUP OF ARCHIVELOG FROM TIME 'sysdate-1';

Here is a restore example:

RMAN> run {
2> allocate channel dev1 type disk;
3> restore (archivelog low logseq 78311 high logseq 78340 thread 1 all);
4> release channel dev1;
5> }

4. How does one create a RMAN recovery catalog?

Start by creating a database schema (usually called rman). Assign an appropriate

tablespace to it and grant it the recovery_catalog_owner role. Look at this example:

sqlplus sys
SQL> create user rman identified by rman;
SQL> alter user rman default tablespace tools temporary tablespace temp;
SQL> alter user rman quota unlimited on tools;
SQL> grant connect, resource, recovery_catalog_owner to rman;
SQL> exit;

Next, log in to rman and create the catalog schema. Prior to Oracle 8i this was done by
running the catrman.sql script.

rman catalog rman/rman

RMAN> create catalog tablespace tools;
RMAN> exit;

You can now continue by registering your databases in the catalog. Look at this example:

rman catalog rman/rman target backdba/backdba

RMAN> register database;

One can also use the "upgrade catalog;" command to upgrade to a new RMAN release, or
the "drop catalog;" command to remove an RMAN catalog. These commands need to be
entered twice to confirm the operation.

5. How does one integrate RMAN with third-party Media Managers?

The following Media Management Software Vendors have integrated their media
management software with RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager):

    * Veritas NetBackup - http://www.veritas.com/

    * EMC Data Manager (EDM) - http://www.emc.com/
    * HP OMNIBack/ DataProtector - http://www.hp.com/
    * IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager (formerly ADSM) - http://www.tivoli.com/storage/
    * EMC Networker - http://www.emc.com/
    * BrightStor ARCserve Backup - http://www.ca.com/us/data-loss-prevention.aspx
    * Sterling Software's SAMS:Alexandria (formerly from Spectralogic) -
http://www.sterling.com/sams/
    * SUN's Solstice Backup - http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/backup-n-storage/
    * CommVault Galaxy - http://www.commvault.com/
    * etc...

The above Media Management Vendors will provide first line technical support (and
installation guides) for their respective products.

A complete list of supported Media Management Vendors can be found at:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/bsp.htm

When allocating channels one can specify Media Management spesific parameters. Here are
some examples:

Netbackup on Solaris:
allocate channel t1 type
'SBT_TAPE'  PARMS='SBT_LIBRARY=/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/libobk.so.1';

Netbackup on Windows:

allocate channel t1 type 'SBT_TAPE' send "NB_ORA_CLIENT=client_machine_name";

Omniback/ DataProtector on HP-UX:

allocate channel t1 type 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS='SBT_LIBRARY=

/opt/omni/lib/libob2oracle8_64bit.sl';

or:

allocate channel 'dev_1' type 'sbt_tape' parms

'ENV=OB2BARTYPE=Oracle8,OB2APPNAME=orcl,OB2BARLIST=machinename_orcl_archlog
s)';

6. How does one clone/duplicate a database with RMAN?

The first step to clone or duplicate a database with RMAN is to create a new INIT.ORA and
password file (use the orapwd utility) on the machine you need to clone the database to.
Review all parameters and make the required changed. For example, set the DB_NAME
parameter to the new database's name.

Secondly, you need to change your environment variables, and do a STARTUP NOMOUNT
from sqlplus. This database is referred to as the AUXILIARY in the script below.

Lastly, write a RMAN script like this to do the cloning, and call it with "rman cmdfile
dupdb.rcv":

connect target sys/secure@origdb

connect catalog rman/rman@catdb
connect auxiliary /

run {
set newname for datafile 1 to '/ORADATA/u01/system01.dbf';
set newname for datafile 2 to '/ORADATA/u02/undotbs01.dbf';
set newname for datafile 3 to '/ORADATA/u03/users01.dbf';
set newname for datafile 4 to '/ORADATA/u03/indx01.dbf';
set newname for datafile 5 to '/ORADATA/u02/example01.dbf';

allocate auxiliary channel dupdb1 type disk;

set until sequence 2 thread 1;

duplicate target database to dupdb

logfile
  GROUP 1 ('/ORADATA/u02/redo01.log') SIZE 200k REUSE,
  GROUP 2 ('/ORADATA/u03/redo02.log') SIZE 200k REUSE;
}

The above script will connect to the "target" (database that will be cloned), the recovery
catalog (to get backup info), and the auxiliary database (new duplicate DB). Previous
backups will be restored and the database recovered to the "set until time" specified in the
script.

Notes: the "set newname" commands are only required if your datafile names will different
from the target database.

The newly cloned DB will have its own unique DBID.

7. Can one restore RMAN backups without a CONTROLFILE and RECOVERY
CATALOG?

Details of RMAN backups are stored in the database control files and optionally a Recovery
Catalog. If both these are gone, RMAN cannot restore the database. In such a situation one
must extract a control file (or other files) from the backup pieces written out when the last
backup was taken. Let's look at an example:

Let's take a backup (partial in our case for ilustrative purposes):

$ rman target / nocatalog

Recovery Manager: Release 10.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
Copyright (c) 1995, 2004, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database: ORCL (DBID=1046662649)

using target database controlfile instead of recovery catalog

RMAN> backup datafile 1;

Starting backup at 20-AUG-04

allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=146 devtype=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=/oradata/orcl/system01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-AUG-04
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-AUG-04
piece handle=
/
flash_recovery_area/ORCL/backupset/2004_08_20/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20040820T153256_0l
czd9tf_.bkp comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:45
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
including current controlfile in backupset
including current SPFILE in backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-AUG-04
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-AUG-04
piece handle=
/
flash_recovery_area/ORCL/backupset/2004_08_20/o1_mf_ncsnf_TAG20040820T153256_0l
czfrx8_.bkp comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:04
Finished backup at 20-AUG-04[/code]

Now, let's destroy one of the control files:

SQL> show parameters CONTROL_FILES

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
control_files                        string      /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl,
                                                 /oradata/orcl/control02.ctl,
                                                 /oradata/orcl/control03.ctl
SQL> shutdown abort;
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> ! mv /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl /tmp/control01.ctl</pre>

Now, let's see if we can restore it. First we need to start the databaase in
NOMOUNT mode:

SQL> startup NOMOUNT

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  289406976 bytes

Fixed Size                  1301536 bytes
Variable Size             262677472 bytes
Database Buffers           25165824 bytes
Redo Buffers                 262144 bytes</pre>

Now, from SQL*Plus, run the following PL/SQL block to restore the file:

DECLARE
  v_devtype   VARCHAR2(100);
  v_done      BOOLEAN;
  v_maxPieces NUMBER;

  TYPE t_pieceName IS TABLE OF varchar2(255) INDEX BY binary_integer;

  v_pieceName t_pieceName;
BEGIN
  -- Define the backup pieces... (names from the RMAN Log file)
  v_pieceName(1) :=
     '/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/backupset/2004_08_20/o1_mf_ncsnf_TAG20040820T15325
6_0lczfrx8_.bkp';
  v_pieceName(2) :=
     '/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/backupset/2004_08_20/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20040820T1532
56_0lczd9tf_.bkp';
  v_maxPieces    := 2;

  -- Allocate a channel... (Use type=>null for DISK, type=>'sbt_tape' for TAPE)
  v_devtype := DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.deviceAllocate(type=>NULL, ident=>'d1');

  -- Restore the first Control File...

  DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.restoreSetDataFile;

  -- CFNAME mist be the exact path and filename of a controlfile taht was backed-up
  DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.restoreControlFileTo(cfname=>'/app/oracle/oradata/orcl/contro
l01.ctl');

  dbms_output.put_line('Start restoring '||v_maxPieces||' pieces.');

  FOR i IN 1..v_maxPieces LOOP
    dbms_output.put_line('Restoring from piece '||v_pieceName(i));
    DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.restoreBackupPiece(handle=>v_pieceName(i),
done=>v_done, params=>null);
    exit when v_done;
  END LOOP;

  -- Deallocate the channel...

  DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.deviceDeAllocate('d1');
EXCEPTION
   WHEN OTHERS THEN
      DBMS_BACKUP_RESTORE.deviceDeAllocate;
      RAISE;
END;
/

Let's see if the controlfile was restored:

SQL> ! ls -l /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl
-rw-r-----   1 oracle   dba      3096576 Aug 20 16:45 /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl[/code]

We should now be able to MOUNT the database and continue recovery...

SQL> ! cp /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl /oradata/orcl/control02.ctl

SQL> ! cp /oradata/orcl/control01.ctl /oradata/orcl/control03.ctl

SQL> alter database mount;

SQL> recover database using backup controlfile;

ORA-00279: change 7917452 generated at 08/20/2004 16:40:59 needed for thread 1
ORA-00289: suggestion :
/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2004_08_20/o1_mf_1_671_%u_.arc
ORA-00280: change 7917452 for thread 1 is in sequence #671

Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL}

/oradata/orcl/redo02.log
Log applied.
Media recovery complete.

Database altered.

SQL> alter database open resetlogs;

Database altered.

     DBA Professional focused Interview Questions-Answers:

1. Explain the difference between a hot backup and a cold backup and the benefits
associated with each.?
A hot backup is basically taking a backup of the database while it is still up and running and
it must be in archive log mode. A cold backup is taking a backup of the database while it is
shut down and does not require being in archive log mode. The benefit of taking a hot
backup is that the database is still available for use while the backup is occurring and you
can recover the database to any point in time. The benefit of taking a cold backup is that it
is typically easier to administer the backup and recovery process. In addition, since you are
taking cold backups the database does not require being in archive log mode and thus
there will be a slight performance gain as the database is not cutting archive logs to disk.
 
2. You have just had to restore from backup and do not have any control files. How would
you go about bringing up this database?
I would create a text based backup control file, stipulating where on disk all the data files
where and then issue the recover command with the using backup control file clause.
3. How do you switch from an init.ora file to a spfile?
Issue the create spfile from pfile command.
 
4. Explain the difference between a data block, an extent and a segment.?
A data block is the smallest unit of logical storage for a database object. As objects grow
they take chunks of additional storage that are composed of contiguous data blocks. These
groupings of contiguous data blocks are called extents. All the extents that an object takes
when grouped together are considered the segment of the database object.
5. Give two examples of how you might determine the structure of the table DEPT.?
  Use the describe command or use the dbms_metadata.get_ddl package.
  6. Where would you look for errors from the database engine?
 In the alert log.
 7. Compare and contrast TRUNCATE and DELETE for a table.?

Both the truncate and delete command have the desired outcome of getting rid of all the
rows in a table. The difference between the two is that the truncate command is a DDL
operation and just moves the high water mark and produces a now rollback. The delete
command, on the other hand, is a DML operation, which will produce a rollback and thus
take longer to complete.

8. Give the reasoning behind using an index.?

Faster access to data blocks in a table.

9. Give the two types of tables involved in producing a star schema and the type of data
they hold.?

Fact tables and dimension tables. A fact table contains measurements while dimension
tables will contain data that will help describe the fact tables.
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