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Recovery Catalog…
Tables and views contain metadata
- Backup data for 1 or more target databases
Owned by user “RMAN”
See the “RC_” views
Optional
- Target database control file also contains recovery metadata
- But, some functionality lost:
- Cannot store RMAN scripts
- Cannot restore to an old “incarnation” of the database (see the OPEN RESETLOGS option)
Notes:
The recovery catalog is a series of tables and view owned by a single user (typically called “RMAN”). Via the RMAN REGISTER command, these views are populated with backup and recovery information for one or more databases.
After creating the catalog in the RMAN schema, you’ll notice a series of views starting with “RC_”. These are the recovery catalog views; these views can be queried for information on backups. Since the target database’s control file also contains this information, this is an optional component. However, it is recommended. See more in the section “The Recovery Catalog, To Use, Or Not To Use”.
Using a recovery catalog is optional. The control file of the target database also contains recovery metadata (in fact, the recovery catalog is populated from information stored in the target databases control file with the RESYNC CATALOG command). However, though RMAN is still very useful without a recovery catalog, some RMAN functions are lost. For example, you cannot create and store RMAN scripts and you cannot restore to an older incarnation of the database. (An incarnation of the database is created when you open the database with the “RESETLOGS” option – necessary when a point-in-time recovery is performed.)