We are on V 10.2.0.3 on Solaris 10.

My dilemna:

We were previously able to back up our production database to tape, via weekly cold backups using third party software. We did this every Sunday. Three things happened. Our database got way too big (3 TB), our backup window shrank, and we no longer have a viable tape backup device. We were never in archivelog mode, because the decision was made by management that since we have a data warehouse, simply recovering to the previous Sunday and re-running the nightly loads was less painful (and we can generate up to 350G of redo every week). We also have exports of everything that are kept fairly current.

My glorious leaders have now challenged me to use RMAN and Flashback features, but there is a resource issue, and that leads to my question.

We have a chunk of space that is 1.5TB available on a licensed, supported storage array apart from the rest of the database files. My plan is to make that space my recovery file destination, such that a copy of the online redo logs, archived logs, rman control file backups, and flashback logs will exist in that space. However, there will NOT be enough room for db backup sets or image copies. Remember, the db is currently 3 Tb and growing, and my guess is that we will use most of the 1.5 TB recovery area for the other files listed above.

We DO have access to another storage array (a SAN) with 2TB available, but it does not have a support contract. What we would like to do, if it is possible, is to create rman backup sets on the SAN and spool them off to tape in pieces...that is, we have 588 datafiles and 544 tablespaces (I inherited this mess) and the idea would be to take umpteen tablespace backups each night using the SAN as a "mock" tape device, and then back that up to a real tape library, which is unfortunately old and slow. Management is firm on not spending $$$ on more storage so that we could hold everything necessary in one place. Is it possible to do these backups in a way that would have all the flashback stuff on one array and the backup sets on another? With 2 TB available on the SAN, it is possible we could even hold a full backup set (Oracle's compression ratio is supposed to be between 2 and 4) out there.

Anyone who has a creative idea on how to solve this problem will have my lasting gratitude. I have not used RMAN for years, and this version is SOOO different. We also want to use the flashback recovery features with RMAN. I am going through a steep learning curve, but could use some help.