Manging Database Backups
The backup software will keep some form of database of where and when each piece of data was backed up. The backup recovery manager must have a good usable front end to that database. If it does not, it will be a nightmare trying to find anything to perform a recovery. It is not advisable to get into a situation where you have to trawl through hundreds of tapes trying to find various bits of a file. This would be a very uncomfortable position, particularly if users and management were breathing down your neck.
It is useful for the backup software and the backup recovery manager to be database aware. Being database aware means that the software can be addressed in database terms, and will not perform backups that would not be viable. For example, in an Oracle database objects reside in tablespaces. It is no use backing up a single tablespace on its own unless you have roll-forward journal archiving enabled. If roll-forward journal archiving is not enabled, restoring tablespaces from different times will mean that they are out of sync and could corrupt your database. If the tool is database aware it can prevent mistakes like. this happening. The exception to this rule is a read-only tablespace, which can be backed up and restored separately from the rest of the database. Again, a database-aware tool will know this.