Today I was looking for a way to test RMAN tape backup on a machine without a tape device. I barely remembered that I somewhere read that RMAN supports that. With some cross search on different keywords I finally found Metalink support note 312737.1 “RMAN and Specific Media Managers Environment Variables.” .

Here is the output from my backup test on Windows 2003 (x86) with Oracle 10.2.0.2:

RMAN> run {
2>  allocate channel c1 device type 'SBT_TAPE'
3>   parms="SBT_LIBRARY=oracle.disksbt,ENV=(BACKUP_DIR=D:\BACKUP)";
4>  backup database;
5> }

allocated channel: c1
channel c1: sid=27 devtype=SBT_TAPE
channel c1: WARNING: Oracle Test Disk API

Starting backup at 23.03.10
channel c1: starting full datafile backupset
channel c1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\USERS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\SYSAUX01.DBF
channel c1: starting piece 1 at 23.03.10
channel c1: finished piece 1 at 23.03.10
piece handle=01l99etn_1_1 tag=TAG20100323T094735 comment=API Version 2.0,MMS Version 8.1.3.0
channel c1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:05:15
channel c1: starting full datafile backupset
channel c1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
including current control file in backupset
including current SPFILE in backupset
channel c1: starting piece 1 at 23.03.10
channel c1: finished piece 1 at 23.03.10
piece handle=02l99f7i_1_1 tag=TAG20100323T094735 comment=API Version 2.0,MMS Version 8.1.3.0
channel c1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:05
Finished backup at 23.03.10
released channel: c1

RMAN> list backup;


List of Backup Sets
===================

BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
1       Full    1.26G      SBT_TAPE    00:05:13     23.03.10
        BP Key: 1   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20100323T094735
        Handle: 01l99etn_1_1   Media:
  List of Datafiles in backup set 1
  File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time Name
  ---- -- ---- ---------- -------- ----
  1       Full 26436829   23.03.10 E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\SYSTEM01.DBF
  2       Full 26436829   23.03.10 E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\UNDOTBS01.DBF
  3       Full 26436829   23.03.10 E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\SYSAUX01.DBF
  4       Full 26436829   23.03.10 E:\ORADATA\ORA5\DATA\DATA01\USERS01.DBF

BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ ---------------
2       Full    7.00M      SBT_TAPE    00:00:04     23.03.10
        BP Key: 2   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20100323T094735
        Handle: 02l99f7i_1_1   Media:
  Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 26436829     Ckp time: 23.03.10
  SPFILE Included: Modification time: 22.03.10

RMAN>

Needless to say that Oracle Test Disk API is not meant to be used in production, thought I found some posts on the net in which some folks are using oracle.disksbt API as a workaround for backup of recovery area to disk; thus avoiding the limitation of mandatory usage of SBT channel for backup of recovery area. I certainly don’t recommend abusing this test API for such workaround.