Cold backup
As I mentioned earlier, cold backups are the only possible way for a DBA to perform a consistent backup of a database independent of the mode your database is running (ARCHIVELOG or NOARCHIVELOG as explained in Chapter 1, Understanding the Basics of Backup and Recovery).
Note
If your database is running in the NOARCHIVELOG mode, all your backups should be made using this method to ensure that your database is always in a consistent mode. If your database is in the ARCHIVELOG mode, then you will be able to perform an additional recovery process to a more current point-in-time, applying all ARCHIVELOG files generated after your consistent backup was made.
You can easily perform a manual backup of your database with the database down by following these simple steps:
If your database is OPEN, then shut down your database completely in a consistent mode (use
SHUTDOWN [NORMAL/IMMEDIATE/TRANSACTIONAL]only). This will ensure that all the database file headers are consistent to the same...
